Another nippy, breezy morning with weather. I couldn’t resist a little detour to Fowlers Bay though, dirt road or not. It was well worth the diversion to see the old telegraph station and to discover that Matthew Flinders, commander of HM Sloop ‘Investigator’, had named Fowlers Bay and Point Fowler for his First Lieutenant Robert Fowler. Unlike previous side roads I’d taken, this one led straight to the magnificent, white sand dunes that lined the bay.
The old telegraph station at Fowlers Bay.
Keeping (mostly) ahead of the weather and feeling good after a more comfortable night in a ‘proper room’, we made good speed to Ceduna. The traffic was light and the road good, so we kept up a good speed and Camel managed 7.0 litres/100kms. Where fuel is above $2.00 per litre we make do with 91 octane, hence the rather ordinary fuel economy.
At Ceduna I bought a couple of crusty bread rolls and took them down to the sea to eat. The sea was dark grey and rough by this time and the seagulls were hunkering down wherever shelter could be found. I wasn’t sure about the ham, which two days old, so I binned that and settled for cheese for lunch. Alas, the cheese was terribly salty and I checked the wrapper. I had bought that brand before and should have remembered: for ‘tasty’ read ‘salty’. So I saved the second roll for later.
With Camel loping along well, the miles sped by until I realised the sun was well down and we should be looking for somewhere to spend the night. We found motel-style accommodation in Kimba, by which time I realised I had earache and a stiff neck. I had a hot shower, a good slug of scotch in my coffee and went to bed on a couple of Panadeine with the electric blanket on its lowest setting.