Rainbows and lollipops at Fowlers Bay

Bidding farewell to Ceduna, we pointed our noses towards the Nullabor. We stopped for lunch at a fabulous place called Pt Sinclaire (Cactus Beach) which has a picnic shelter decorated with sea-themed mosaics done by local school children and a rather sad memorial to a young local boy called Wade who was taken by a Great White Shark just near the jetty in 1975. There is now a shark-proof swimming area that would have been great if the weather had been a bit warmer.

Then onto our next camping spot at Fowlers Bay. Although a few people had recommended that we camp and fish here, the locals in the town of Fowlers Bay all seemed helpfully confused about the location of the camp site. So we followed our noses across the dunes and eventually found a good spot. There was only one other tent there (two friendly guys from Adelaide who were getting away from it all for a couple of weeks). A massive sand dune next to our tent guaranteed the kids (and ok Kate too) endless hours of amusement and was soon covered by trails of little footsteps up and down. Sash was upset to lose his much loved Yarra Water lanyard (donated by beloved Big Sash) somewhere on the sand dune. So many hours of frantic digging with plastic spades and hands followed – to no avail. The lanyard goes back to the earth…

Next morning was a bit overcast and drizzly but Kate set off for a morning walk along the beach. Not a soul around and the beach looked almost insanely lovely – the sunrise and a dramatic sky setting off aquamarine water and perfect white sand. Flocks of Major Mitchel cockatoos emerged out of the bushes flashing their pink wings, and tiny jumping birds with long skinny legs popped along the waves. The morning sun lit up the huge rock cliffs overlooking the water. Then (of course) a massive double rainbow appeared. It felt like elves and munchkins should pop out from behind the rocks and do a little dance and song about how wonderful life is…  But that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?!

We stayed at Fowlers Bay for a few nights – unable to tear ourselves away from the rainbows. We did the usual things –fishing, walking, riding, driving on the beach and running up and down dunes. Bill did some drinking with the fishing blokes from Adelaide, Zara read her books, and Sash practiced writing number 8 (the racing track) in the sand with a stick.