south australia: the great australian bight

The guide books will tell you that you must stop at the Head of the Bight. I have two pieces of advice:

1. If you do, take a fly net with you, and

2. You get amazing views from the following three look-outs and they are free. 

The Head of Bight is a stunning and accessible spot with a boardwalk to the cliffs edge. 

The three look-outs give you expansive views along the sheer coastline. It would be amazing watching whales from these vantage spots where people have bragged at having seen them frolick in the waters below. 

You can see we had clear skies! 

Look out at Great Australian Bight

Look out number ? 

south australia: fowlers bay

We met this shingle back lizard on the road in to Fowlers Bay. He was not too pleased to see us! 

Remember Bob from Napperby? He suggested we stay in Fowlers Bay as he's visited many times over the years and  fishing for squid off the town jetty is popular. We didn't catch any squid but we did stay for two nights. 

View of Fowlers Bay from the sand dunes. 

I've never seen sand dunes like the ones at Fowlers Bay and it seems they're slowly encroaching on to the town as the towns main road was where the dunes now stand. 

It's an interesting town of only a few houses and feels so isolated given that the town's water supply is from an aquifer. What look like garden hoses run from the aquifer amongst the dunes to the homes of Fowlers Bay. The town uses solar energy and a generator kicks in when that runs out. 

If you're intending to stay at Fowlers be sure to fill your water tanks beforehand as you can't fill from the caravan park. There's also no dump point. 

We enjoyed sitting by the camp fire at night at the caravan park and the kids enjoyed meeting other kids who were staying too. 

south australia: perlubie beach

Pandurra Station to Streaky Bay is a decent drive with the kids so we made sure we stopped for a play in the park at Minnipa! And there was Tully and his folks again! Now we don't know who was following who but it was nice to see familiar faces!!

If we'd had the time we would've visited Pildappa Rock. Apparently it's a delightful place to stay. Our list of places to visit on our next trip is getting longer! 

We stopped in at Streaky Bay which was our last stop at a supermarket before hitting the bitumen across the Nullabor. I made sure we stocked up on fresh veggies (including carrots, sweet potato and corn which can be taken across the border) and frozen veggies because I knew we'd miss them in the few days from the WA border to the next supermarket. 

Oh and another tip. Fill up with diesel at Poochera. Streaky Bay was an extra 20c litre which adds up!

If you can free camp then Perlubie Beach is a place you'll want to stay. If you have the right gear you can even camp right on the beach. We arrived at Perlubie late in the afternoon and found ourselves a spot in the carpark just behind the beach. J remarked "I reckon we could get the van on to the beach. Might be an adventure." As we were planning to leave as early as possible the following morning it wasn't really an adventure I was comfortable with. We settled with a compromise and ate dinner on the beach after the boys explored the caves on the western end. What a spot!

south australia: nuttbush retreat, pandurra station, iron knob, kimba

You can stay in Ceduna on the SA end of the Nullabor but we opted for the sheep station of Pandyrra also known as Nuttbush Retreat. I love staying on stations. There's a welcoming sense of staying at someone's place. We were lucky to meet a really lovely family - Mum, Dad and 3 year old Tully - at Nuttbush and we've kept in touch and stayed with them a number of times across the Nullabor. It's really special meeting like minded travellers on the road and we kept a look out for each other as we drove that long stretch. 

We'll be seeing Tully's family along the WA west coast too. I'm looking forward to more campfire laughs! 

Seeing our first Sturt Desert Pea was pretty special. 

The Big Galah in Kimba. We love big things. 

south australia: napperby

For as long as I can remember my family 

spoke of my grandmother's uncle, Cyril, who enlisted at the outbreak of World War One and was killed on ANZAC Day at Gallipoli at the age of 22. My grandmother's mother, his sister, was only one and a half years old when he died. 

This photograph of Cyril atop a camel in Egypt was displayed in my grandmother's home. (It turns out that copies were sent home and distributed to each of Cyril's siblings from Cyril himself in Christmas 1914).  

Leading up to the centenary of the Gallipoli landings a group of West Australians made it their mission to identify each of the West Australian soldiers who died at Gallipoli. They have also identified many of the men of the 11th Battalion who were photographed at the pyramid in Cheops. Cyril is #587. 

Articles have been published in the newspapers and, as a result, more family has come out of the woodwork. Who would have thought that, one hundred years on my great, great uncle's death could bring the family's branches all together? It's been particularly overwhelming for my cousin, who now lives in Switzerland, as she has recorded  so much of our family history & genealogy. 

This photo surfaced in an old album and the people have been identified as the grandparents of Cyril at the Napperby Store. My cousin flicked this photo to me so that I might be able to visit the town. As it happened Napperby was a short detour for us - not far inland from Port Pirie. 

It only took a few minutes to drive through the streets of small town of Napperby. We found a playground and set about getting lunch together when a local, Bob, pulled up asking if we needed help. 

I showed Bob the photo and, intrigued as he was, he stayed a while and we discussed the history of Napperby and its townsfolk. Obviously we didn't expect the Napperby Store to exist nowadays but Bob suggested some of the older folk in town might recognise others in the photographs - and may well have photos of my family too. 

Bob is now on a mission! And it's pretty exciting for us!!