Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Great Australian Bite

As our phone and internet coverage will be invariable as we travel from Ceduna and over the Nullarbor I will journal by days.
Day 1 Wed 10th August 2011.  Today we travelled to Mundroo and camped for the night opposite the Motel and Service Station.  We pulled up at lunchtime just 10klms past the turnoff to Fowlers Bay and extracted the Jimny and ventured into Fowler’s Bay.  We actually spotted some whales off shore, but they were not very clear.  Fowlers Bay was a lovely small fishing and holiday village.
The Fowler's Bay Jetty
  Showcasing the usual jetty and with accommodation opposite it also had lots of historical landmarks but the only old building still standing seemed to be the old Post and Telegraph Centre.  
The Post & Telegraph Building
 This Post and Telegraph office opened in 1865 and in 1927 the telegraph equipment was removed and in 1967 the post office part closed.  The last postmistress was Mrs Coral Beattie. 
Coorabbie Hall and old school site
 We took a different track out and did a round trip through Coorabbie and onto Mundroo in fact we very nearly forgot where we had parked the bus.  Lol.  We decided then to travel onto Mundroo and spend the night amongst the trucks in the truck bay.  Luckily the bus is reasonably soundproof so our sleep wasn’t disturbed.
Mundroo Motel and Service Station
Day 2 11th August 2011 We reached the (Camps 6 802) 222klm Peg in time for lunch and again took the jimny out and drove towards the water, we were now in the Great Australian Bite and the coastline reflected this.
  We carried on to (Camps 6 803) 165klms from the border and spent the night. The Coast was steep and rugged and the water was a beautiful aqua colour to a deep navy as it went out further, in places the cliffs had given away and it just looked like big bites had been taken out of the rocks. 
 We still hadn’t espied any whales but there were schools of dolphins just off shore and we did manage to take a couple of photos. 
No Whales but plenty of Dolphins
 I had to crop this photo intensely to show the dolphins in the water.  There were several people camping in the area, one caravaner has spent nearly two weeks in this spot.  An ideal camping spot for big rigs to park and turn around. 

 We also found an old hut (Gilgerabbie)in the middle of nowhere and a tower off the beaten track. 

 There was nothing for miles around in every direction.  It must have been a very lonely spot for the previous inhabitants.
Here we are parked and nothing around for miles in any direction
Day 3 12th August We reached the (Camps 6 805) 133klm peg for lunch and then reached (Camps 6 808) 52klm peg east of the WA border in the rest area.  This was a beautiful big parking spot, with three different areas for camping.  You could even camp out overlooking the water.

  We selected the middle parking near heaps of blue metal and we walked over to the coast to different points looking out to sea.
The rugged coastline
This bottom picture shows some of the erosion of the coast
Thats me up the top
Day 4 13th August.  First stop of the day was to (Camps 6 812) Great Australian Marine park rest area and took photos. 
The Beach at the great Australian Bite Marine Park
 The rest area overlooked the beach and was a very popular spot, the water had been visible from the road for most of the trip.  We parked next at (Camps 6 813) 10klm peg from the border and took the car to nearby Border Village.  We thought we may have been able to purchase a paper but no luck although I did buy a 125 litre of coke and a 100g bar of Chocolate and it set me back $10.  Very expensive!!  I was this close to WA.  Bill had to drag me kicking and screaming to the bus, just joking, but he doesn’t seem to want me to get over that border in a hurry.  It was good to be able to speak to Colin and Beryl today on skype and others on the phone and to have internet access.  We will spend the night here and travel on to Mundrabilla tomorrow. There probably won't be any more phone and internet until we reach Norseman now.

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