Saturday, 25 May 2013

Ceduna

Last night the clouds covered the night sky and we woke up to a warm morning. The conditions were perfect for a run, because temperature was nice and the wind was no where. We decided to run the entire 4km Encounter Coastal Track from the Sailing Club in Ceduna to Pinky Point in Thevenard and return…making it 8 kilometers.

The Encounter Trail was dedicated to three worlds coming together (Aboriginal, British and French). The signs along the trail discuss the history of these worlds and their influences, native plants, and Aboriginal culture and relationship with the land.

 

Departing camp at 9:45 am, we stopped for coffee at the Ceduna Bakery. At the visitor center across the street, we found out the Wombat Rescue Homestead (which I really wanted to visit) was closed permanently to the public. Apparently the woman running the center dislikes people to the point she won't even take donations (at least that is what the visitor center employee claimed). I don't really believe him. By the way, the man working at this center was not friendly or helpful. Why in the world would you work at a information center if you aren't going to be friendly? Maybe he was having a bad day…oh well…off we went to Penong, home of 100 windmills.

 

Penong windmills

 

Golfing the Nullabor Links

 

Our friends, Chris and Kirsty, from Sydney told us about an 18-hole, 72 par golf course along the Eyre Highway (across the Nullarbor Plain). It is 1,365 kilometers from hole 1 to hole 18 (Ceduna to Kalgoorie)…making it the world's longest course. Hectie and I decided to play our first hole in Penong. Picking up the balls and sticks at the local Caltex, we headed to the “Windmill” tee, a 4 par 250 meter hole. Not being skilled as Tiger Woods or even a half way decent golfer, it took us a few more swings than just 4.

 

 

After several ball drives into the three trees existing on the pitch, Hectie's finally knocked it in in 9. For me, it was looking good until I accidentally ate a fly and fell off my game with 3 shots over the green..7 hits for me finally got my ball in the hole.

 

 

Oh and by the way, this course is supposedly made of little grass, lots of rock, dirt, and saltbush. Nature provides the obstacles. Apparently we need to watch out for the ball stealing crows on this course too…but my biggest concern is the gross tasting flies.

 

Fowlers Bay

 

 

Wanting to do some side trips today, we took a detour from the main road to Fowlers Bay. The only people there were the fishermen on the great jetty.

 

After our stroll of the jetty to have a better view of the pearly white dunes, we stopped at the shop and had lunch. It was so peaceful we felt like staying, but with still several hundred kilometers to go for the day, we got back on the road.

 

 

Next stop was Nundroo to play the Wombat hole, par 5 520 meters. All I can say about this one is holy rocky hill! Hectie took me on this one with the shot of the day! I fell behind with several bad shots. Hectie had 10 hits and I had 13…dropping me 1 behind overall. Tomorrow will be a new day! Can't wait, so fun!

This fun highway sign is located near Yalata.

We reached the border after dark and went through a thorough a quarantine search of our vehicle. Our plan was to stay in Eucla, but the only room available was a budget room with no bathroom. We decided if we couldn't find a room with at least a toilet back in Border Village we would just find somewhere to camp. That idea wasn't too appealing since the area is a thoroughway for travelers and road trains. Luck was kind of on our side, because we were able to get one of the two last rooms with bath. It was pricey ($160 AUD) for what it was and had three too many beds! There were four beds in this room and no floor space, but it had running water and a toilet. Yeay!

We skipped dinner and made miso with the water I boiled in Ceduna and went to bed at 9:30.

Drove 547 kilometers.

Ran 8 kilometers.