ACROSS THE NULLARBOR AND INTO SA

Our trip across the Nullarbor wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I had an image of driving through desert, but there was quite a lot of life - both plant and animal. We saw two huge wedge-tailed eagles feasting on dead kangaroos right by the side of the road. They hardly flinched as we drove by. We were also lucky to miss an echidna which walked across the road in front of us. After a big day in the car which included the longest stretch of straight road in Australia, we pulled into a rest stop for the night. It had the worst drop toilet I've been into along the trip (and there have been some bad ones). It's times like that I'm thankful we've got our own toilet on board.

The next day was another long one as we drove into South Australia. Just over the border we stopped at this scenic lookout with a view of the Great Australian Bight. It was windy and a bit cool. From there I drove the last 100km for the day - the first time I've driven with the caravan. I think everyone was a bit nervous!


Our next camp for the night was Rest Area no 669 in the Camps 5 book. It was another scenic lookout, with views of the high cliffs dropping into the Great Australian Bight. Unfortunately the weather hadn't improved and the view wasn't as clear as it could have been. There were signs warning of the unstable cliff edges, and although the parking area was far enough away, Casey couldn't go to sleep worrying that the van was going to go over the edge.

The next day we stopped for lunch and ate as much salad and fruit as we could before stopping at the quarantine checkpoint at Ceduna. At one end they took all our fruit and veg as we entered WA and then they took all our fruit and veg as we left WA and drove into SA. We stopped for the night at Perlubie Beach, just north of Streaky Bay. In the Camps book it said it cost money, but no one came to collect. It was a strange little beach with lots of shelters on the sand.

The sunset that night was beautiful.

The next day we stopped to have a look at Murphy's Haystacks, a group of boulders and pillars of rock sitting on top of a hill.

Our next stop was Coodlie Park, a farm stay property down the western side of the Eyre Peninsula. It looked quite nice on the website, but when we got there we were only people staying there. They had a bush camping area about 1km from the main farmhouse along a bumpy dirt track.
This was the camp kitchen area. I was feeling like I'd made a mistake picking the place, but then the kids had a great time running around and kicking the football. They loved having the entire place to themselves.

After setting up camp we left the van and drove a very short distance down the road to Talia Caves. There was a boardwalk down to the first cave.

The water from the ocean washed into the cave and we could only stand near the opening of it.

The next cave was called The Tub because the roof had caved in and left a large open hole in the ground.

Just on from the caves was a parking area near the beach. There was a huge, deserted expanse of sand.

Back at Coodlie Park campground, Darren decided to brave the cold outdoor shower provided and found it "Quite liberating"! The kids and I decided to have a quick shower in the van. We knew our water must have been running low. The photo above is of the toilet at the campsite. It was actually a lot nicer than it looks. (I think I"ve been on the road too long!) It was a real flushing toilet! You had to turn a handle to fill the cistern with water and the buttons for flushing were labelled 'pee' and 'poo'. Tara thought it was a "really cool toilet"!