Sunday morning we left Kimba and stopped at Minnipa for the night. On the way we called into all the towns, which were like ghost towns, as it is a long weekend and everything was closed. Before lunch we arrived at Minnipa and headed a couple of kilometres out of town to Tcharkuldu Hill, which is a granite rock formation. We did an easy walk up to the top of the hill, before we had lunch and decided to camp the night. We met another couple, Carol and Tommy from Geelong (once from Rye) and enjoyed happy hour with them around a campfire. Whilst happy hour was on, we had a homemade pizza cooking in the weber.

Last year in our travels we listened to podcast and loved listening to them. This year we have discovered audiobooks and have been enjoying our first audiobook, Marching Powder by an Australian author, Rusty Young (thank you Ashley Bailey, for the recommendation) we had just finished it prior to arriving at Ceduna and we would highly recommend this book, it runs for approx. 14 hours.

The next couple of days we spent in and around Ceduna, doing DABUS jobs; washing, cleaning and stocking up on supplies. We obtained info at the visitors information centre and was surprised to see that you can now do tours through Maralinga, the site of the British nuclear program in the 1950's. The tour covers two nights camping at the Maralinga Village, entry permit and a full day tour. We would have loved to have done the tour but you need enough fuel to get you the 800km round trip from Ceduna.

We also were waiting for the specials at both supermarkets, as NO Pepsi was on special. Needless to say not enough was purchased at Port Augusta, and the next Woolworths is about 1400kms away…..One of us is going to be like a bear with a sore head if he has to pay $28 for 24 cans……

The weather in Ceduna is 17 degress each day, but we have certainly experienced some very cold nights during our travels, so far. We would like to thank Fred and ………DABUS2 for the loan of the generator…..yes this is our fourth trip travelling and have finally succumbed to travelling with a generator. Hopefully before our 2019 trip this issue will be sorted and the conversation of batteries, fridges, voltage etc might ease………One of us, or both of us, will be a lot less frustrated….

Before heading out of Ceduna, our last stop was to go back to the supermarket. The shelves were being stocked, as a truck had arrived throughout the night and it was all hands on deck for most of the staff. The staff all started at 6am to ensure the truck could be unloaded and send on his way and to ensure the depleated shelves were restocked. So the big question is……..

Is there any Pepsi on the shelves and is there any on special?………….

Mmmmm, lets just say Alan walked out of that store with three boxes of Pepsi Max cans and only paid $18.99 and $10 per carton less than yesterday….It was still more that he would have paid at home but it will stop him from stressing……

We camped near Yalata, a fair way off the highway and had heaps of firewood. Had a fantastic campfire for the night, having oysters, whiting and salad for dinner.

In the morning our first stop was the Head of the Bight, which we hadn't been to previously. For $7 per person & $5 for seniors it certainly was well worth the stop. We saw about six southern right whales and two young calves, and loved the stunning views. As we were heading back to the highway, we came across an albino dingo and yes we missed the photo opportunity. We had a phone call and it was Tim, Lorelle's brother-in-law (for those who don't know Tim) and he is heading across the Nullarbor from Western Australia, so we arranged to catch up the following night. We stopped the night just 10km from the WA/SA border and another cook up was had before crossing the border. Our camp overlooked The Great Australian Bight, we camped on an escapement looking down at massive sand dunes, a little bit windy but stunning views and listening to the waves crashing all night.

Our phones have turned to WA time, so we have just gained an extra one & half hours, or so we thought. The following afternoon we stopped a Madura campground and when getting the run down on restaurant time etc we were instructed to make sure our clocks were on Madura time. As first we both thought the guy was pulling our legs, but no our clocks had to go back 45mins, as we were in the Central Western time zone. Looking at a map, this is such a small time zone, about a couple of hours driving the following day we were back on Perth/Western time zone. Previously this time zone hadn't affected us, as we had driven straight through.

About 6.30pm a Budget truck arrived near our camp, with two blokes calling out to us. It was Tim and Richard, we all enjoyed a great night having dinner at the Madura Restaurant and then back at DABUS enjoying a few drinks. It was great to catch up with family when so far from home, in the middle of the Nullarbor.

The Supercars were racing in Darwin for the weekend, so the statistical analysis, Alan, worked out were we could stop across the Nullarbour, were we would get great internet to watch the Supercars. Saturday we drove the 90 mile straight (146.6km) which is Australia's longest straight section of road between Caiguna and Balladonia. Alan got to watch qualifying as we drove along then we stopped at the Balladonia Roadhouse and watched Saturday's racing.

Sunday lunchtime we arrived at Norseman. It has taken us five days to cross the Nullarbor from Ceduna, last time it took us three days. It was much more pleasurable this time, as three years ago when we crossed the Nullarbor the weather was in the high 30's, with heaps of flies and bees. At Norseman we had lunch, whilst watching the Supercars, before moving onto a free camp 10 km north of Kambalda.