We are on holiday!

Saturday 10th September 2022

We had an early start to the day. Richie got up at six to do some bird watching, so had coffee ready before 7! We packed up, and with the simpler tent set up, and early start we were gone by nine. We were planning a long drive to get to Eucla, so an early start was good!

The drive was mostly Mallee type vegetation, with sections of shrubs, some very low, reminding me of the Hay Plains in places. We stopped at almost every service station, which seem to be well spaced perhaps every 150 km or so – which seemed to work in with required rest stops! Most of them also had little playgrounds, which was great for running the kids out a bit. At Balladonia roadhouse I rang mum from a payphone, partly for the novelty but also because we haven’t had much phone reception at all – only occasional at Fitzgerald River and not at all since, so a check in to say we are alive! We also had a roadside stop somewhere, where we strangely found five dead shingleback lizards, a bit odd. 🤔

We got to Eucla around four. The camps Australia app had listed a camping site south of Eucla that sounded interesting. Unfortunately with no phone reception all day I couldn’t look up the details, but we turned into Eucla, took the track to the old telegraph station and found what looked to be some sort of camp area – currently with a busload of tourists having a look!

By then the kids were definitely busting to get out the car, and went tearing straight from the car into sand dunes! A moment later another car pulled up – our neighbour from Newman’s Rocks, who is on a huge birding trip from QLD! He and Richie compared bird notes from the last camp, while the kids ran into the old telegraph station. This is a really amazing building, beautifully built in local limestone, but getting buried by the sand dunes! Apparently built in the late 1800s, then in the 1940s bought and used as a family home, until it was abandoned in 1962 due to the dunes engulfing it! It’s such a beautiful building, I can’t imagine how difficult the sand must have been if it had to be left!

The kids had an amazing time playing – climbing onto the roof line, and crawling through doorways only just visible through the sand! Richie and I had a discussion about what to do – he was keen to push on into SA to cover more ground, but I was pretty sure the kids (and admittedly me) were not keen to get back in the car for any more driving! So Richie set up camp while the kids and I walked to the beach – admittedly a long walk from the campsite, though there is a track for those with more adventurous vehicles! The beach is interesting, with a derelict old jetty, lots of seaweed piled up, and a lot of huge dead cuttlefish – must be that time of year! The kids had a little run around, but were really keen to get back to the ruins to play, so we walked back. Sand dunes must be the best way to wear kids out after a car day, they don’t stop running and leaping!

We watched the sunset, then forgot about the full moon and missed it rising by a few minutes! We had a long chat with a couple of Indonesian guys staying at the motel but checking out the ruins – really fun, friendly guys who really engaged with the kids as well! Another caravan set up camp – we are guessing with kids on board but we didn’t see them leave the van. I guess that is the advantage of not travelling with a tv – the kids have to leave the car to find entertainment! Another car arrived after dark, tried to take the beach road further along, got bogged and retreated to safer grounds! 😁 We watched from the safety of our fire!

We had a random dinner of guacamole, corn chips and pumpkin soup, trying to use up fresh food before we get to the border check at Ceduna. – which we might try push through to tomorrow.