Star Date: 15/4/26.
We stopped at several viewing areas overlooking the Great Australian Bight, some with some great views of the cliffs.
One area had many people camping there on the cliffs edge, one of the few places left to camp. Great views be awesome to have a sunset on the cliffs. Fingers crossed for on the way back.
The Vegemite Kangaroo at Border Village.
SA/WA sign at the border. Unfortunately surrounded by a fence.
The big whale at Eucla.
Eucla has its own timezone. 45 mins behind WA and 45min ahead of SA. All our devices are on different time zones. A common issue travellers talk about so nobody really seems to know what the time is.
Next to the roadhouse at Eucla is a good gravel road down to the Eucla Old Telegraph Station, with free camping close by.
The Old Telegraph Station is only a short walk, most of it is being taken over by the sand now. So sad to see some graffiti all over it. Eucla telegraph line and manual repeater station were established in 1877. Together with the telegraph line, a jetty and tram line were also constructed for offloading supplies brought by ships. 1927, the Eucla Telegraph Station closed.
The station also had to deal with a rabbit plague. The sand drifts were caused by the rabbit plague that destroyed dune vegetation. Now it is little more than a few old stone walls protruding above the moving dunes.
The Old Eucla Jetty was a bit more challenging to get to. Follow the 4wd tracks they said. Well that worked in the soft sand, we were happily following the 4wd tracks and other foot prints. Until we came to hard ground with no clear 4wd tracks and multiple tracks leading off in all directions. We took what we thought was right, which turned out to be wrong. Having us taking the long way, getting lost and following our nose or maybe Jess’s nose to the beach. Which we eventually found a little distance from the old pier.
Built in 1887, the old Eucla Jetty was once used by sail & steam ships to bring stores from Albany and Esperance. It was also used to export wool and Sandalwood from out of the Eucla region. The original jetty structure extended out into the Bight for more than a hundred meters.
Some young people climbed up there easy.
There were some other people there in 4wd’s so we asked them was there a clear road back. Yeah sure follow our 4wd tracks. 😳 So we did that coming back and again came across hard ground, with no tracks and multiple ways to go. Thankfully another 4wd came along and we headed off on the track they took. Eventually we go back to camp exhausted, very hot and sweaty.
What an adventure.
Live Long and Prosper. 🖖🏿