Thierings on Tour

Everyone woke up “late” today because we were still on WA time and so 2.5hours behind. We didn’t really need to rush, but it was going to be another long driving day to get to the start of the Eyre peninsula and with drizzly weather we didn’t take long to pack up and hit the road.

We made a stop along one of the other Great Australian Bight points with a gorgeous view of the ocean and surrounding cliffs. Sadly there were no whales around and as we were there it started pouring so we all ran back to the car.

There were some big roadtrains and oversized vehicles around, each time spraying a lot of water and definitely limiting visibility temporarily. I must say I was on edge the whole time, even though Chris drives very sensibly, but these road conditions were atrocious.

We made it to Nullabor Roadhouse and had to jump over and around so many puddles to simply get in. It was a good opportunity to grab a coffee and have a bite to eat. Not much else to do outside in this rain, but we did snap a couple of quick pics with some of the landmark road signs and other touristy signs. Poor Chris also went sliding in the mud in his thongs, which didn’t end so well for his shorts.

Then it was back on the road and into more rain – far out, we are so hanging for a break from this weather now. We stopped at Penong, which claims to have the largest windmill and it was certainly big. The Comet, as it’s known, was restored by some amazing volunteers in the area so that it could be on display amongst the other windmills in Penong. A quirky little collection!

We stopped for a break and were entertained by stories from a little local boy who was “helping” his grandpa and nan in the shop that is a a cafe, corner store, post office and everything in between in town. The girls found the concept so novel! The little boy mentioned that his entire school has 68 kids in total… 

After we headed to check out the pink lake just nearby, which after driving down a muddy & salt-crusted track, we discovered was not currently pink. So all that salt like mud was for nothing and would have to be removed swiftly to avoid it eating into the van. Oops, should have checked the state of the pink lake first – lesson learnt!

The rest of the drive was uneventful and we decided to stop in Ceduna for a night or two as we were over the big driving days and everything felt annoying and hard in the rain. You know you are getting close when Sydney comes up as a destination on the distance signs 😦

Much to my dismay, I accidentally booked the wrong caravan park and we ended up at one that had absolutely nothing for the kids. Anyway, it was what it was and I was actually just grateful to be in the same spot and to rest for a couple of days. Entertaining the kids would be tomorrow’s problem! That night we also had a huge thunderstorm roll through with lots of thunder and massive lightning storms. Poor Izzy had a very tough time falling asleep through it.

Kms travelled – 432