Greetings from Wudinna,

I was wrong about being woken by ravens in Norseman on Wednesday morning. It had started raining during the night, and it must have dampened their enthusiasm for cawing. Nevertheless, I was awake early, and after provisioning at the Roadhouse I headed for Eucla, 700km away. By the time I stopped to refill the tank at Caiguna, roughly half way, it was absolutely pissing down rain. It rained most of the way, alternating between light mists and heavy downpours. During the last 50 or so kilometres, I saw numerous kangaroos right on the edge of the road, apparently drinking from puddles of water in depressions in the road. I don’t know why I didn’t see any before then; I assume the time of day had some bearing on it.

After arriving at Eucla somewhere ’round 3pm local time (CWT; 45min ahead of Perth) and checking in, I drove the 4km to the coast, to have a look at the ruins of the old telegraph station and jetty.

Thankfully it had stopped raining. On returning,  I had a couple of beers at the bar; no grey nomads this time, instead a merchant seaman who was on his way to visit his daughter and her family in Kiama.

This morning I was woken by a single male of the species Gallus gallus domesticus; I didn’t hear it last time stopped here. As usual, I was away early, heading for Wudinna, which is mid way between Ceduna and Port Augusta. I’d planned to check out the “Head of the Bight” along the way, some 11km off the highway, but unfortunately the road was closed for maintenance.

It was about 5pm local time (CST) when I arrived here, after travelling just over 700km. I “lost” 1hr 45min today, because of the 45min time zone difference from Eucla, on top of daylight saving in South Australia.  For a small rural town (Pop. 600), the standard of the motel (3.5 stars) is quite impressive. The innkeeperess also impressed me; when I gave my home address as Baudin Avenue, she said “named after Nicolas Baudin”.

I’m going to spend another night here, and visit the Gawler Ranges National Park, among other sights, tomorrow.

Cheers,
Julian