Perth to Cactus Beach

The steam trains needed a source of water so the pioneers built a wall around the base of the rock to catch the water when it rained. The water was directed via an aquaduct to a dam where it could be piped to the railway track a few kilometers away.

The aquaduct from the rock to the dam. 

Our plan was to bush camp at Karalee but it was still very hot in the afternoon and there was nobody else there so we pushed on east for an hour or so to another bush camp. It was still quite hot and the flies were very friendly but there were a couple of other people setting up camp so we Pitched our tent and left the fly sheet off as it was going to be a warm night. Actually it cooled dowm quite a bit during the night.

The next day we set off for Norsman and the start of the drive across the Nullarbor. On the way we stopped for a coffee in Coolgardie and the local store sold everything - well it is a mining town! 

On leaving Norsman I checked the satnav - 'In 1196km turn left'.

We pushed on until about 5:00pm and found a bush camp to the East of Cocklebiddy. We were now in a new time zone and had to adjust our clocks by 3/4 hour! We were closer to the coast here and It was much cooler so the sleeping bags came out for the night. 

Signpost at Eucla

The Bunda Cliffs and the Southern Ocean that run for hundreds of kilometers along the southern coast of Australia 

The Nullarbor roadhouse (and the most expensive fuel so far $1.95ltr)

As it was hot during the day we decided to drive until 5pm or 6pm and then camp to save too much effort in the heat of the day. This very conveniently took us to a delightful spot called Cactus Beach. It was so good we stopped there for three nights. 

The coolest place - under the jetty at Pt Sinclair.

Oh! and we had another time change as we were now in South Australia.

There are some well knows surf breaks here, Cactus and Caves, so there were a lot of surfers at the camp site. The waters are also home to Great Whites but they couldn't have been very hungry while we were there. We did go for a swim in the nearby bay where shark nets had been fitted.

There was a choice of four beaches and a lagoon that you could swim in. 

The sand on Shelly Beach was pure white powder and all but empty.