WA to SA Epic Pt. 4

Day 5 - Border Village Caravan Park to Fowlers Bay Eco Caravan Park (381Kms)
Day 7 - Fowlers Bay to Ceduna Shelly Beach Caravan Park (144Kms)

Today's plan was to cross the Nullabour, then stop at the Head of the Bight and finally continue on to Fowlers Bay.

For those that think the Nullabour is boring, then you really need to do the Hay plains!

On our way across, we stopped at one of the lookouts over the Great Australian Bight.

After the short stop it was on to the Head of the Bight. As we drew nearer to the Head of the Bight we discussed not stopping, but pushing on to Fowlers Bay. It was soon agreed upon to carry on.

Just before the turn off to Fowlers Bay we stopped at the Yalata Roadhouse for a break and some food. The place was hot and windy. We refueled the car and the body and moved on as soon as possible.

The road to Fowlers bay was dirt and quite rough, but we had a 4WD and our car was already dusty from the Hyden - Norsemen Rd.

​Coming into Fowlers bay you cross a salt lake.

Fowlers bay is a small fishing village, with only the caravan park reception functioning as the local shop. There was a bit of history to this place with it being named after one of Matthew Flinders crew. You can see that in one of the photos below. We quite enjoyed the time we spent here and would visit again.

The next lot of images are taken with my big camera. You can see the full images and further information on my Flickr album for this trip.

The wind picked up even more and wind speeds were climbing into the night. Unfortunately we were broadside to the wind and it was starting to collapse the tent of our camper and we made the decision to pull up stumps, before the wind destroyed our camper. It was a little scary pulling the camper down, as it has to be folded over and that presented a better sail for the wind. Luckily we didn't have too much issue, but one of the poles is a bit bent now.

Fortunately the road out to Penong was much better than the road in from Yalata.

On the trip out of Penong, Rebekah was phoning every place to find somewhere safe for us to stay. Most were booked out, but Rebekah found refuge in the caravan park at Shelly Beach, Ceduna. It was the same caravan park that we stayed at on the way to WA 3 years ago and the same one that we were meant to stay at the next night. We grabbed a cabin as we knew we would be tired and hungry by the time we got there. The whole way to Ceduna was blowing a gale. We pulled into the caravan park around 2130 and it wasn't until 2230 that we ate.

Ceduna is nothing special. Sure it is a bigger town and all, but I would highly recommend not staying longer than 2 nights and 3 at a pinch.

​One place of interest was west of Ceduna and that was McKenzie's Homestead near Denial Bay.
William (Mac) McKenzie 1844 -1906, was a pioneer farmer of Denial Bay, Blacksmith, Builder, Harbour Master and J.P. He settled in the Denial Bay area in the 1880s and assisted many in settling the surrounding districts.
You can see the ruins of his place below.
The last photo is a memorial to sea farers lost at sea.

Continue on to Part 5.