Hot days in South Australia

Temperatures were rising and when we reached Ceduna, the last town before the Nullarbor Plain, it was really hot. We stocked up on food and water, Robin got a haircut and we finally bought a fishing pole.

 

Our friends had suggested that we stop at Cactus Bay (Point Sinclair), 100 kilometres west of Ceduna. After Penong, a charming little village with an artistic windmill park, we followed a dirt road out to the coast. We set up our camp on the designated site, far away from the few other people staying there. The owner of the campsite, an old surfer, told us about the caves down at the beach where it would be nice and cool. People from Penong use to spend the hottest days here, he said. So that’s what we did the following day. We brought sandwiches for lunch, walked through the magnificent dunes to the beach, cooled us down in the ocean and Robin tried his new fishing rod. It was hot in the sun, but when we reached the caves, it was just as we had been told, wonderfully cool. Other people, mainly elderly surfers were sitting there as well, taking a break from the waves.

Later we walked over to Long Beach, the most stunning beach I have seen so far. The white sands of the beach and the towering sand dunes, sandstone and limestone rocks and the deep blue ocean were absolutely breath-taking.

In the evenings we sat around the campfire under the amazing star-filled sky. The Milky Way was so clear that you could almost walk on it…

The second night I tried my luck again with cooking on the fire, after my first attempt had been quite a failure. And this time it was a success! Potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, lots of garlic and fresh herbs together with some beef, delicious. And so much fun I must say. We all felt really happy here.

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Next day we set off towards the Nullarbor Plain (Latin for ‘no trees’), the world largest single exposure of limestone rock (200’000 square kilometres).

Already ten o’clock in the morning it was very hot and we didn’t mind driving far that day. On the way we stopped at the Great Australian Bight Visitors Centre, where one can watch whales between May and October. Walking the few 100 metres out to the viewing platforms in almost 45 degrees was not a pleasant experience, I can assure you.

We had a short glance at the coast and returned quickly to the car. Eating lunch outside was out of the question, so we made our sandwiches in the car, motor and air-conditioning on. Continuing west, temperatures fortunately dropped and we had a cool night at the roadhouse in Border Village, next to the border to Western Australia.

 

The reason why we didn’t want to cross the border just yet is the strict Australian domestic quarantine rules. We had to eat up all our fruits and veggies before crossing over to the next state, otherwise we would have got an unpleasant experience with one of the officers at the checkpoint. You usually cannot bring plants, fruits and vegetables over the state border in order to avoid pests and diseases.

Next morning, we crossed the border with a clear conscience.

Soon we’ll leave the Nullarbor behind us and move on to the Great Western Woodlands, the largest remaining area of intact Mediterranean climate woodland on Earth. It’s just about the size of England… Australia is truly full of extremes!

 

I find it difficult at times to choose what to write about in the blog. There’s so much more to tell, for example about yesterday when we were halfway through Australia’s longest straight road (146,6 km) and suddenly saw a car that had stopped in front of us. Dag slowed down and we saw with freight that there was another car 10 metres away, landed on its roof. The other guy that had stopped told us that the accident must have happened a few minutes ago. The two men driving that car were standing next to their totally wrecked car – they had had a guardian angel! Apart from a few scratches and shock, they seemed ok. There was no mobile coverage, so I called 112 with our satellite phone, explained what had happened and where we were. They’d send help from Norseman, 2,5 hours away. Before we continued our trip, we made sure that the men had everything they needed, especially enough water. Then we drove on, still quite agitated.

Our aim for the day was Norseman, where we stay two nights, do some laundry, fill up the car and relax. Robin and I spent the afternoon at the public pool, together with lots of kids coming after end of school. Here most of the kids are Indigenous Australians, which is very different from what we have experienced further East, where you hardly ever see Indigenous people at all.

That’s all for now, hope you enjoyed this blog. Feel free to tell me if there is anything you wonder about. I will be more than happy to answer any questions 🙂