Another church? Another castle? … no!!! It’s another Jetty …

A short 40km today … yes, in the car. We have done enough in Ceduna, seeing people in the street that you met at the pub the night before … we are locals now.

The gypsum mining is alive especially evident at night when the trains come through and go to Thevenard, the deep sea port, a couple of kms from Ceduna … they are long trains, you hear every carriage. Everything here is long … road trains 4 trailers a common sight.  The jetties are long. The locals like to have a long chat, in particular caravan park owners.

A stop at deserted Laura’s Beach. Lovely white sand, lovely views from where we scurry up the cliffs.

1pm and we are all set up at camp, the ‘good’ park is full so we are a couple of kms out. Downtown is a very sleepy hollow. I just want to eat the vanilla slice I bought in Ceduna. We had better eat lunch too. A little median strip with a picnic table; the beach and long jetty in the background … I laugh to myself.

… teenage memories of going to Caloundra, Queensland with Mum and Dad and having a picnic in the middle of a triangular park in the middle of the town … I was soooo embarrassed … look what’s happened I’m doing it now … still laughing!!!

‘Travelling Tinnies’ … is what they are called around here (some peeps from interstate) … the population increases they are all set up with their tinnies, vans and car fridges to fish until the fridges are full. That is why accommodation is at a premium. The jetty boat ramp is full of empty trailers as we pass by. This is indicative of the Eyre Penninsula.

World class oysters come from the Eyre Penninsula and Smoky Bay is no exception, they are cheap and fresh … shame I don’t like them, however I’m determined to try some at a restaurant.

The draw card to Smoky Bay; the Community Club is open for meals tonight and gets a good rapt on Wikicamps. Oops I got that wrong … Friday and Sunday night only … we have a drink and a pizza from the club and chat with other patron also travellers. It’s 8pm sunset over the jetty, of course!!

He said, ‘it’s Friday, it feels like a Saturday’, she says, ‘I think it feels like a Holiday‘

7.10am and I wake up … what!!!! Half the day has gone. We have escalated from camping to glamping … we can stand up in our 8 person tent and it’s a ‘dark’ tent … you all know I love waking up with the sun … ummm 🙄 it was John’s choice.

After long chat with Fran from the Information Centre we are armed with information flyers and all set to go.

Denial Bay was the original settlement, now home of large oyster farming. The tide is in so we can’t see the exposed oyster beds. A nice walk along the 500m jetty and look at McKenzie’s ruins, one of the first settlers in the region.

Onwards a drive to Thevenard to the port and silos. The main export is gypsum. We mosey into a fish wholesaler just as a load of King George Whiting was delivered.

A pre dinner on the foreshore, being entertained by the locals then shower and walk to the pub for local barramundi …

‘Is this local?’ ‘Yes, they grown it at the school, they study aquaculture’

Less than an hour and we are in Eucla diverting off towards the Old Telegraph Station ruins, the beach is a half hour walk over the sand dunes, we take the challenge. The beach is deserted and pristine … the remains of the old Eucla Jetty is a great prop for photos. It’s an amazing day, high cloud cover, little wind, the water is still quite warm as we take a dip.

Onward to the state border and we travel close to the coast with amazing views of the Great Australian Bight. Lots of side roads to stop at.

Ahead we drive through little outback roadhouses … and a small stretch of ‘the Nullarbor’ meaning no trees. Destined to Ceduna we travel through bush then farmland … the odd sheep in paddocks, the quarantine check point took the rest of my home grown cherry tomatoes of which I had spent the afternoon munching on them while at the wheel.

Driving into Ceduna, I have childhood memories of the tall Norfolk Island pine trees lining the streets when we were kids with Mum, Dad, 3 siblings and Nanna on our way to Perth in the middle of summer in some sort of a Holden sedan with a trailer, dirt roads and tenting .. ahh! that’s where I get it from!!!

Today we put up the big tent as we are staying 2 nights, remarkably easy set up. The local pub by the jetty a perfect setting for dinner as the sun sets … we are in civilisation at last.

A lovely night in my tent, although I had to share 😉.

I think I had the shortest shower of all time this morning … anybody who knows me, knows I like my showers … 5 sec to wet myself, tap off … soap up then < 1 min to wash off!  That’s something for me!!!

I met the 2 cyclists, and they are from Quebec, Canada (French). 2 guys, ones 50th birthday experience … ridden from Cairns and heading to Perth via Esperance. Then they will try and get a ride to Port Augusta and cycle through the centre to Darwin, then home … what a marathon!!

A proposed shorter drive today heading to Eucla. Perfect conditions … cloudy, low 20s even a shower of rain to clean the windscreen.  Caiguna for a coffee and a hole of the longest golf course and a very interesting breakfast menu.

Wikicamps app is amazing … giving all the rest stops and points of interest.  It’s offline, so very useful.  We stopped at the Madura caves by recommendation of wiki reviews. However, there was mention of a death adder … yes, I saw that, so my cave exploration came to a halt … no way was I venturing down the caves to meet his family.

Our proposed destination was Eucla, but wiki reviews said Mundrabilla was a better place for a cooked meal and camping … so here we are in the middle of nowhere all set up in the dust.  A bit of a false alarm … thought I’d lost the tent pegs … looked under the tent, not there, so John had to retrieve the big tent pegs … it turned out I had a ‘man’s look’ found them under the tent … whew!!!

Ready, set, 6.30am and off we go heading east. The plan is to discover the Eyre and Yorke Penninsulas in South Australia.

The original plan was an unsupported bike trip with some CTAWA cyclists of the Murray River (flying to Adelaide) which runs through South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales over 2500km. Extensive flooding and mosquito borne viruses put me off, however 5 cyclists have set off on the journey.

Meanwhile, we are in the car, bikes on the back, our 8 person tent and my light weight 2 person hiking tent.

We are going to take our time, John!! He wants to get to Balladonia tonight … some 916km away … slow? I will pull in the reigns when we cross the Nullarbor.

Onward to Norseman … glimpses of the salt lakes from the road. We need a pic, John! No traffic … he slows down and a pic from the window … ugh … I miss travelling on my bike, I would stop and have time. Entering Norseman and missed pic opportunities, signage ‘No water from Norseman to Ceduna, Fill up in Norseman’ and true to it’s word, 2 hours later we get to Balladonia. The caravan/camping park has electricity but no water points. Laps of the park and being watched by caravaners as theycare into there 5pm drinkies, we find a spot and put up my hiking tent. Very snug inside with John’s single inflatable velour mattress against my 300g hiking job. I’m going to have to work on that!!!

A mild day … not a cloud in the sky. Perth to Merredin through the wheatbelt … dry paddocks of harvested grains, it was a bumper crop for the farmers according to ‘A Country Hour’ on the ABC radio today. A quick coffee in Merredin, we leave the farms and out in the bush, gums and low shrubs and the Perth to Kalgoorie water pipe at our side, occasionally switching across the road. Stopping in Coolgardie for lunch in a local park; upon leaving, it is decided that it might be worth a look on our return.

The park had about 20 vans, a few tents … most impressive was the two tents, two touring bikes, makeshift washing line with washing and no car … my heart skipped a beat with excitement … I need to talk to those cyclists.