16 August 2016 – Border Village to Penong SA

Last night was strange as we are still trying to come to grips with the news of the retirement of our family doctor.

We set our clocks forward 45 minutes last night and as a result, it was still dark when we emerged from the caravan at 7:00am.  There was very light rain falling at that time, the wind had changed direction and was now coming from the south and the western sky was very dark.  Needless to say it was overcast.

We were ready to leave by 8:15am with plans to make several sightseeing stops during the day and attempt to travel just over 400klms to an overnight stop at Penong on the eastern side of the Nullarbor.

We started the trip with rain falling but with lighter sky far in the east.

Due to the rain we decided to pass our first photo opportunity of the cliffs along the Great Australian Bight.  Approximately 50k’s short of the Nullarbor Roadhouse, we left the man road and travelled a short distance to a lookout that afforded a spectacular view of the cliffs looking to the south.  By the time we arrived here, we were in front of the rain but the western sky still looked very threatening.

After passing the Nullarbor Roadhouse we turned right again and headed down the sealed road to the Head of the Bight.  This place is the premier site in Australia for whale watching.

After paying our concessional entry fee of $12.00, we headed down a path to a viewing area.  We were not disappointed.  We estimated there were approximately 24 whales in the bay including many calves.  There was even a white whale in the group.  We stayed for about an hour only leaving when it started to rain and we became aware of the distance we still had to travel to our overnight stop.  We all agreed that today was a once in a lifetime experience.  Our view of the whales was from an elevated position and we were also viewing the whales in unpolluted and crystal clear water.  The view was exceptional.  We were so close to the whales that you could clearly hear the sounds they were making.  Unfortunately we did not see any whales breaching but the sight of two mothers and two calves swimming adjacent to each other was sensational.

We had a quick lunch at the Head of the Bight before continuing our journey.

Just after returning to the main road we came across a sign telling us that we were about to enter the western side of the Nullarbor Plain (treeless plain).  Immediately the land was devoid of trees and the view seemed to go on forever.

After Yalata we started to encounter civilisation again with many crops seen on the farms adjacent to the main road.

Between Yalata and Nandroo our friends who were travelling behind us witnessed a truck pass them over a solid white line.  It was on a hill, approaching a crest and the driver really didn’t care.  Shortly afterwards he passed us with his wheels running on the centre line.  We were told that the second trailer was swaying and had we not moved left, we would have been hit.  These people need to understand that they share the road with others as we have done our best during this trip to accommodate the road trains (all of the drivers we have spoken with relating to passing manoeuvres have appreciated the assistance).  Both of our vehicles had dash cameras running and we are deciding what to do with the footage.

We refuelled at the Nandroo Roadhouse before continuing on to the very small town of  Penong where we booked into the caravan park.  We had our evening meal in the local hotel.

Today we travelled over 400klms, saw unbelievable scenery and experienced a whale encounter that we will remember for the rest of our lives.  Did I mention we have some great pictures of the whales?

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