Today we headed off early knowing that we were doing a few hundred kms....our aim being Border Village which was 400kms away on the SA/WA border, hence the name (very original). Not a bad day of driving in the life of a traveler.
We were all very excited about today as there are a few stops along the way for sight seeing, l couldn't wait to see the Great Australian Bight. The first stop Nundroo to fill up on some fuel and check out the Nullarbor golf course. cant believe they charge you $70 to play it!! hence we just took a photo with the kids holding the flag. what a bloody rip off!! just over the road we got to also take the famous Nullarbor photo of the yellow animal warning sign with a camel, wombat and kangaroo on it (photo in next blog). What you'd think would take a few minutes ended up in what seemed to be a staged photo shoot with both families taking turns striking a pose. The road in the horizon was a long stretch of bitumen with baron land surrounding it. Marty and l had a photo just the two of us having a cuddle in the middle of the road which somehow ended in a bit if fun with him grabbing some tit and me cupping him elsewhere (if you can use your imagine)!! Kids sometimes see M rated moments on the trip but was all done in fun and Hazza was the funniest, l think he even blushed!! Lol....
Just up the road we decided to turn off left to check out the Great Australian Bight lookout centre and have some lunch at the same time. The visitor centre was a bit if a rip off, wanting to charge us a $10 entry fee just to walk down to a viewing platform, so we decided to give it a miss and the kids just watched a movie about the whales instead. After lunch we headed half an hour down the road to a lookout Nikki knew about called 'peg 133k'. The kids were quite happy watching a movie in the car so we left it running as us adults got to see the amazing Bight without the distractions of kids falling off the cliffs edge! The lookout wasn't fenced and the wind was so strong and fierce, l reckon Meg would've been blown off. I was really quite petrified that l too would be blown off and had to constantly think not to get too close to the edge. When we got to the closest edge point that we dared, we were all amazed at the sight before our eyes. Looking out to the horizon all you could see was the gorgeous blue ocean and if you looked from the furthest of the right and then went all round to the left you could actually see the curvature of the earth, totally amazing! After that picture was stored in my memory l then focused on the cliffs. I looked over to my right and all that was facing me was a long line of cliffs, all with a continuous pattern of different coloured stone. Then crashing into the cliffs down a long way below way a beautiful bright blue sea. Huge waves came crashing in. I was speechless and so impressed eight eh beauty this one lookout was offering. Whilst posing for some pics infringing of the amazing backdrop, Marty decided to have a bit of fun at my expense. Whilst trying to have a nice couple shot he then proceeded in pretending to push me off the cliff, lucky l had my footing! This place just totally transfixed with me and made me appreciate our amazing country that we have. We have come off a road with baron country and travelled a few kms down to the Southern edge of mainland Australia to find this stunning masterpiece of color and enormity! So in love with Australia. We made one more pit stop to check out the cliffs along the way, this time the older kids got out for a look but seemed less impressed than us by what they saw. Nikki took an amazing shot of Marty and l sharing a kiss, we both giggled at how professional it looked. After being wind blown for a bit we set off again down the road, next stop to be our camp site a mere 190kms down the road. The weather is setting in to being windy and cold which is a shame. After having such a feast for our eyes we now realise that for the rest if the day there will be no more treats. As we drive on this road of nothingness, the only exciting thing we pass occasionally are the wind blown trees which are actually growing nearly on there side. Just makes we realises how strong and extreme the winds must get out here.
For the best part of the day l have my head in the kindle reading as l come to terms with the 'Nullarboring' road of nothingness. I got a tad bored and when l had a little reception l actually googled what Nullarbor means. Nullarbor is actually the Latin word for 'no trees', and l can tell you they are so right. Apart from the very occasional side growing tree to see there is absolutely nothing to look at. Not even any big birds such as eagles feasting on the side if the road. The only bird life out here ate crows, and there are plenty of them around.
We finally pull up at our campsite around late arvo. We pulled up at the '13 k peg' which is a rest area that overlooks some of the Southern Ocean and beach. It was a less than impressive area, full of rubbish and overflowing bins. I have never seen so much toilet paper flying around in my life. I thought "the tip" up at Cape York was a dump site, well l think this place trumped it. Bit sad really. Don't know how long since the bins were emptied? We decided to camp here so that we could do a big cook up of all our veggies and stuff for when we crossed the WA border tomorrow. We are the traveling family and we so can't afford to waste food. I took to making a chicken curry, which thanks to Nikki l had the ingredients!! I also whipped up a loaf of bread in the oven seeing bakeries are few and far between. By the time l had finished cooking l think l had only a couple of apples that were not used. Seeing it was so cold, we huddled into the van early. I can't believe how windy it is, our van was shaking with the big gusts. There is no way the Jayco would have survived, it would have been blown to bits! Anyway, hoping the wind dies down so that l can get some sleep. At least with the wind l might get rocked to sleep!! Lol.... So excited for tomorrow. I have been waiting to get to Western Australia since we started this trip. I have a lot of hopes and aspirations for this state, so it better not let me down!!!
Bell Xxx