And so we returned to the land of stovie poles and Farmers Union Iced coffee. A land of minimal rainfall and massive grain silos. South Australia. It took 6 hours to traverse the empty highway along the Bunda cliffs and across the Nullabour. We faced disappointment at the head of the bight in the shape of a locked gate, despite the promise of year round opening. It was the wrong time to see whales anyway and we'd stopped earlier to take in the fearful majesty of the sheer, plunging cliffs. We finally lobbed into Penong, home of windmills, at 9pm- typically late Simister style. The time change at the border of 2.5 hours forward had stymied us somewhat- our body clocks were still adamant that it was only 6.30. A meal at the pub was out of the question as it was too late and we resorted to purchasing frozen bread from the Caltex and driving in the dark to the legendary camp at Cactus.
We stumbled noisily in the darkness and somehow landed in a primo spot, right by the track to the beach. The next morning bought a blindingly beautiful day with light offshore winds and warm sun, accompanied by a 3-4 ft rolling left hand reef break. The water was green and clear and looked positively drinkable. We compromised by submerging ourselves in its cool depths, playing and frolicking on our craft like surface dolphins, although I have to confess to needing to overcome a certain level of fear before I took the plunge; not because of sharks, you understand, but due to a particular level of personal wussiness related to surfing a new break.
There were only about 5 sites filled at this time of year although Neil, a long time Cactus visitor from Elliston, told us that it heaved around Christmas and Easter. The camp was well designed with little, sparkling toilets nestled in curvy, unroofed stone walled buildings. The central camp kitchen was an a frame shed built with unprocessed eucalypt trunks and sported a sink and a table all decorated with gentle hippie graffiti art. Edible native grape bushes grew along the paths helpfully identified in the camping info. The whole camp was really well vegetated as well with at least 4 other bush food plants mixed in. The overall vibe was deeply peaceful and slightly groovy. I loved it. The agreeable weather continued and our stay lengthened from 2 days to 4. We found a fantastic, steep dune on the edge of Lake Macdonnell and spent an exhausting but extremely fun afternoon sledging down on a body board and launching into the water. The saltiness of the lake was quite extreme. We finally dragged ourselves away on the Thursday after a last, fun surf and wished Neil, Camp owner Ron and the lads from Port Lincoln farewell. We turned our face to the East and set off for Streaky Bay and the Eyre Peninsula.