The rain didn't relent, so the consensus as predicted, was to stop somewhere that had a hard roof and a warm shower. Penong was the next place on the map and fortuitously it was marked out as the best place around. When I mean around, I mean in a 300km radius. This trip has been a great reminder to us, and an introduction to the boys, about just how huge Australia really is.

We parked up with enough time to do some washing, get dry, and sort our pack and supplies out. A welcome hot shower was wonderful, but just to feel like we were still on the road I made sure the last 3 minutes were on cold so got out shivering….hard core.

The next day brought us much needed sunshine, although still not warm. We got sorted in double time and headed off to Cactus Bay, one of the best surf spots in Australia and the world apparently. Excitement ensued early on as we saw a dead wombat on the side of the track and we all had a long discussion on whether it was really dead or just sleeping. Cactus Bay was beautiful in its ruggedness and the latest storms had whipped up the surf to be too big and wild for anyone to venture out, so we had the entire place to ourselves. Harry, being the intrepid "collector" struck off onto the beach and actually managed to catch a fish with his bare hands right on the shore line!!! I think the fish was stunned by Harry's bright orange top or he had been pummelled by the waves as he certainly looked a bit sluggish when he was caught and didn't make a quick get away when we put him back. Seagulls shouting "mate, mate, maaaate, maaate" were circling so we headed off down the beach and suspect our little fishy was being gobbled up faster than a free burger at a homeless shelter as we moved on..

Next stop were Oysters in Ceduna. The lovely lady who served us looked like a 50 year old meth addict but was nice enough to us and sold us two dozen of South Australia's finest for just $24. We were all in heaven!! Ceduna was a larger version of the towns we passed on the Nullabor and not really a place we wanted to spend too much time. After a brief "let's check out this camping spot" in Haslam it was decided to quickly move on to Streaky Bay, just as the rain started again. We pulled up to the famous Streaky Bay Caravan Park, the exact same place in the book "Are we there yet?" which we've read to the boys about 1,000 times. This storybook, about a family who travel around Australia was the inspiration for this trip and we are looking to stop in as many places as Alison Lester did in the story.

It was an amazing spot.

Our site was literally 20 meters from the ocean with nothing but some seaweed and a bunch of 1-legged seagulls between the bay and us…. This is what it was all about!!

I got the fishing rod out and spent some time trying to tie some knots that Mike Linfoot had taught me the weekend before. We finally got it sorted after about 20 attempts and chucked the line in for our dinner. Not a bloody nibble so it was putanesca instead of King George Whiting. We'll try again tomorrow but given I don't have a clue about fishing (apparently Harry is an expert…..) we could be having pasta for a few nights more.