OMG, Bob and I have just made right idiots of ourselves. We went back to a shop where we thought we had seen a rack of shorts outside, but it turned out that this shop was actually in the last town we visited and not this one!! In our defence all these small seaside towns on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula tend to have one main street leading down to a foreshore and a jetty, with some smaller streets off to the side, but it was the look on the girl's face when she suddenly realised we were talking about a shop 111kms away. Ooops! It was then that we took stock of just how many places we have stopped in - 20 different caravan sites in January and 14 in February!

Today we are having a lazy day at Ceduna before starting our crossing of the Nullabor tomorrow. So what about the rest of South Australia (SA) I hear you ask?! Well, I have to say we have loved this state and think it's very underrated as a tourist destination. Most people on the caravan sites are Australian; there are very few foreign tourists, in rented campers and motorhomes, by comparison with the other states we have visited so far. Maybe that's why we like it?!

Anyway, our start in SA was not a good one. Winnie was booked in for a routine service in Adelaide, where we were invited to park on the garage forecourt overnight. There was a howling wind, Winnie was rocking all night (from the wind!) and we got very little sleep. Things got worse when we learnt Winnie needed new tyres, a new battery and new ball joints, but we are doing a lot of kms (nearly 20,000 kms since we bought her!) so we have to expect these things I guess! We were cheered up that evening though by Maxine and Ray, complete strangers to us but introduced by Lawrence (thanks Lawrence!), who picked us up and took us to their house for dinner. We had such a lovely evening , and we still talk about how amazing it was that we all got on so well. In fact we got on so well that we played tennis with them both the next day, before being shown around the illuminated buildings of Adelaide that evening. This was part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival and the animated illuminations were awesome. Thanks Maxine and Ray for making our stay in Adelaide so enjoyable! Another Adelaide highlight was a tour around the Adelaide Oval - we know it as a cricket venue, but it is also used as an Aussie rules football venue. It is very historic and has a manually operated scoreboard dating from 1910. We were allowed inside, while a match was on, and witnessed them operating the scoring machinery - both with their hands and feet! The ground also only has stands on 3 sides and is open at one end where the scoreboard is. The open area has been declared a Heritage area and so a stand will never be built there.

And then we were off to the Barossa Valley where we bumped, almost literally, into Alison and Bob B. We know this as they had their names and phone number sign written on the back of their caravan! Well, this caravan site was large and almost empty. We first noticed them as Alison came marching towards us with map in hand. She seemed to be having difficulty in reading it as she marched up and down several times, then seemed to take an interest in the site immediately behind ours. We watched in disbelief as she then directed her Bob to reverse their van up to the back of Winnie. They had the whole place to choose from and yet were literally inches away from us. Have a look at the photos - unbelievable!! Needless to say, we didn't make an effort to be particularly quiet, as we would normally, when we packed up and left at 7am the next morning!

However, the rest of our Barossa experience was great - Timo picked us up in his Wine Wagon and took us to several wineries to taste the acclaimed Shiraz and Reislings, which are what this area is famous for. We enjoyed lunch, visited a cheese shop, a Mettwurst shop and Maggie Beer's. Maggie Beer is a famous chef over here and is on Australia's Masterchef. Her shop features all her own recipes, chutneys, jams, pates, salad dressings, olive oils, vinegars etc etc and the unique feature is that you can taste everything. Of course, it also makes you buy something as it is all so delicious!

We then headed to the Eyre Peninsula. Some people just drive across the top and head straight to the Nullabor. We decided to drive down the Peninsula and up the other side - a longer route, but prettier, and I had heard good reports about Coffin Bay! First stop was Whyalla, which reminded us of Jersey - the tide had gone out such a long way that you couldn't actually see the sea at one end of the bay! Our site was right on the beach but they provided windbreaks, a nice touch and very useful! Then on to Port Lincoln near the tip of the Peninsula, stopping at Cowell, and Tumby Bay on the way, each with their immaculate foreshore and jetty! Here we decided to give Winnie a wash - easier said than done as the hose kept getting stuck on Winnie's roof. It was windy so poor Bob got soaked into the bargain as I hid round the corner and just kept feeding the machine with dollars!

Next stop was the eagerly anticipated Coffin Bay, the oyster capital of the Eyre Peninsula. We arrived just after lunch and immediately jumped on our bikes to explore. Around the first corner we spotted an enormous kangaroo, which bounded off past us down the middle of the road, causing a few concerned motorists to stop, and then a family of emus calmly walked across the road in front of us. It made me realise how vulnerable we were, on our bikes and so close to these large animals that can, by all accounts, become very aggressive if they feel threatened. Winnie does give us a huge sense of security! That night, on good recommendation, we booked a table at a local restaurant and tried cooked oysters, tuna and prawns - all cooked to perfection. The next day we were so excited - we had booked an oyster farm tour, but this one is the only one in the world where you don a pair of waders, walk out in the bay to the farm, and learn to shuck your own oysters fresh from the sea while sitting on a pontoon with your legs in the water. Oh, and while enjoying a cold glass of Reisling as well! We learnt such a lot about oysters and the farming, as well as sampling them. Bob and I have both tried oysters once before but they had a dressing on them. These were 'au naturelle', and couldn't have been any fresher. Awesome! The waders weren't the most flattering but they kept us dry, and we just loved the whole experience!

Further up the coast we stopped at Elliston. Again, it was windy and we have figured that it must be a feature of this coastline as all the trees are bending one way! We were going to stay at the local Golf Club but, when we discovered it was on the top of a hill, we reconsidered and settled for the shelter of the caravan park in town where we witnessed an amazing sunset over the sea. As I said in the intro, all these little places have foreshores and jetties. The jetties are all wooden and their pillars have all been replaced, or strengthened with iron. Some only have a handrail on one side, which is a little off-putting, and most look in need of a little tlc. I'm sure they would be condemned in England, or at least, have a Health and Safety warning! However, all these jetties are a reminder of the past when ships were the main source of supplies. Today they are mainly used by fisherman (and people going for long walks!) as the days of working jetties are long gone.

On the way to Ceduna we stopped at Murphy's Haystacks as we were intrigued by the name. These turned out to be Inselbergs, unusual rock formations formed by the uneven weathering of beautiful pink Hiltaba Granite, some 1500 million years old! They got their name, Inselbergs, from a Scottish agricultural expert and, as they were on Murphy's land, they soon became known as Murphy's Haystacks! Now, for $2 dollars, the present farmer allows you to wander around and take photos. The views around were pretty good too! After a quick stop at Streaky Bay, where the aforementioned 'shorts' shop was, we arrived at Ceduna. We had already decided to stop here 2 nights, to give ourselves time to stock the van up with food and water, ready for the Nullabor. Apparently fuel is very expensive, not surprisingly, so we filled Winnie up, and also topped her up with water. There are caravan parks across the Nullabor, but not all have water. The journey is further complicated by the fact that we cross the border from SA to Western Australia and, again, can't take any fresh fruit or vegetables across, so we have bought some tinned veg, and I've frozen some leftover curry. I don't think we will starve! We will also cross into another time zone!!

So we are ready for the 'off' tomorrow. We have allowed 5 days to cross, but we may well do it quicker. Some people do it in 2 days but we are not in a rush and want to enjoy the experience, so driving 8-hour days is not for us. So, we'll see you on the other side!!