After taking the dogs for a quick walk we packed up and left Broken Hill. Last year we just saw this clothes line out in the middle of nowhere when we were coming from the other direction. This time I was able to get a better pic of it. The things you see!...
We had always been careful when crossing borders and the quarantine check points as to limit our fruit and veg we had so we wouldn't have to hand too much over. We were also aware of the 2 big quarantine manned stations at the WA/SA borders and most of the others around the country were just bins with a bit of an honesty system. As we got closer to the NSW/SA border we realised this was a big manned quarantine checkpoint and we had just done a nice big shop at Broken Hill before we left! So we parked in a bay 200metres from the station and assessed what we had and what we could eat. It was hilarious as we tried to eat as much fruit and veg as we could so as not to waste it...
The nice man at the checkpoint who searched our caravan and car thoroughly let us keep a few things. We then stopped at Peterborough to restock...
And the dogs revisited Bob the Railway dog...
We continued on through the little towns...
And through the Flinders Ranges...
Before driving through the not so appealing town of Port Augusta...
We stopped for the night at Nutt Bush Retreat which is a working farm with a popular small caravan park. It is 40km out of Augusta...
Only downside for us was there was limited places to walk the dogs but we managed to find a bit of a bush track alongside the highway and watch the sunset...
Thanks to Bella we were up again early to watch the sunrise...
We continued on past Iron Knob (decided against calling in again)...
And negotiating some heavy haulage on the highway...
For some reason there was a huge police set up at Kimba and Peter was breath tested early on in the morning. Guess they were after truckies...
We stopped at Kimba for a break and the mandatory "Half way across Australia" photo with the big Galah...
We stopped at Wudinna for a visit to the bakery and about 5kms down the road we realised Peter had left my phone on the rear bumper of the car. Miraculously it was still sitting there and hadn't fallen off! We arrived at Streaky Bay mid afternoon and set up. Bella was very excited to be on the coast again and at her favourite place...
It was a beautiful evening and lovely sunset down by the jetty...
Next morning was another glorious day and perfect for walkies...
We left Streaky Bay and drove to Ceduna and went for another walk on the jetty...
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| Jetty shadows in the water |
Then it was out on the Eyre Highway and off across the Nullarbor...
We stopped for the night at Nullarbor Roadhouse and took the dogs for a walk along the track alongside the highway and watched the sunset. Felt a bit on edge as the man at the roadhouse had warned us to watch out for dingoes...
Next morning we got to watch the sunrise over the Nullarbor...
And off for another walk. This barron place really is so beautiful and unique in its own way...
As usual we were almost the last ones to leave...
We called in to look at the cliffs again...
And stopped at Border Village to eat more fruit and veg before going through the SA/WA quarantine checkpoint...
We got the very strict lady and she searched the car and caravan everywhere, we even had to take the dogs out...
We stopped at Eucla and walked down to the beach. It was very sea weedy but the dogs enjoyed their run...
Drove onto Madura Pass where there were heaps of trucks parked with all the drivers having their mandatory break in their shift and were sleeping in their cabs...
We camped at Caiguna that night and made an early start the next morning traveling nearly 600km's and made it all the way to Esperance. Set up in Dad's yard and then took the dogs for a well earned run on West Beach. It was so nice not to have to tie the dogs up and have a yard for them to run in! Next day we spent relaxing, went for a walk out on the jetty...
Had a cuppa in what was our old Commonwealth Bank where we met and worked together all those years ago and is now a Dome coffee shop...
Did a few touristy things like look at the Stonehenge replica (exact dimensions as the original in England)...
Strolled along the revamped foreshore which looks fantastic now...
Walked out on the jetty again...
Took a drive out to Twilight Beach and wondered how I swam out to the hole in the rock as a teenager...
Walked up to Observatory Lookout...
And did a few walks along our favourite West Beach...
We packed up while Dad did some woodwork in his tidy shed...
We left Esperance and drove to Lake Grace to spend the night before making it back home the next day.
The back yard grass had grown heaps...
But it was great to be home and curl up by the fire instead of our little fan heater in the caravan. It was a fantastic couple of months and we saw and learnt so much again about this fantastic country of ours!...
