Day four..........Sunday November 12th

 Day four started out late, and we departed about 10am after refuelling at Penong. 

                                  

We were heading for the Great Australian Bight and the SA/WA border, with an unknown evening destination. The country was still mainly cropping, but as we headed west it turned into more marginal with low vegetation. 

Since Barry's last trip to the west about 5 years ago, there has been a lot of work on the road and it is now very good. The trees were larger from Nundroo to Yalata. 

                                       

Just after Yalata there was a sign that says beware of camels, wombats and kangaroos!! There were many signs along the highway like this, although some skipped the camels and wombats and included cows, or emus. We were thankful that we did not come across any live animals on the road, but did see many dead wombats in SA and quite a few kangaroos once we crossed into WA.

                                    

                                    We detoured off the main road and headed into the Bight.

This was the information centre which served a light lunch and took your payment to walk out to the viewing platform. It cost us $9 each to enter.

This is the toilet block, and has long drop toilets!! Wouldn't want to drop your phone or purse down these, they are a looong way down!!

This is the board walk viewing platform where you can observe the whales. Unfortunately there were no whales to be seen. The season for them finishes in October.

Next fuel stop was at Nullabor. Not having been across to WA before, looking at the map and noting the towns marked, I had expected towns, but they are really only little more than  a roadhouse, fuel, a basic caravan park and sometimes motel rooms. No houses in sight, so I wonder about staff to work in these places?? Even farm life seems to be non existent.

This was the original Nullabor roadhouse and has been preserved for tourists to see.

The price of diesel at Nullabor was the highest we have seen, at $2.99 a litre.

Further on from Nullabor we took another detour into the coast line to Bunda Cliffs. The wind was so strong here, that it was hard to walk without being blown over, and I was a bit reluctant to walk out to the viewing platform. With 'encouragement' and hanging on tight to each other, we managed the walk and this was the view!! Well worth the effort. Going back to the car the wind was so strong that we worried that the car doors would blow off.

We have an amazing coastline along here.

In several places along the highway, you see the following signs, where the Royal Flying Doctor planes can land on the highway if needed.

Next stop was Border Village where we went through the quarantine station. We expected this and had no fruit or vegetables on board. I was wondering about the almonds I had, and whether they were seeds or not. But apparently they were ok which was a relief.

This was the border between South Australia and Western Australia. We had arrived!!

The next mark on the map was Eucla, and we had a quick look at this.

There is a cross that has been erected on the top of a hill, and it is very visible from the highway, a long way off peaticularly at night as it is illuminated.

This pic shows the highway down on the plains, from the top of the hill.

There is also a memorial to Edward John Eyre at this sight. 

We travelled further to the next stop at Mundrabilla, which was very basic, had power,

but no water available. Internet was very weak here, but the combination of 2 phones, one with Optus and one with Telstra, the Cell Fi Go and hotspotting, did help, although it was a bit hit and miss.

Blessings, From Jude