Day 116: Bunda Cliffs to Smoky Bay Rest Area
Crossing the WA/SA border yesterday meant that we had a two and a half hour time change, so most of use had a big sleep in. So while it was 9:00am local time, our bodies still thought it was 6:30am! While the other slept in I got up and watched the sunrise.
Once we had packed up and made our way back onto the highway our first stop for the day was at "Scenic Lookout 1" along the Bunda Cliffs. Here the cliffs jutted out from the coast so we could see down to the ocean more clearly than from our campsite. Our next stop was at the Nullarbor Roadhouse for petrol and to have a look around. This roadhouse had the most murals, old buildings, and large fiberglass animals than all the others combined. We even had a dingo walk in front of the truck while we were waiting in line for petrol.
After refueling we continued onto the Head of Bight, which has several viewing platforms to watch the southern right whales in the waters below. We were passing through at the very end of the season and were not really expected to see any whales. The walk provided some great views of the eastern end of the Bunda Cliffs and the sand dunes to the east. While walking along the kids noticed something in the water. Once the sun came out from behind the clouds we could see that it was a whale. We then spent the next hour or so watching a cow and calf slowly make their way along the coastline - diving down and coming back up to the surface. We are having some really good luck with spotting mum and baby animals this trip! The other highlight from the Head of Bight was all the lizards that we saw along the paths. As we stayed at the Head of Bight longer then originally planned we stayed for lunch too before continuing east.
The rest of the day was spent getting as close Streaky Bay as we could. We passed through Penong for a play in the playground (and to see the largest windmill in Australia), and Ceduna for petrol, before making it to a rest area outside Smoky Bay for the night.
