Who knows what time zone we are in now. We passed through 2 places on the map to add 45 minutes today and we crossed another border WA – SA this afternoon. The radio stations all announced different times to what we had on our watches and the car clock. Eventually at the end of the day we settled on an SA AM radio station and got in sync with them. Our bodies however are still in sync with WA time so this is going to take a while to get back to normal again. We took about 4 weeks to transition from NT to WA time fully but we only have another 2 weeks to go and another time zone and daylight savings to contend with yet.

We were on the road about 7AM today to do the last 130Km of the straightest stretch of road in AUS (146.6Km). Just before Caiguna is the Caiguna Blowhole a small opening in the limestone that breathes and the air is quite cold coming out of it. The air comes out when the pressure is low and in when the pressure is high. Our plan was to fuel up at Caiguna but when we rolled in and the price was $2.06L we kept going, advantages of a long range tank and a good tailwind behind us.

Standing over the Caiguna Blowhole

about 75CM across? The cave is 0.5-1.5M tall inside

Next stop was at the Cocklebiddy Cave Road where we read the Cocklebiddy Cave was closed as it was unstable and the distance to drive in on a quite rough road with our doggy suspension put us off and we kept going. We drove into Cocklebiddy a short distance down the road and fuel was now $1.99L, getting cheaper. Down the road a bit further and we skipped the Eyre Bird Observatory due to the 70Km detour and 4WD only for the last 12Km, did not seem worth the effort, maybe next time.

Mandura lookout was the next stop where you can just see the sea. Down the hill into Mandura and the fuel was back up to $2.06L, bugger! Enough in the tank for the next fuel stop. Mundrabilla Motel was the next stop for fuel and it was $1.94L, we almost filled up here but looking at the tourist guides we had, Eucla seemed bigger and we convinced ourselves it would be cheaper there and only another 65Km. You follow a range for quite a bit of the highway on your left side and it is here at Eucla you drive over it as it continues down to the sea and stops. We did fuel up at Eucla as it was the same price $1.94L and we only had another 150Km left in the tank.

We stopped here for lunch and as it has been all along this highway the flies carry you away so making wraps and eating them was interesting but we are getting good at it now. Down near the beach 4Km away is the historic Eucla Telegraph station now being consumed by the advancing sand dunes. Again we got carried away by the nasty little flies that are just sooooo annoying and there are sooooo many of them! A short 12Km drive away we crossed the WA to SA border and the big quarantine station here checking all the vehicles coming into WA. We don’t get done over by them till Ceduna going east.

Beach is behind the building quite a way

Doorway centre stone

Sand inside the rooms

About to cross the border

Checkpoint ‘Q’

The rest of the day was driving along the Bunda Cliffs of the Great Australian Bight and popping out to a few viewing bays to get blown away by the wind and carried away by the flies. We turned off the highway and traveled inland to the old Eyre Highway and the abandoned Koonalda station following a dingo for a while who did not hear us because of the wind direction. Koonalda station used to be a petrol station on the old highway plus a sheep station and probably a garage as well for broken down travelers. Everything is abandoned but still in reasonable knick. The walls of the buildings are made of railway sleepers as materials were scarse back then.

Cliff view

People obviously come and stay here and the old stove in the kitchen looks like it gets a bit of use. We used the old shearers quarters to make tea in and we are camped right next to it. There are heaps of old wrecks here that are very interesting. Tomorrow we will find the old shearing sheds and yards and head out to the Koonalda Cave where they used to pump water out to water the stock. The pumped water was the only way the station was viable and only closed in 1988. Historic old pumps are stil in the cave apparently. Some of the caves out here have lakes in them. We are in the largest Karst system in Australia at the moment.

Wonder if there is anything in the tank?

Old homestead, fence is sleepers as well as the walls

Shearers quarters makes a nice wind break

Yummy tea!

Shearers quarters

Some of the old wrecks