The journey to WA

After a delightful stay in Streaky Bay the time came for the journey to continue but not before we checked out the area.  We took ourselves on a trip around Cape Bauer Loop Road.  There are several camping sites along the route but the howling winds that we experienced on our drive was enough to put off even the most adventurous I would think.  With it's 'Whistling rocks' and blowholes it was both spectacularly scenic and treacherous coastline.  The last day we spent attending to some minor maintenance issues, reading and walking then a a very lovely dinner at the hotel.
(I'm writing this from Esperance where I'm finding the internet to be very slow and uploading photos is a painfully slow process so there may be no photos until the next time.)

We passed through Ceduna today and headed for Cactus Bay - apparently very famous for surfing.  It is possible to camp in the area but the March fly attack that besieged us as we got out of the car was horrendous so having ticked Cactus Bay off the 'must see' list we continued on with Fowlers Bay in our sights.

Fowlers Bay gets a little mention on the Nullabor information sheets as a quiet, somewhat out of the way area particularly good for fishing.  Let me tell you - there's not much at Fowlers Bay in the way of buildings, commercial or private.  The road is DUSTY!!  and pretty rough too, probably 50kms in length.  We found out after bumping and rattling along the 50ks that 'the other road' out of town is much better as the delivery truck doesn't use it 3 times a week.  HOWEVER - what Fowler's Bay doesn't have in population it makes up for in personality!!.. The Caravan Park was dusty but the managers very very friendly and provided good facilities and a camp fire nightly which certainly encouraged the campers to gather and chat.  Bordering the town are some amazing sand dunes and great 4WD tracks that enable you to drive along the beach and up and over the dunes.  There are some lovely beaches around the area and some fellow campers had a good catch of leatherjackets, mulloway and Tommy Ruffs.  Left Fowlers after a 2 night stay and I would highly recommend a visit to anyone.

The real journey across the Nullabor was about start.  Close  to the start is the Nullabor roadhouse, we unhooked the caravan left it at the roadhouse and took a 20 km round trip out to the Murrawinjie Caves.  One of the three caves we were able to climb down into, it would have provided much needed respite from the boring sun and heat for the Aborigines (as it did for us), there are some Aboriginal carvings in the cave - difficult to find though (no electricity down there!!)
We continued our travels, passed through quarantine at the border and a very thorough search of car and van it was too having to give up all fresh/raw fruit and veg etc.  We pulled in to several lookout points along the route - sadly these have been reduced to roped off areas.  Last time we crossed, there were several more areas where you could pull off the road to see the view and take photos and mostly with freedom to move around the area a little more.  Shortly after crossing in to WA we pulled in to Eucla for the night.  This is the site of an old Telegraph repeater station.  The limestone building still
has some walls standing but the shifting sand dunes threaten to take over more of the site.  Hard to believe that people lived and worked in such isolation.  The wind blew ferociously through the night and we were happy to move on the next day.

The total journey on Sunday was probably some 350 kms only.  We took quite some detour to visit the Eyre Bird Observatory.  it involved a 30+ km dirt track drive, the last 12 or so ks we had to leave the caravan behind as it was 4WD only and no tow vehicles.  From my perspective theta was the best part of the trip, the sand drift tracks - good fun.  With the weather looking threatening and the March flies attacking we made a hasty retreat.  An overnight stop on the side of the road ready to move on to Esperance the next day.

A long drive to Esperance and glad to finally arrive.  Time for a shower and then shop to restock our fresh food and as I write this after being here one night - it seems the weather has changed and we had rain this morning and some coolish winds.  I trust the sun will come out so that we can see the beautiful beaches that Esperance is famous for in all their glory plus we want to go camp in Cape Le Grand NP which I'm sure will be much better in warmer, sunnier weather.