We awoke just before dawn to get packed up and leave as the drive today was quite lengthy – aiming to get to Penong in time so we could do the drive out to Cactus beach via Lake Macdonnell.

The mine at Iron Knob was in full swing with the huge mine trucks already going up the pile in the early morning light.

We did a quick photo stop at Kimba for the silo art and the Big Galah – the halfway point of mainland Australia.

The famous Wudinna Bakery was calling so we stopped for a coffee and some baked goods… Matt of course had a Kransky – got to get in that protein hit..

The Wells had been having an issue with their BMPro – and were unable to turn things such as their outside caravan lights off. Branch was sure he could assist being the BMpro he is (Blue Man Pro)… so he had attempted to go for a look – however when he heard it was a Blue Tooth issue he was NOT going to volunteer any of his to assist – so backed right off and watched from afar.

Rose and Dave decided to go on ahead to Ceduna to see if they could find a technician to assist. Matt found the Wudinna Butcher and stopped in to buy one of their huge sausages.

We all finished coffee and drove out of Wudinna past the famous sandstone monument of the Australian Farmer.

The landscape was dry and dusty and a small willy-willy twisted across the paddock to the right of us.

Klaus snuck behind the bush at one point when nature called…. Hope he was well hidden from the road as we could make out his van and car easily…

Just before we arrived in Ceduna we got a call from Rose letting us know they were stopped in a “small town” on the way to Ceduna speaking to the tech support from BMPro…. It appeared that no one in Ceduna  could assist them and the unit would need replacing – something to do with not using the Bluetooth on the phones and using the iPAD… anyway the solution was found – BMPro would ship out a unit to them that they could get installed in Perth – in the meantime to turn off the power to the lights etc in the van they just remove the fuses…Branch was relieved as no Blue Teeth were required at this point

As we pulled up at the foreshore near the jetty in Ceduna, Klaus’ caravan brakes were noticeably squeaky – they had been so for a while but were getting worse… so taking advantage of the fact we were in a town, he rang around for assistance. Branch had come over for a look and suddenly a little Wall-E appeared from out of the Weiss van – the heat from the brakes was too much for Branch so the assistance of Wall-E was much appreciated. Anyway after 5 phone calls and no success, the sixth tradie Klaus spoke to could look at the brakes in half an hour…..

We ate lunch on the foreshore at Ceduna – the wind was blowing a gale….

…and then while Klaus took off to get the brake issues sorted we grabbed some supplies and had a coffee at the Ceduna Bakery – with the largest “large” coffees we had seen!

We dropped Beryl back to Klaus and went to get fuel… (Trev doing the gentlemanly thing and walking Beryl down the dodgy laneway around the corner…)

…..and bumped into Rose and Dave at the Service Station – Dave was just going to buy a rear camera for the van as the connections on the one he had currently had broken… so we all agreed to go on and meet at Penong Caravan Park.

The magnet in Klaus’s brakes had dropped out when it was serviced and was not put back properly so was loose in the drum… so the mechanic replaced the whole drum brake for him… and they were also on their way.

Driving out from Ceduna we stopped on the side of the road as Gordie wanted to gather some more firewood in the hope we could have another fire tonight.

Arriving at Penong, we quickly checked in with Mick the friendly owner of the Park and parked on our sites.

Due to the hiccups along the way we were later to Penong than expected and so a surf at Cactus was out of the question for Gordon and Trev, so we just drove out there taking Matt and Sharon for a look at Lake MacDonnell and Cactus Beach.

Lake MacDonnell was not as colourful as we had seen it previously but still a spectacular site as were the huge sandhills glowing in the late afternoon sun.

We got to Cactus Beach and walked out along the boardwalk to take a look at the amazing coastline…. In my eagerness to get that great pic I did not notice that the boardwalk was in disrepair with several boards broken… and my foot went straight down into a hole, resulting in me doing a “Klaus” and falling forward trying to save the camera I had in one hand and the phone in the other!! Sharon was most concerned that I did the full face plant however I managed not to by landing on my forearms… sustaining only a small bruise to my left wrist and a big scrape on my right Ugg boot – which definitely saved my shin from being de-gloved!

The “Klaus” is the name given to the photographer who is so intent on getting that amazing shot they forget to look down, resulting in a forward fall while attempting to save the camera…

Fortunately for me the camera and phone were both OK as well..

The view at Cactus was commanding and there were a few surfers out there braving the freezing cold and dusk shark feeding time…

We drove back to Penong……

Once we had finished setting up we walked across to the Pub for the huge schnitzel feast… Rose and Dave had a quiet night in the van after the day’s ordeal…