Brisbane Trip Day 10: Byron Bay

We awoke to sunshine for the first time since leaving Newcastle. I hung up all our wet towels and clothes and opened up all the windows in the tent to try to dry everything out. It was a warm morning and with so much moisture around it was extremely humid. We had a relaxed morning around the tent and at around 11 we headed in to Bryon Bay. We stopped at Woolworths to get ice for the eskies, and some grapes and morning tea.

We drove up to the lighthouse and on the way saw an inviting looking beach, and then magnificent views down the coast to the south. Once again there was a lot of traffic, and we noticed cars parking a long way from the beach - I was worried it might be difficult to find a place to park. The road at the top of the headland near the lighthouse was jammed with traffic and it seemed unlikely that we would find anywhere to park there, so we headed back down. We were planning to go for a swim first then walk back to the lighthouse, although it would have been a long walk, then I saw a parking space in the 2nd carpark down from the headland. We parked and paid for 2 hours, and walked back up to the lighthouse.

It was probably a 10 or 15 minute walk and the view was spectacular. Blue ocean crashing onto a long beach far below us to the right, with the water being more aqua as it came close to shore. The headland is quite high and so we could see a long way, to headlands far to the south. It was a hot walk as there was no shade - snacking on the grapes helped to keep us a bit cooler. At the lighthouse we could also see to the north and the west - interesting shaped mountains, a rock island in the middle of the bay, beaches around the edge of the bay and more blue blue ocean. I ushered the kids down the path that goes out to the tip of the headland. There were cool views from the path down the rocks to the water far below. We reached the most easterly point of mainland Australia (which is why I wanted to come to Byron) and the kids were mildly impressed that everyone else on the mainland was to the west of them. We were about to head back when we saw dolphins in the water - a pod for 4 or 5 heading north, then a single dolphin, then another small pod. Amelie saw them and was thrilled - last time we saw dolphins from a lookout, she'd already headed back to the car and she missed them. We watched them swim and leap and once they'd passed we started to walk back.

The kids walked faster than me as I was taking photos of the rocks, and I noticed a dark shape swimming at the base of the cliff. I stopped to watch it for a while, and eventually a green turtle came up for air and I was able to see it really clearly. The dolphin pods also headed back south passed the headland, and another, much larger pod came up from south to meet them. This time there were several mothers with calves. I signalled to the kids (already back at the lighthouse) to come back - the turtle had moved out of sight by now, but we stayed at one of the lookouts for ages watching the large dolphin pod - between 40 and 60 dolphins. They divided into a couple of groups and were doing some tail slapping and other behaviours that suggested they'd found fish and were feeding. It was amazing to see so many dolphins together and watch them play and fish.

Back at the lighthouse we admired the view for a brief time, and I'd promised the kids a cold drink at the cafe after our hot walk (and before the walk back to the car). We went to the toilet first - they were down the hill a bit in a beautiful cool rainforesty setting, but the toilets themselves stank and the kids felt they were worse than drop toilets. Everything at the cafe was (not surprisingly) expensive, so we decided on a gourmet milkshake to share - we chose choc mint and it was delicious. While we sat on the steps of the cafe and drank it, we were accompanied by a large water dragon who seemed to really like the kids, he kept moving away then coming back and sitting right near us.

The walk back down the hill was beautiful although hot. At the car we used some of the ice we'd bought this morning to cool down a bit, then drove down towards the beach. We found a parking spot on the side of the road near Clarke's Beach, and walked down to the beach. We swam near some rocks to our left, and the water was a beautiful temperature. The water level became too deep for Amelie to stand in, although the waves were not big, so I carried her further out and we all stood on a large sand bar (not far from shore) and played in the waves and watched the kite surfers. Caitlin and I were both startled by a large black shape moving through the water - it was the shadow of one of the kites! It was a little rougher out here - not dangerous at all but a bit beyond Amelie's confidence level - she's not really swum in the surf before. We went back closer to shore, off the sand bar, and she found a place where she could stand some of the time and we swam for ages in gentle and enjoyable waves.

We had a picnic lunch on the beach and then went back in for more swimming. Amelie was much more confident by now and we all had a great time. Liam and I (and then Caitlin) played the game where we tried to see who could stand for the longest without the waves moving our feet - it was much harder doing it out in the surf than on the shoreline. There was a bit of a current so we kept moving back up away from the rocks - a good way for the kids to see how ocean currents can impact on a swim. This one wasn't strong and all the kids could work against it, but it was noticeable.

After a while we headed through the water to the east, then walked on the sand for a while because the current got hard to fight against for that distance. We went to Captain Cook lookout and climbed up the stairs - it gave us a good view of the bay and some of the cliffs leading out to the headland - and of the rain that was coming in from the north. There was also another water dragon up there - this one was more wary and stood really still, hoping we wouldn't notice him. Back down the stairs we explored the rocks for a while, and Liam found an old damaged plastic crate that he brought back off the rocks and we walked up and put it in the bin. The water was quite shallow here so we sat and played in the shallow waves, then swam all the way back to where we had started. The afternoon had become quite cloudy, but the rain headed out to sea and we didn't get any more.

We had a bit more of a play in the waves then got out and packed up, rinsed off at the shower at the top of the stairs, and Caitlin got some stretching tips from a guy using the exercise circuit there. On the way back to camp we stopped at Aldi to top up on a few things, and Woolworths to get a hot chicken and items that we couldn't get at Aldi. We had chicken sandwiches for dinner and a very quiet evening after a long, fun day. I was a bit sunburnt - I'd worn a dress with straps instead of sleeves, which is very rare for me if I'm going to be in the sun, and even though I'd put sunscreen on I was burnt on my walk up to the lighthouse and back. There'd been a bit of wind throughout the day so  most of our stuff was dry although some of it was on the ground. I tidied up a bit and we went to bed as soon as we could.

An interesting thing we'd noticed about Byron Bay is that almost everyone seemed to be either kids under 8, people in their twenties, or people over 60. There weren't many people around outside of those demographics, so at times we felt a bit out of place. It also seemed that men in their 20s were not allowed to wear shirts, and it was fine to wear swimmers (and nothing else) pretty much anywhere in town. The roads were in terrible condition and there was a lot of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, I really didn't enjoy driving there at all.

Brisbane Trip Day 8: Coffs Harbour

My cold was still hanging around but I was in a much better frame of mind today. We had a very quiet morning hanging around the campsite – I did some washing and optimistically hung it on the clothesline even though there was still a bit of rain around. AMelie played in the playground and once the kids had had breakfast they headed to the office to get equipment to play in the games room.  I stayed at the tent waiting for the auto electrician and tidying up a bit – our hectic set up when I was stressed meant that things were really messy. The auto electrician arrived and was able to fix the window easily – and explain another problem I’d been having with the window and gave me some tips on fixing it. I really appreciated this as the last time I had the window fixed the problem started and the guy didn’t want to know about it – this guy said that the problem should have been anticipated and fixed when I had my switch replaced.

Feeling very relieved that my window was now working, I joined the kids for a game of mini golf. They’d also played pool and table tennis and were hoping to play air hockey when the equipment was returned. We snacked on cold sausages and salad from the night before, then the kids had a swim while I sat at the pool edge and caught up a bit on my blog and email and started to search for accommodation options for the next parts of our trip. It was hot and humid again, with occasional rain showers.

Around 4pm we got out of the pool and headed up the coast for a look around. (Some of my washing was dry and I grabbed that off the line before I went). We went one headland north of our beach to Moonee Beach – apparently voted No 3 on the 101 Best Australian Beaches of 2017. We waded across the river – Amelie and I found a shallow crossing,  the others went a bit deeper and it was a little scary/exciting – there was a slight current and the sand was very soft, but at no point was it too deep or strong for us to handle. On the main beach we played in the edge of the surf – again, it was too rough to go out far, but there was a wide shallow area of knee deep waves and that was a lot of fun. What we could see of the beach was quite pretty, but the rain had set in again and combined with spray from the surf we couldn’t see very far along the beach, it was just mist. There were sea birds on the shore who were interesting to watch, and the water temperature was beautiful. It was great to be in the ocean, even if it was just at the edge. Eventually we wandered back through the river to the carpark – the current was stronger this time although we found an easier place to cross. We played on the sand for a while, investigating the little crab holes that appeared to all be in pairs. We wandered over the bridge that led out to the headland and saw lots of fish in the water, and the kids saw an eel.

We got back in the car and headed back to Coffs Harbour. It was weird - looking out from the car the day looked cold and miserable, but when we were outside the temperature was lovely - just a bit wet. We drove to Boambee Beach which looked beautiful but still too rough to swim, then out to the break wall on the southern side of the harbour and walked out a little way so we could see the waves breaking on the ocean side - they were big and were making awesome thumping sounds as they hit the wall. We were all still in our swimmers because we'd hoped to find another beach to swim at, but by this stage no one wanted to swim again so we got changed into dry clothes in the car. We sat and watched the harbour for a while - little waves on the rocks, fishing boats going out, birds flying around. I did a bit more research on accommodation options and discovered that Sea World Resort had a deal on, because their main pool is closed, which meant we could get accommodation at the resort, plus entry to all the theme parks, for less money than it would have cost us to get theme park tickets on their own! I decided to think about it for a bit and check the details again once we'd eaten.

We ordered fish and chips from Sea Salt Fish and Chips and drove around to pick them up. We'd wanted to sit near the jetty and eat them but it was raining pretty steadily by now - we found some covered picnic tables, not with a view to the jetty but in the vicinity, so sat there to eat. The food was delicious - fantastic chips and the seafood was great. Possibly the best fish and chips I've had.

Back at the caravan park we found that the rain had pooled in the roof of the annex again so I spent some time rejigging everything to prevent that happening overnight. The seam above Liam's bed also started leaking, which happens when the roof just gets too wet, so Caitlin and I put a tarp over the tent to try to cut down the amount of water coming in - it slowed to a slight trickle so we just put towels and a bucket underneath and hoped it didn't get worse.

Ocean Grove Trip

I hadn't done much preparation for our camping trip (we've been quite busy lately, and I'd just spent the weekend in Sydney for my sister-in-laws 40th), so we packed our clothes the night before, I put the awning canvases and the tarps back on the trailer the night before, then we did the rest on the Tuesday morning before we left and were away by 11. We got petrol and came back for a few things we'd forgotten, then were properly on the way by 11.30.

I stopped just out of Geelong because I was feeling pretty tired. I had a snack and walked around a bit, then the kids got frozen slushies from Hungry Jacks and we bought some fruit and veg from a little shop at the roadhouse. We continued on and reached Ocean Grove a bit after 2.

3 of the other homeschooling families we were camping with were already there, and another family joined us each day then went home of a night (they only live half an hour away). I set up the tent while the kids played with their friends, then the kids all did the watermelon challenge - putting rubber bands around a watermelon until it explodes. The top of the melon cracked and popped open and it felt like a bit of a let down, so the kids kept putting rubber bands on even though we thought it probably wouldn't explode now that the pressure had been let out. They put a few more on and it suddenly exploded upwards, covering one of the girls completely in watermelon and hitting everyone else, and spreading many metres out from the blast zone. It was hilarious and a lot of fun.

The kids rode their bikes and played in the playground and after a while LiAM and another boy went over to the beach (his mum and I went too). They built a big wall with a hole behind it that they tried to keep filled with water, as the tide was coming in the waves were filling the hole and knocking down the wall and things became more challenging. It was cold and windy on the beach, quite grey. The boys had a lot of fun and came home a little bit wet and very happy. The boy's family went home after we got back, they were only staying the one night as they had things on for the rest of the week, so LiAM was a little disappointed that his friend had left, although we will see them again soon.

I went to the shops to get food for dinner, we had hotdogs for tea in the camp kitchen. The others were around too, getting their own dinner and we chatted and played. After tea Caitlin went for a walk to the beach with the older girls, and the rest of us went to bed and read for a while, Caitlin came in not long afterwards.

It was sprinkling in the morning and I hadn't put the annex up because I thought it wasn't going to rain. I moved things that I didn't want to get wet and went to the camp kitchen for my cup of tea. Gradually everyone else woke up and wandered to the kitchen and we had breakfast, the kids played games and we had a nice easy morning as the weather cleared up. There was more playing in the playground and lots of bike riding, then in the late morning we all headed over to the beach. It was sunny by now, but the wind was still pretty cold. 2 of the older kids went out surfing, and I went in the water with my 3 kids and Amelie's friend. It was very cold, and the 2 younger girls soon went back to play in the shallow waves at the edge. Caitlin, LiAM and I went out a lot further - it was shallow for a very long way and the waves weren't big, it was fairly easy surf to swim in, just really really cold. The kids had wetsuits on so they coped with it a bit better than me. Eventually I felt like my reflexes were getting a bit slower because I was so cold so I went back and sat on the sand in the sun to warm up. The kids played in the sand and after a while Caitlin went back in with the older kids and was able to go out further to where the water was a bit deeper (and it wasn't as rough there as I'd feared). They had a go at boogie boarding but the waves weren't quite right.

Amelie had had enough of the sand after a while so she went back to camp with some of the others. Her friend's mum had brought kites along, and LiAM and the other younger kids flew them on the beach for a while, the wind was strong and the kites flew really well. We wandered back to camp and had some lunch, the kids played in the playground and rode their bikes and the mums sat and chatted. In the afternoon we went strawberry picking at a local farm, the strawberries were fresh and delicious and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards LiAM sat with me and the other mums and dipped all his strawberries in cream - very enjoyable.

We all had dinner together that night, a few of us went to get roast chickens and hot chips, and we had a bit of salad and stuff too and we all ate in the camp kitchen together (it was really well equipped, and had lots of little tables and a great big table which fit most of us around it (there were 13 people altogether). After dinner Millie's friends went to bed, and once it got dark the rest of us walked over to the beach to see if we could see the Aurora Australis - it was supposed to be a good night for it but it was cloudy and so not possible to see anything. The kids had a play on the sand in the dark and it was cool to be there watching the surf and the night sky. When we got back Amelie and I wandered off soon afterwards, everyone else went back to the kitchen for a games night and played cards and other games until about midnight.

It was raining again in the morning, a bit more heavily this time, so again I had my cup of tea in the kitchen and the others wandered in one by one. We had breakfast then played Racing Demons, which the kids had learnt the night before. After a while we switched to playing Burn, and some of the others joined us. Amelie went to play with her friends in the playground, and everyone else played Burn for a few rounds (9 of us) which was a lot of fun.

By now it was midday and quite sunny again. We all went over to Barwon Heads to get ice-cream - it was delicious! We wandered around the shops for a while, while Millie and her friends went to the playground, then the rest of us met them there. The playground was right on the river, overlooking the bridge between Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, a beautiful spot to play. Caitlin and LiAM explored the sandbanks in the river then LiAM and I walked back into town so he could buy something from the bakery.

The older kids wanted to go to the lolly shop in Ocean Grove, and Amelie chose to stay with her friends on the condition we could go to the lolly shop again tomorrow. Caitlin and LiAM selected their lollies and I grabbed a few too, then we headed back to camp (with one of the other boys in our car, he'd been with us all day). The mums sat and chatted again at our campsite while the kids rode their bikes and climbed trees, and when Amelie and the others came back they played in the playground.  The others (except Amelie's friends) were leaving this afternoon so they finished packing up then we talked at the car while the big kids rode their ripsticks.

LiAM wasn't feeling well and had a nap and Caitlin crashed on the couch in the kitchen once everyone else had left. I cooked some dinner and the kids played, LiAM had a shower and then joined us as well. We had a relatively early night and read Harry Potter for a while.

It was sunny on our last morning so I went for a quick walk near the edge of the river then had my cup of tea at the tent. As the kids woke up they had breakfast then they went down to the kitchen to play cards while I packed up. Amelie's friend's Mum packed up as well, then she took all the kids down to the other playground while I finished off. We all met in the kitchen for lunch and then headed off. We drove over to Portarlington to the lolly shop there and met up with the family who'd been coming over each day. We bought our lollies then sat outside at a cafe with them in the warm sun and had the most magnificent milkshakes we've ever tasted. I reversed the trailer out of the tricky spot that I had parked in (feeling much more confident about my reversing now) and we headed to Geelong where we called in to see Amelie's friends again. The kids all had a wonderful afternoon playing with all their games and activities and I had more time to chat to their mum. We left around 6.30 which meant we missed the traffic on the Ring Road and had an easy trip home, arriving just after 8.30.

Half-lap Day 105: The Nullarbor -> Kimba

I woke around sunrise and went out of the tent to find everything covered in ice. The chairs were still out and had white seats. The clean dishes on the table were covered in a layer of ice, and the spoons that were sitting the right way up were filled with frozen water. I got the fire going again and made myself a cup of tea, and sat and drank it and read Harry Potter while I warmed up a bit. LiAM came out of the tent shortly afterward, very excited that he’d slept all night and he felt great after a good sleep.

The others came out and had breakfast and we started packing up. We were really efficient this morning and were ready by 8.45 Western Australian time, ( which we’re still pretty well operating on, apart from the weird sunrise and sunset times…) our earliest pack up yet (if we don’t count the day we had to leave overflow at Coral Bay by 8am - we left on time that day but without breakfast). However this meant it was 10.25 South Australian time which didn’t feel quite so early.

By now we were out of the Nullarbor Plain and into farmland, more undulating and a much more lush green, with windmills and farmhouses. We drove to Ceduna and stopped at the quarantine checkpoint to get rif of our apple cores and have our fridge checked by the quarantine guy. There’s been a nasty smell in there for a few days (liquid in the bottom that I haven’t managed to clean out during our quick stops) – I hope the guy wasn’t too grossed out by it when he rummaged around in there. We drove down to the foreshore and found toilets – some of those self-clean ones, and only one was operating so we all lined up. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and not really very cold now, and the view across the bay was gorgeous. There was a long jetty leading out from the foreshore, which we went out on once we’d all been to the toilet.

We could see fish and sea grasses from the jetyy and it felt lovely to be out in the sun and looking at the blue water. Tony left to go to the supermarket and the kids and I walked out to the end of the jetty. We could see a large ship coming in and couldn’t figure out where the wharf was – it was around the headland  a bit near the large silos we could see. We were able to head back in to shore when we saw what looked like a large fish break the surface of the water – it was a seal! We watched it swim through the water until it disappeared, very excited at spotting yet another animal that we’d really wanted to see. It popped up again one more time then we headed back to the car.

We drove through a lot of farmland from here, seeing many windmills (even the town of 100 windmills – we didn’t see 100 but probably 30 or so!) and lots of silos. We were following the railway line and every town had silos between the road and rail. We listened to the 2^nd book fof the Spirit Animal Series – we’d done book 1 way back when we were heading to the Flinders Ranges near the start of our trip. We slowly remembered the story line and found it quite exciting to be continuing this story.

Today and the last few days, we’ve seen a huge number of trucks carrying other vehicles and equipment – tractors, caravans, mining vehicles and scoops, diggers, graders, huge tyres… I guess all the stuff that’s being taken across to Western Australia. I drove for a while from Poochera to Wudinna and was behind a large truck with digger on it, for ages. I wanted to go past him but he was wider than the lane and the shoulder on the other side of the road was narrow – I had to go a long way out onto the other side to see if it was clear to overtake, and then I wasn’t confident about keeping the trailer steady as I passed him if I had to go over onto the shoulder at all. So I sat behind him and enjoyed the countryside we were passing through.

When we had stopped for petrol at Poochera there was a large sculpture of an ant – a local ant that they call the dinosaur ant because it was probably similar to the ants that were around with the dinosaurs. It was an unexpected bit of natural history to learn as we drove through South Australia. This is actually a part of the country that I have not really thought about before, across the top of the Eyre Peninsula. I didn’t know anything about the region and even though we won’t have time to stop and see much of it, I’m glad we’ve had the chance to have a look at least as we drive through

We reached Kimba a little after 4pm (on South Australian time now). We went to the Kimba Recreation Reserve, where we can camp for a small donation, and there are coin operated showers. Even if we end up paying $5 each for a shower, it’s still cheaper than a caravan park. The main camping area was all bitumen so at first we thought we wouldn’t be able to stay – then found a dirt area across from the entrance that looked like it had been used for tents before, so we set up there. The kids went and played in the playground and explored the sports ground. I chatted for a while to a Western Australian couple who were heading home, they were fun to talk to.

I read more Harry Potter aloud while Tony cooked spaghetti Bolognese. It was a cold night, although our tent was set up so that our living area was protected from the wind which made it a little more pleasant. We can’t have fires here so we rugged up and ate our hot dinner then got ready for bed as quickly as we cold. It was nice having a sink to clean our teeth in rather than just doing it in the bush. Into bed (Millie with us again as she still doesn’t feel well) and made sure everyone was very well rugged up, then read a bit more of Inheritance – hoping we’ll finish it before we get home.

Half-lap Day 104: The Nullarbor

Once again it was a very cold morning, and LiAM and Millie had both woken during the night and come up to our bed. Caitlin had moved on to Millie’s bed because it’s a bit further from the floor and a bit warmer than hers. Her sleeping bag is so cosy though that she’s usually not as cold as the others – sometimes her hot water bottle is still slightly warm in the morning when she gets up.

We had enough wood left over from the night before for me to start the fire again, and I had a cup of tea and read Harry Potter for a short while, before we started to get breakfast ready and to pack up. We’d slept till after sunrise, because sunrise is much earlier than we are used to, and so the morning seemed to be progessing faster than we expected it to.

We had a fairly efficient pack up, and all braved the toilet one more time, then were on the road by about 9.30am. This morning it was wedge-tailed eagles that we saw not long after we left – standing on the road eating roadkill, and then flying into the air as we approached – Tony slowed down and beeped his horn at them so they had plenty of time to get away, and it was amazing watching them take off and fly over our car.

As we got closer to the border, we could see the escarpment up ahead of us (it ws still running along to our left) coming to a sharp corner. As we got closer we realised that the road turned and went up the face of the escarpment, and what we could see was the escarpment meeting the coast, and then turning to the east and becoming the Bunda cliffs which run along the edge of the Great Australian Bight. We could see a bit of the ocean to our right as we drove up, and then stopped at a lookout soon after getting to the top. Looking back we could see the plains in the distance and then the cliff face beginning. Down below, with a plateau of green land between the cliff and the shore, we could see and hear waves breaking on the beach. To the left the cliffs became more sheer and headed off as far as we could see to the east. It was pretty cool – the kids at first didn’t want to get out of the car, then we told them it was worth checking out so they came and had a look and quite liked the view.

We kept on driving, listening to Harry Potter Book 7 (which was extremely exciting as we approached the end of the book), and looking at the Nullarbor – it was varied enough and fascinating enough to never be boring. Occasionally we’d get glimpses of the ocean beyond the cliffs to our right. For a lot of the drive today, there were no trees at all, just low grass and bushes. IT ws all much greener than we’d expected too – a muted, dull green, but definitely green and not brown.

We’d heard from a few sources that stopping at Head of Bight to see the whales was a highlight, so we pulled in there early in the afternoon. We paid our money at the Visitors Centre then started down the boardwalk towards the lookout. LiAM bought his binoculars with him in case we saw any, but he wasn’t confident that we’d get a whale sighting. As we walked I could see dark shapes in the bay to our left, which occasionally puffed water out – obviously whales and LiAM started to get excited. A family walking back up the path told us that there were LOTS. The kids ran ahead of me and as the path started to zigzag down the hill to the lookout I could see a large whale in the water beyond the kids – I called out and pointed it out to them, and all of us were astounded. These were Southern Right Whales and they were SO BIG! Bigger than my brain could comprehend. By the time I reached the kids they had counted 12 whales, and we kept seeing more, then realised that most of them had calves with them as well.

In the water below the lookout there were 3 whales with their calves. They were swimming along near the surface of the water, sometimes ducking under a little, sometimes changing direction, occasionally the calves would lift their flippers and flap them on the water. It was so incredible to watch. Once or twice we had one swim straight towards the shore, directly in front of where we were standing. We couldn’t get enough of looking at them, then were so magnificent and beautiful and awe inspiring. Some started to dive a little so we got a good view of their tails, and they always came back up again quickly and we could watch them some more. A little further out a pair were rolling over and flapping their flippers and looked like they were having a lot of fun. Every now and then we’d hear one of them make a big breathing sound – it sounded like a massive wave rushing through a blowhole, a deep, moaning, whoomping sound.

There were two people watching the whales near us and the guy had a massive zoom lens on his camera, on a tripod. As they walked away Tony pointed out their jackets, which said ‘Sea Shepherd Crew’. So these guys were hard core whale lovers, willing to risk a lot to help protect whales.

We walked around to the other lookout, reading the signs about whales on the way. There were more whales visible from here (not quite so close, but still close enough.) From here we could also see west along the Bunda Cliffs for quite a long way – sheer, very tall cliffs falling from a very flat plain, straight to the ocean. Very much of a case of ‘Australia ends here’ – it looked like the edge of the world. Breathtaking.

The guy with the camera was here as well, along with several more Sea Shepherd Crew members. I started talking to him about his camera, and then being on the Sea Shepherd, and he introduced me to the Captain. He and I talked for a while, about what they do when they come across a whaling ship, and what it looked like in Antarctica, and what they are doing at the moment (trying to document lots about the Bight, so that they can raise awareness and hopefully help stop BP from drilling for oil here). He was so interesting to talk to, he was very self-assured and calmly spoken and his passion came through powerfully but not in an overwhelming way.

While we were talking one of the whale calves started to breach, it jumped out 5 or 6 times and everyone was excited to watch it. It was cool to see even the Sea Shepherd guys get so excited, when they have obviously seen this happen so often. We also saw one whale spy-hopping (just popping it’s head up above the water) and then we reluctantly left the whales and headed back to the car.

We had a bit to eat and then kept driving east. We stopped for petrol at the Nundroo roadhouse, and asked if we could camp there but the girl said they were all booked out. We drove a bit further on to a free camp – without toilets, but there were no camps with toilets all through the South Australian section of the Nullarbor. We made sure everybody went while we were at the roadhouse, and figured we could go bush for one night. We sat in the car and listened to the end of the 7^th Harry Potter book – very exciting and a little sad to be finished, we’ve been with Harry now since Alice Springs I think.

We arrived around 4 (West Australian time, which was now 5.30 South Australian time) and set up as the sun was setting again. We gathered wood, there was plenty available if we looked a bit beyond the main part of the camp. I made everyone a hot chocolate and we sat around the fire and felt cosy. We had left over potatoes and tuna and corn and mayo for dinner, very tasty. LiAM read a bit more Harry Potter and I read the first couple of scenes out loud to everyone. Tony and I also spent time looking at the map trying to figure out a bit of a plan for getting home over the next 6 nights. We had hoped to go down to Streaky Bay or somewhere (we’d wanted to be at least to Ceduna by tonight, but travelling east and not starting early enough in the day each day made that tricky) but decided it was going to leave too much distance to travel in the last couple of days, so we’d just go straight towards Port Augusta tomorrow and hopefully get as far as Kimba.

We decided to start Millie off in our bed, she had a bit of a sore throat and a sniffly nose, and it was easier than having her climb in half way through the night. This meant Caitlin could start the night on Millie’s bed too. We also offered LiAM the opportunity to start in our bed, and possibly one of us sleep in his bed, but he decided to just rug up earlier and go to bed with socks and jacket on, and stay warm that way. I also reorganized the blankets a bit so that he would be warmer. We got the hot water bottles ready and went to bed to read more of Inheritance.