EUCLA TO NULLARBOR

Still a long way from home

All the kids with one foot in WA and one foot in SA

The sad adults (Laurence and Vi, Sarah and David, Kevin and Alanna) at the SA border

Bunda Cliffs

Hansen family at the Bunda Cliffs

Aren't they stunning?

Hansen family at one of the many lookouts along Bunda Cliffs

You have to be careful on these roads!!

More Bunda Cliffs, Nullarbor National Park

At the Head of the Bight

The Boys - David, Laurence and Kevin

The Girls - Vi, Sarah and Alanna

Sunset over the Nullarbor Roadhouse

Teeing off on the Nullarbor Links - Dingo's Den

Down the fairway

DAY 93 – EUCLA TO NULLARBOR                                Monday, 3^rd October

Things looked so much brighter in the morning.  Tent survived the night and was not wet.  Children did not drown and items did not need to be recovered from all over Eucla!  By 7am the entire caravan park was deserted!!  All these grey nomads get up very early in the morning!  My husband did a magnificent job of reversing out of the corner we were squashed into and exiting the park.  We headed off to WA/SA Border Village where the time was one and three quarter hours later than it was ten minutes earlier, and two and a half hours later than it was the day before.  So we were due for lunch only a couple of hours after breakfast!! 

We stopped at a number of lookout spots along the way which were just stunning – the sheer drop of the cliffs, the blue water, the white limestone cliffs and beautiful sand dunes.  Bunda Cliffs was particularly beautiful.  We just could not stop taking photographs of the water and the cliffs.

We arrived at Nullarbor at about 3pm Nullarbor time, which was only about 1:15 or even 12:45pm “our time”!!  We decided that we wanted to see the Head of the Bight and the caves which are close to here so decided to book into the roadhouse and take the vans off.  When we booked in, the man at reception told us that there was a private function at the Head of the Bight tonight so we needed to get out there quickly.  So we all unhooked the vans, grabbed our Saladas and vegemite (no fresh bread to be found on the Nullarbor) and hot-footed it out there!  Great fun buttering saladas and putting on peanut butter and vegemite in a car travelling first at 110kph and then on a rocky uneven road!  After that nutritionally satisfying meal we jumped out and walked to the boardwalk hoping to see some Southern Right Whales.  

An amazing sight greeted us!!  As we searched the horizon for signs of breeching or blowing, our eyes turned downwards to just below the cliffs where a mother and her calf were lazing in the water about 50 metres offshore.  She was beautiful!  We stood watching about four or five mothers and their calves playing in the water for about an hour.  They stay at the Head of the Bight for some time to allow the calves to acclimatise to the cooler waters and to get stronger for the big journey down into the Southern Ocean.  As we looked westward, there were maybe five or more mothers coming down with their calves.  They were like new mothers; their calves were with them constantly, and there was so much touch between them, it was beautiful.  Some of the calves were clearly more adventurous than others, jumping out of the water.  Alanna managed to capture, just before she left, a picture of a mother lying on her back with her flippers in the air.  These majestic, peaceful animals were just exquisite.  Such a special experience to witness such a superb display of magnificent animals in their natural environment caring for their young.

We were all on a bit of a high when we left but we had to say goodbye to the Tedescos who were travelling on to Ceduna that night.  After the traditional “Leaving on a Jet Plane” serenade, we headed back to the roadhouse for a spot of golf.  My goodness!  My husband wonders why I don’t play golf with him!  ONE HOLE TOOK OVER AN HOUR!!  Many minutes of searching for lost balls in the scrub and hitting into a wild wind, meant that it was an excruciating hour!!  But lots of fun, with Alanna teeing off in her bat cape that had to be variously tucked into her knickers and bra to keep it from interfering with her excellent golf!!

Aftet that, we sat outside to eat dinner whilst watching the most magnificent display of lightning and thunder lighting up the whole sky.  The tent was a little way from the van so we wanted to put the kids to bed before it started raining, when it becomes difficult to get kids into bed without everything getting wet!  Bridgie managed to score Caleb’s bed in the Paterson van (ultra comfortable) while the other five were in the tent.  We then noticed that a fire had been started by a lightning strike about 8 kms away.  It was a decent size fire to be seen from the roadhouse.  Scottie Gordon would have been in his element.  David, Kevin, Alanna and Caleb set off immediately to investigate!  As they got closer, it completely disappeared but David managed to speak to the local SES volunteer who had seen the fire and headed off from the roadhouse within minutes.  Fortunately, the wind blew the fire back on itself and it burnt out within minutes, otherwise a fire break would have had to be lit just behind the roadhouse!  That would have been so much more exciting!

We consumed coffee and chocolate whilst looking at Alanna’s fantastic whale shots before hitting the sack, hoping to hell that when we woke, we wouldn’t have to search the surrounding Nullarbor Plain for the tent … oh, and the children!