Day 26

Early in the morning I was woken by the tent flapping around in the wind.  It brought back memories of the morning in the Wahgunya Conservation Reserve when the wind blew the tent half over and a couple of short rain showers made packing up a mess.  Thankfully this time the showers didn't arrive, though it certainly felt like it was going to.  Still, I jumped out and re-pegged a few sides and corners to try and stop the tent wall flapping in my face.

An hour and a half later we were up, then soon after that we were dressed, fed and packed, moving off about 7:50. We weren't planning any particular activities for the day and the plan was now to just get home; Morgs wants to be home by the Saturday so that
we've got time to unpack and clean everything as well as have a little break (everyone needs a holiday after a holiday!).  So the side trip down to Bilbunya Dunes was canned as this would have meant we'd be getting home on the Sunday before work commences on Monday.  It's OK because I plan to come back another time to do the whole coast from Bilbunya Dunes to Israelite Bay some other time with some other cars in a warmer and drier time of the year.

The one last thing we had to check out was the Caiguna Blowhole, which we missed the first time we came across; I didn't realise it was so close to the highway.  It's clearly sign posted, but there are no advanced warning signs when approaching the turn off, hence why we missed it the first time coming across.  The information board at the blowhole explains that wind passes through parts of the underground network of caves/tunnels and that the wind at this blowhole can either be blowing air out or sucking it in; sometimes recorded as fast as 70km/h.  Today though it appeared to be just a hole in the ground - almost like a bored post hole.  It wasn't until you got right up close to it that any air movement was discernable - I think it was sucking in very slowly.  We were a bit surprised how small it was - only about 500mm diameter - and we wondered whether the Weebubbie Blowhole looked similar, hence why it was so difficult to find.

We stopped at Caiguna just down the road to fill up the car and get one last supply of Nippy's flavoured milk, then continued heading east.  Shortly after going down the pass at Madura the rain showers started.  Just before arriving at Eucla Morgs was pulled over by a police car!  One of our headlights was blown, but other than that all was fine.  Shortly after we stopped off at Border Village to have lunch, but the drizzle persisted and encouraged us to get back in the car and continue driving.

I chose to stop at one of the ocean lookouts overlooking the Merdayerrah Sandpatch.  I would have loved more time to drive though and explore the beach and dunes, but unfortunately it will have to be saved for another trip.

The wind was strong and drizzle/showers were ever present, so given the troubles we had with the tent earlier that morning we decided to get a room at the Nullarbor Roadhouse.  Motel room was $155 and adequately serviced.  Morgs found some reviews online and many were very critical, but mainly focused on the price.  I mean seriously, some people are morons.  If you haven't brought your own accommodation and don't want to drive at night, what else are you gonna do when the other alternatives are 2 hrs drive west or 3 hrs drive east?!

Of course everything at the Nullarbor Roadhouse is much more expensive than usual given that it's out in the middle of no where.  Diesel is $2.099/Litre.  We forego the opportunity to have a $38 chicken parmigiana for our own reheated bolognese & pasta.  I'm sure it would have been the best parma in 200km too.