Everyone was up early to pack up to get to Cactus Beach in the hope of getting spots at the Point Sinclair Campground.

The morning was very misty as the sun was coming up and strange noises were coming from behind the hedge near the Wells rear end…. Trev looked like he had spied something…and I heard Rose telling Dave to stop…he had the water hose in hand and I thought he may have been ??cleaning the van exterior or adding water to his tanks….all was revealed later in the day….

The campground had the most salubrious amenities, so I had to go and take pics – a great place to stay if you are ever in Streaky Bay!!

As the caravan park ran their own desal plant and water was scarce – they requested we do not fill our tanks at the campground, so we went back into Streaky Bay to fill the tanks before leaving as there was no water at Cactus. Maintaining an adequate water supply is so challenging for those living in isolated arid areas…. Something that we on the East Coast take so much for granted.

As we were filling up our tanks I noticed an old wooden cross in the local church ground – apparently originally a tree planted by a local man Albert Cotton and his wife in memory of their 2 infant children May and Joseph who died in May 1922… now formed into the cross with the timely message below it,,,

After filling our tanks, we went and bought a bun and coffees for the road from Elliott’s Bakery – the very helpful staff we had met the day before were there again….

Leaving Streaky Bay we headed north and made a beeline for Cactus Beach passing through Ceduna and turning at Penong to head out along the dirt road to the coast. The road was in fairly good condition with just a few rough spots. On the way we could see the salt and gypsum mining activity….

Lake MacDonnell was not as spectacular as the last time we came this way due to the fact that the area is in drought. The water levels were so low on both sides of the road that the pink lake was mostly white, and the blue lake was dark and muddy. We were disappointed as both Klaus and Trev were planning to put up their drones to take some of the legendary twin coloured lake shots intersected by the road….

Huge sand dunes glistened on either side of us and the landscape was still beautiful despite the dryness.

We drove in to Point Sinclair Campground which was looking pretty full…and drove around for a while trying to find spots for us all – to no avail – not even 1 spot for 1 van…. A bloke came up to us and introduced himself to Trev as the camp commandant – the guy who Trev had spoken to was on holidays and he was here helping people find sites. He suggested we go to the “overflow” area and find a place just down the road – as long as we did not block the road, he said it was fine to find a spot on the side that our 4 vans could get in to.

We drove a little way back and found a couple of spots we could fit the vans into off the road.

We carefully drove in – Gordie coming in last – just as he was turning in a rude local guy drove past and yelled “you can’t camp there” …. Trev went to investigate but by the time he arrived the guy had driven off after some more yelling. Another guy drove up, so Trev spoke to him – he was more reasonable and said he had never seen anyone camp where we were and advised us that some locals were pretty nasty so he wouldn’t camp there…. So, we made the executive decision to drive back the 20km to Penong Caravan Park and stay there the 2 nights as the drive in without a vans was less than 15mins to get to the beach etc…. This proved to be a very providential decision as we were to find out later…

Gordie stayed for a surf and we drove back to Penong. Rose and Dave went ahead but the Weiss’s and Trev and I stopped near Lake MacDonnell to put up the drone to capture some pics of the lake and surrounding dunes – a very unique landscape!

The caravan park at Penong was run by a lovely couple, Mick and Jenny, who had only been there a couple of years. They owned it independently and had bought it just before COVID hit so times had been quite hard. The place was so clean and neat with a great camp kitchen and level sites. We were fortunate to get 4 sites for the 2 nights. They were cheaper than Point Sinclair Campground with better amenities and power and water – the short drive in for a surf was worth it. They told us that COVID had hit Penong very hard due to the fact of border closures and no one was travelling to WA – so no one was stopping in Penong. The pub had also been hard hit, so we decided to go across there for dinner to support the local economy.

Dave was in dire need of a couple of screws for his microwave – Branch tried to assist but Mick came to the rescue….

Once set up, Trev and I drove back to the beach for a swim and possible surf while the Weiss and Wells crew relaxed in their vans…. Unbeknown to us Branch had some work to do in the Weiss van….

While we were away, Dave was relaxing on the bed in his van and Rosie jumped on to join him when there was a loud bang… and the caravan moved…. Klaus, Beryl and the Wells went out to investigate only to discover that Dave’s jockey wheel had fallen off and the caravan draw bar had dropped to the ground – Dave had not got around to putting up his stabilisers so the van was nose down!!! Branch was disappointed to have missed the event but caught up later…..

Rosie was busy washing all their towels…a mystery again as she had just washed at Streaky Bay…. and then we realised that the incident we witnessed early this morning at Streaky Bay was Dave hosing out his “cassette area” at the rear of the van under the toilet…resulting in the now familiar incident of an inner van flood…one per trip it seems!!

Cactus Beach was beautiful – there were quite a few surfers out, but we could not locate Gordon and Kerry – so we went for a walk and jumped in for a swim.

After failing to find the Hunters we drove down to the JETTY at Port Le Hunte to have a look and see if they were there. The jetty had been built in the 1800s for loading gypsum from the local mines onto ships for export. The area still has the largest gypsum mine in Australia supplying gypsum for all Australia’s needs as well as exporting some overseas. These days the gypsum is railed or trucked out to Port Augusta.

The beach at the jetty had a netted swimming area with a pontoon which had been built in memory of a local 11year old boy, Wade Shipard, who had been taken by a great white shark there in 1975 while swimming out to the lobster trawler.

We arrived back at the caravan park and Gordie and Kerry were back – Gordie having had a surf at a location around the point from Cactus. Kerry had cooked a dessert for us all while waiting for Gordie….and Branch had been playing havoc in the Hunter Lotus with the toilet roll holder, dislodging screws and making a mess…..

Branch then got to work in the Weiss van fixing a broken table leg and attempting to open the cutlery drawer which was firmly jammed shut despite efforts from Klaus and McGyver it was not budging!! The microwave had also fallen out – there seemed to be a lot of work required by Branch in the Weiss’s place as he disappeared a number of times unbeknownst to his owner!

The dinner at the local pub at Penong was second to none – the cook did an amazing job pumping out well portioned delicious meals – Trev and Klaus had the beef schnitzel which could have fed an army – unbelievably they both finished it!

Beryl and I had delicious fresh salt and pepper squid – tender and tasty, and Rose and Dave had Cactus Chicken and calamari. The side salads were delicious with a blend of fruit and veg – watermelon balls marinated in mint, orange and a variety of salad vege plus crispy beer battered chips….

Back in the vans we had dessert at the Hunters – apple crumble freshly baked by Kerry…. Superb!