Life in a Humpback

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.

Day 115: Baxter Rest Area to Bunda Cliffs

Today we got up early and continued our trek across the Nullarbor. First we finished the second half of the 90 Mile Straight. At the end we found ourselves in Caiguna, the first of many roadhouses that we stopped at today for petrol. A number of the roadhouses between Norseman and Ceduna have a single golf hole - in total there are 18 holes that make up the longest golf course in the world.

During the day we stopped at:

• Cocklebiddy Roadhouse - to see the two rescued wedge tail eagles.
• Madura Roadhouse - where we had lunch
• Mundrabilla Roadhouse - which has some beautiful emu murals.
• Eucla Roadhouse - which was the fanciest of the roadhouses with the best playground, and even a pool!

The Madura Roadhouse was situated just below an escarpment that we followed for almost 200km until Eucla. There were some stunning views as we descended through the Madura Pass and back up again through the Eucla Pass.

Eucla Roadhouse was our last stop in Western Australia. A few more kilometers down the road and we crossed back into South Australia. We stopped at the Boarder Village to see the big kangaroo before continuing down the road to the Peg 51 Rest Area for the night. The campsite was perched on top of the Bunda Cliffs, with the Southern Ocean 90m below us. We arrived in time to see the sunset along the coast, then laid in bed while being lulled to sleep by the waves booming up against the cliffs.

Day 114: Esperance to Baxter Rest Area

Today we started our journey across the Nullarbor. We headed north from Esperance, stopping in Salmon Gums for morning tea and a play in the playground. After leaving Salmon Gums we passed several salt lakes some of which were a bright green colour. We made it to Norseman for lunch, stopping at Phoenix Park. While here we all had a bit of a wander through the park and town.

After filling up with petrol we turned east and officially started our crossing of the Nullarbor. A few kilometers in we ticked over 20,000km since leaving Hobart!

Our next stop was at Balladonia for more petrol, a play in the minions playground, and a look through the museum (Balladonia is the site of the 1979 crash of SkyLab space research station). Soon after leaving Balladonia we reached the start of the 90 Mile Straight - Australia's longest section of straight road that measures 146.6km long. About half way along the very straight road will pulled over at Baxter Rest Area to camp for the night.