Day sixteen. Ooldea Rd camp to Dog Fence Beach Campground. 17.7.26

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We had an our very own flower garden at this camp with Sturt Desert Pea at our front door.

Lovely.

Heading south east today towards the coast /Great Australian Bight. We drove across the Nullarbor plain which is very green with lots and lots of low growth and a few trees.

There is also pops of colour with the wild hops a deep burgundy flower and the little white whatever it is providing a meadow of white. Amazing. It’s easy to forget that we’re seeing the results of an abnormally wet couple of years.

The Oodlea Road that we are on takes us down towards Yalata and through the Yalata Aboriginal Trust Lands.

A quick stop at Lake Ifould.

Soon after there was a scarred area out on the left with long piles of reddish brown dirt. There is Zircon mine out in the area so we guess that’s it. Jacinth-Ambrosia Mineral Sands Mine Iluka.

Stopped to air up there’s once again as we hit the bitumen at the Eyre highway/Oodlea Rd.

A lunch stop beside the road before getting onto the Eyre Highway.

Soon after a right onto Nallanippi Rd which turned us coast wards again and through crops with no fences (bit weird cropped to the edge of the track) and then across paddocks into Wahgunyah Conservation Park.

Aired down tyres AGAIN a little further into the park.

Our destination? Dog Fence Beach, where the dog fence meets the beach, or cliffs in this case at The Great Australian Bight.

The view across the Indian Ocean in the sunshine was awesome. There were waves rolling in with great energy and the spray whipping off their backs and crashing into the cliff base.

There were a pair of Sea Eagles and some terns giving one of them a hard time.

We then snoozed along the top of the cliffs and had a look at a beach around the corner before heading back through the fence and back to the actual dog beach as opposed to where the fence meets the cliffs.

As we were departing there was a call over the radio that Mary J had misplaced her phone. We enlisted Starlink to help with calling by which time Jackson’s had gone back up to the top of the cliffs and not found the phone. We all arranged to turn around and go back up to set Starlink up again to call the lost phone. Mary and Col came back down to where we were. The offending phone had fallen down between the seat and console. Crisis averted! Some reversing practice for some! Then it was off again and everybody heading up to the gate through the dog fence and over to the actual dog fence beach camping area. Poor Mary. It’s the most horrible feeling.

We found a tight little spot nestled in the dunes and began setting up before walking over the dune to watch the sunset. It drops so quickly. Photos and video show the colours but can’t capture it as the eye sees it. A vast sky turning orange with silvery gold clouds and then the soft hues of pink that follow.

Back to camp to finish setting up and set the fire (firepit) and nibbles ready for the night.

Leftover curried snags for us. Even better on the third night.

There was a cool breeze which meant early to bed and while the sky was dark and littered with sparking stars there was little movement seen tonight.

The moon is now waxing and is just a sliver lying on its back near Venus in the early night.

Warm and snug in bed, listening to the content roar of waves hitting the beach and cliffs about 50 metres over the dune. How good is that!!!