THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT
The Nullarbor Roadhouse features a sculpture and paintings of whales because this is the closest accommodation to the Head of Bight; a region of the Great Australian Bight (the sea!) where Southern Right whales and their calves can be seen from June to October after swimming up from the Antarctic. Sometimes the whales are spotted in late May, so we stopped at the visitor centre just in case. No whales today though so we just enjoyed the scenery and talked to some Australian visitors who’d just come back from a couple of months in the UK.
You can see from the photo below how the presence of clouds influences the colour of the sea.
FOWLERS BAY
There are many bays and beaches along the way to Ceduna, but most need a 4WD vehicle. We could drive down to Fowlers Bay so went there for lunch. Fowlers Bay is a base for whale-watching and recreational fishing boats, but today in off season was very very quiet. The most interesting aspect here were the white dunes surrounding the small town.
PENONG WINDMILLS
Back on the road again, and looking for another excuse to stop. Penong was listed as having a windmill museum which turned out to be a collection of windmills stuck in a field. We did see plenty of these windmills later out in the fields, so they are still functional.
CEDUNA
On arriving in Ceduna, it looked much like Esperance and other seaside towns, with rows of Norfolk Pine trees on the esplanade, and industrial buildings at the end of the bays. Actually, the photo below was taken on the next day (hence the blue and not grey sky), so more about Ceduna on the next page.
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