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Day 57: Elliston to Streaky Bay . . . Friday 21st December
Heard from Lee and he said he was going back to Hanoi to spend Christmas with friends. Storms from 6 a.m, very heavy rain and strong winds. Visited Information Centre before we left Elliston to use the tinternet, $5 per hour and it was the best IT centre we had seen . . . run by volunteers and they said that it served the whole community and being some 200K from the largest town it was a necessity. Had coffee and then motored down to Venus Bay very cloudy so we decided to head on for Streaky Bay, roads very long and straight with relatively no traffic but with the added advantage of plenty of trees. In 2003 the Eyre Peninsula had a major fire, they called it Black Tuesday and many people lost their homes and livestock on the farms, but the land soon recovered. You can understand how these fires start when you have seen the electric storms. Arrived about 2.30 pm and got supplies and headed for the only campsite large concrete area not too inspiring so got our first DVD of the trip . . . Will Smith in Ali.
Day 58: Streaky Bay to Smoky (this is the way they spell it!) Bay 'or some kind of bacon' . . .
Saturday 22nd December
"On the road again" passing through miles and miles of wheatfields, there are massive grain stores within the natural harbours along the Peninsulas. Lovely morning . . . .the locals are wearing coats and think it's cold, but it's not!!!! Visited Perlubie (aboriginal for soft white sand) Beach (with beach camping at $4 per night) another one of those spots not mentioned in the brochure but is absolutely delightful, we could see Elba Island from here. Once again they are selling off land on the headland overlooking the Perlubie Bay and it's a spectacular view . . . the locals say it is very windy especially in the winter. You definitely need to be completely self-sufficient, with large water tanks to be filled with rain water and at present there is no power, so generator and/or gas but the houses built up there already, are lovely, but I think it must be hard going. Didn't really want to leave but onto Haslam Bay another pleasent place with a small camp area for $5 per night but we headed for Smokey Bay. Camp site quite empty apart from some full-timers (people living on the road). Had a good look around and did a quick walk along the jetty, very cold so headed for the comfort of the van. One thing I did notice was a large fenced off piece of the sea next to the jetty, and I mean fenced off with really strong netting. Only messing about I said to Keith, that it was the swimming area, how right I was. Apparently at the service station in Streaky Bay there was a replica of an 8 metre white tipped shark that had been caught off the jetty . . . when you consider that kids are fishing and often snorkelling off the jetty it's a bit worrying. A couple of year previous a local abalone (large clams) fisherman had been taken by a shark out to sea and a child from Streaky Bay. I can tell you it puts the fear of ..........up me just thinking about it and southern Oz is noted for it's great whites so no I'm not getting in the water!!!!!! I think she would be safe enough in the shower!!!
Day 59: Stayed at Smoky . . . Sunday 23rd December
Just across from our van is a church all lit up with a nativity scene and at 8 a.m this morning the chuch bells were ringing to call the faithfull. Keith got some local gen from the warden's wife on the site and we headed for Point Brown, it was along a 23K dirt road but it was worth it. The road ended on the top of the cliff and the view was wonderful, we made our way down the sand dunes to check out the rocks along the sea front as it was low tide and then took a walk along the beach. . . lovely day stayed there until 4.30 p.m. and then back to the site. Invited by the owners for happy hour outside the camp office with all the other guests had a chat and some bloke turned up with his didgeridoo and promptly began to play. Quite well as it happens as apparently he performed and he taught people how to play them . . . well Keith told him we've all been there mate. We then went to the local Community Club for dinner and joined up with some 'full-timers' (John & June and Peta & Peter for dinner, turned into a really good evening.
Day 60: Stayed at Smoky . . . Monday 24th December (Christmas Eve)
After listening to advice from other campers who had moved from Ceduna, we decided on staying put at Smoky for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we did however, go to Ceduna to get some much needed supplies including fairy lights for the van . . . well we would, wouldn't we? It was very busy there but we did manage to order a cooked chicken (what did you expect Turkey and all the trimmings?), along with one or two other essentials . . . both solid and liquid. On our way back we headed towards Laura Bay but ended up at the really beautiful Sandy Cove which we preferred and also had to ourselves all day (check it out). This neck of the woods is famous for its oysters and Keith had a dozen as his Christmas treat which he said were delicious but I wouldn't know because I couldn't bring myself to try them.
Day 61: Stayed at Smoky . . . Tuesday 25th December (Christmas Day)
Well of course as you read this Christmas has come and gone for us all and we decided that instead of presents we would indulge ourselves with a real luxury (a change of underwear) nice eh? Hope you all had a really great time and it goes without saying that we missed you all . . . but of course we didn't miss all the work and preparation that is usually our lot . . . and it seems as if the baton has been picked up by the Ginger Wizard Team. After a late and lazy breakfast we received a deputation from John and June on behalf of themselves and Peta and Peter (our dinner partners of a couple of evening previous) to ask us if we would join them for Christmas Lunch . . . this was to take place in an hour and a half or so! Hungry or not we are not ones to turn down the invitation to a party as many of you know! J+J and P+P had obviously worked hard and planned it all very well and everything was set up "just so", at midday there were drinks first and then onto the Christmas fayre. By this time we had been joined by another couple Tracey and Eric, Eric is a didgeridooist or whatever they are called and whatever that is he was a really good one and had everyone having a go, which looked a whole lot easier than it was but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Eric maintained that the secret of his success with the "Didge" was due to "circular breathing", the offshoot of this was that he could talk absolutely non-stop and we suggested that somewhat should buy him a bag of "commas" for Christmas (this will be funnier for some of our readers than others). By the end of the evening, more or less the whole campsite was gathered around which finished off a really enjoyable day. There was a very slight downside to the day when one of the local " c*** " decided to ring the church bell at 3 o'clock in the morning followed by a repeat performance at 4 and again at 5 . . . did we laugh, well it was Christmas?
Day 62: Smoky to Nullabor . . . Wednesday 26th December (Boxing Day)
After trying all day yesterday to phone home to wish everybody a "Merry Christmas" we managed to contact all the family except Dad (Kipping!) first thing this morning, Boxing Day for us but the close of "Christmas Day for you guys. After saying our good byes and thanks to the "Fishing Foursome - J+J & P+P . . . we got on the road once again to make a start on our attack of the Nullabor Plain (1200k of desert). Maureen's turn to drive today and after 150k we decided on a detour (we need the miles) to visit Fowler Bay which is on the start of the Great Australian Bight (you need to check a map it looks as if a shark has taken a large bite out of the bottom of Southern Australia). This was another one of those absolutely idyllic beach scenes complete with massive sand dunes and white sand with an absolutely magnificent Pelican in situ (check him out). Coffee then back onto to the mainly empty, very long, straight road . . . empty save for some very strange lizard-like creatures with no tails (wonder how you know if they are happy?) There are no commercial sites to speak of on this 1200k of road, however, there are dozens of "pull offs" and minimal facility camping areas (not the same as sites - no toilets, no showers but the good bit is they are free). We camped tonight at Nullabor itself and were the only van here until just after we had finished our postponed Christmas dinner when a Dutch couple pulled in and asked if it was a good place to camp . . . Keith said he will tell him in the morning if we are all still alive!) We are trying to eat all our fruit and veg and honey tonight as anything we have left will be confiscated at the border village tomorrow before crossing into Western Australia (WA as we call it over here). This apparently is to control the spread of "fruit flies", our opinion is that it is a really good wheeze to get your yuletide fruit for nothing when it is at its most expensive!
Day 63: Nullabor to Belladonia . . . Thursday 27th December
Still alive after a peaceful night's bushcamp, breakfast was the remainder of our fruit with yoghurt and we were on the road pretty lively. Our first port of call and 30K detour by way of Fowler Bay another really beautiful location complete with Pelican on parade. Not far on we stopped at The Great Australian Bight Marine Park lookout (see pics) to witness the splendour. Plenty of dead kangaroos along the roadside which was now bordered by WA red soil. Just before the Quarantine stop we saw our first flying doctor landing strip which utilised part of the main highway by widening it for 400 yards or so (see pic). Quarantine pretty painless handing over 3 tomatoes and half a jar of honey, however the policeman on duty seemed to take a keen interest in Keith. It was 11 a.m and already 40C he requested license, date of birth and for him to undertake a breath test . . . it must have been the red face! Not thwarted, he asked if Keith knew the WA speed limit, which he did. Feeling a little cocky after passing the interrogation Keith wound down the window to wish him 'goodday' to which he replied "put your seat belt on or you'll get a $500 fine, mate!" With that, sad to leave his new found friend, we got away a bit lively. We saw a sign for water . . . tap plus glass . . . when we got there it was rain water collection point covered in Aboriginal graffitti, we passed on the water. We decided to stop messsing about and get on with the journey, we stopped for fuel at Eucla which was a real oasis with swimming pool, campsite and as we had bush camped yesterday we decided to have a shower ($6) think he saw us coming! On leaving Eucla we went over the pass and on decending we saw a lone cyclist at 40+C our hearts went out to him but we did question his sanity! Onwards to Caiguna our intended stop for the night, however when we got there we didn't fancy it and thought that we would bushcamp once more. On reaching our selected spots we found them once again covered in Aboriginal graffitti and I didn't feel comfortable about staying there, so we decided to push on via a stretch of road that was "dead straight" for 90K to Belladonia which was a road house campsite. The site itself was nothing special but it had a bar and restaurant and by this time we had covered over 700K and were pleasantly tired. At 7.30 p.m it was till 40C and even inside the van you couldn't touch the body so we opened the windows and went to the air-conditioned bar for a beer or two. Had a breeze come up about 1 a.m which cooled things down nicely.
Day 64: Belladonia to Salmon Gums (sounds like an oral problem) . . . Friday 28th December
Came through two time zones yesterday so didn't have a clue what time it really was. Should mention at this stage that petrol on the Nullabor is reaching UK prices (something that really pisses the Aussies off), however we needed to fill up before we moved on. Our first destination of the day some 180K distant was Norseman, the end of the Nullabor, we went to the Tourist Info Centre found out the correct time and was told where we might be able to get an internet connection . . . apparently Ron was only too happy to allow you to "plug in", when we met Ron we were a little confused as to his description of "plug-in" as he was the host of what appeared to be, lets say, Norseman's version of the YMCA. Keith had difficulty in getting a "connection" and while 'your man' was mincing about upstairs, we b*****ed off. After a yesterdays' long haul we decided on another 110K max to get us to SG which on first inspection seemed a bit "down home" but proved to be clean, cheap and all for less than a fiver . . . our kind of place!
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