Today is the first of October and close to the end of our odessy.

This morning as usual we left our camp at the comfortable time of 10am long after everyone else who was camped with us. Before leaving however Elaine had chatted with a couple of Weagles supporters on there way to Melbourne and was given a flag so that we could show our allegiance. By the way we were dumbfounded at the cost of their tickets.

Still heading west we stopped briefly at Yalata where the road house has been boarded up due, we discovered to asbestos issues. Then on to the Head of the Bight. This basically is the northern most point of the Great Australian  Bight and the start of the very spectacular Bunda Cliffs. To quote from the brochure 'whales take up residence here for an entire 5 month period from June to October'. Unfortunately it is the end of the season but we were fortunate enough to see a couple of mothers with calves. We have seen whales before and at much closer quarters but this was a new and very nice experience. The centre is, presumably, owned by the local Yalata community and the shop is run by whities. The whole set up is great with a well set up visitor centre that blends into the surroundings and has the usual story boards explaining everything including the geology, the marine details etc. Then after paying our entrance fee, reduced because we are seniors and reduced again because it is late in the season, we walked down to the viewing platforms. One is a lookout with a good view over the ocean and an excellent view of the Bunda Cliffs, the other is a boardwalk meandering down the hill to the cliff edge. In this case the boardwalk provided an excellent view of mother and calf really close to shore.

Tonight we are camped in a specially provided area at the gates to the HOB, just a flat surface with an old building in the middle.

Wednesday September 30

We followed our usual routine this morning and were, successfully, the last to leave our camp at the Cohen Old School site. 

First stop was Fowlers Bay, we hadn't intended to go there as we understood the road to be bad. However we were advised last night that if we used the eastern road it was good, and it was, part sealed, part unsealed both good smooth roads. Fowlers Bay is another nice town whose main industry is tourist fishing and whale watching. There were no whales to be seen, but it is late in the season and we have seen a lot whales whilst sailing. The town has quite a long history which is set out on a number of story boards along the main street which is on the waterfront. Very pleasant, then we went back to Eyre Highway and proceeded to the town of Nundroo where we fueled up and had a brief chat with a West Coast Eagles fan heading east. There is a steady stream of vehicles on this road heading east, trucks, caravans, etc and quite a few cars not towing anything. A high proportion of the cars have WA plates and you can guess where they are going.  

We are camped tonight at one of the many rest ares, this one about 40kms west of Nundroo. 

Today we were, as usual, last out, this time by design. We did a bit of a clean up and trimmed up the wood we are carrying. We have been told that firewood is a bit hard to come by on the Nullabor, although so far the reverse is true, so we have stocked up. We then headed off going west on what is basically the last leg of our trip, all 2000 approx kms of it, but today's leg was not far at all.

Now I have been saving this one up for a little while as we are now camped at the COHEN OLD SCHOOL site. There is not much here, just a sign and the remains of a building that was presumably the old school house. I have spent a bit of time on Google trying to track down the history as I gather that there was a town called Cohen. However I have not been able to learn anything but will ask question as we proceed. Having got here we set up a fire and made some Passover rolls from a packet that we have carried since Perth, followed by Elaine making one of her famous minestrones on the same fire in the same camp oven.

It is quite a nice spot away from the road with views over a farmers fields and tonight we have 6 neighbours.

Last night there were only 2 of us in the van park, however our hosts did a campfires and invited both of us to join them. We chatted for a while then cooked our meat on their bbq before retiring to our van to eat and sleep. So it was easy to be last out this morning and we took our time anyway as we were not travelling far. The van got watered we got showered and off we went to Ceduna.

Ceduna is basically the start of the Nullabor crossing and like all the others on the Eyre Penninsula is a very nice town clean and tidy and welcoming. So we shopped, fueled, grogged and headed off along the Eyre Highway. The first stop was not suitable for an overnightet so we moved on and are now camped with a few other people at a rest stop, I think the Koonimba but anyway about 80km west of Ceduna. We have also just had one of Elaine's great meals, roast chicken, cooked on our fire pot.

Easy day today, we got going early, for us that is, and headed for a place called Smoky Bay where we are safely ensconced in Baldwins Van Park. A van park was necessary today because Elaine wanted to use a washing machine. So we did the washing and other good things and went into town to see what there is to see. Like most of these towns it is a very neat and tidy place with lots of new looking houses. There is also a jetty with a very interesting restoration story. Apparently they got organised then nothing happened so a few years back they started again and this time suceeded. The design was done by a Western Australian called Murray Drew who donated his services and lots of volunteers helped along with government and shire money with the total cost over $600,000. They sold planks as part of the fundraising and they can be seen with the names of the donors engraved in them as you walk along the jetty. There was also a lovely little cavorting alongside, but unfortunately he was nursing an injury from one of those damn jet skis.

Have to go as our hosts have invited us to join them at the bonfire.

We have spent the day here at the Haslam campground. The town is very small there are less 100 people here but it is a nice little place and the campground is basic but adequate.  This mornings exploration revealed a long jetty and a rocky foreshore. There was also story boards giving the history of the town. Then I watched somebody launch their boat by driving their 4wd across about 100 metres of shallow water then manhandle their boat off the trailer, then take the vehicle back to the shore and walk back out to the boat. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the van and researching the stops across the Nullabor followed by happy hour with the other motorhomes here.

Ok this is Saturday but I am pretending that it is Friday and this is my Friday blog.

I stepped out of the van into water.........just kidding, but we were that close to the water. The high tide was about 5 metres in front of our van and the beach was covered in seaweed. At low tide sand was exposed for about 100 metres from our van and there was a bit of fun watching people drive over the wet sand and around puddles to lauch their boats. There was not many rocks or shells on the beach but what there was were very nice. So that despite my intention not to collect either I finished up with quite a big collection, mainly shells.

We left fairly early, like about 10am, due to fact that sand was getting into every available nook and cranny, both on the van and on us. When we got to the main road we stopped and did a bit of a clean up. Then proceeded to Haslam campground about 80km along the road, turning off the highway onto what is probably the worst road that we have encountered for a long time. We did however get there in one piece only to discover that our TomTom could have chosen a sealed road a bit further on, naughty boy!

We will spend a couple of days here to tidy up and prepare for the 1300km Nullabor crossing along with a number of other motorhomes heading to Albany.