The weather forecast was not good. Winter storm fronts and low troughs have been chasing us across the Nullabor and are finally catching up. The further south we go, the more into the line of fire we wander. It is clear that we’ll be doing a lot more looking at, and a lot less diving in.
Thanks to a tip from the local Visitor Information Center, we made our first destination the Point Labatt Aquatic Reserve, home to a standing colony of sea lions. We arrived at the cliff top car park with all the intention of spending the night. But the buffeting winds resulted in a rock’n roll that even I was nervous about.
Tamika wisely stayed in the car as I trudged down to the observation deck. After five minutes of scanning the rock shelf below without result, spotted them huddled, sleeping on the sand at my feet (metaphorically speaking). Clearly, they were done for the day. The morning might see them up and about.
After 10 minutes in the van, I called it and we made a tactical retreat a few minutes back down the road. Even at three kilometres distant, the roar of the ocean crashing into the cliffs dominated the airwaves. No moon, clear skies and a pin cushion sky sent us off to sleep.
The next morning we went back and sure enough the youngin’s were jousting on the sand and a couple were at least rolling around. Well, it was the weekend after a
Our next stop was Murphy’s Stacks, sculptured boulders and on our road back to the highway. We almost didn’t make it. Coming over the crest of a hill, we were confronted by an un-sign posted T-intersection about 50 metres away. The anti-sway bars certainly got a work out as I braked and down-geared. Still not enough room but managed to slide into the cross road and we both took some deep breaths as we ground to a halt. Aaah, the adrenaline. Luckily we were able to walk it off half an hour later, as we wandered through 115 million year old granite monoliths.
We called into a couple of coastal villages just out of curiosity but our target was Venus Bay, another short run down the highway. There were two highlights – the view of course and the King George whiting fillets and chips we bought from a mobile fish shop parked in the main street. We ate sitting in the Jeep, with the winds whistling around us. Sooooo delicious. Venus Bay shimmered in the afternoon sun and waves crashed against cliffs opposite.
More rain was on the way, so we headed back to the highway and then back-tracked to a small roadside rest area we spotted on the way in. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow.
