Crossed the border today! We were slightly worried that Nessie was going to overheat as the temperature gauge was doing funny things. A headwind and 40 degree heat doesn't agree with a 3 tonne truck at 100 kays! We dropped back on the speed and cruised along at 80 without any issues, oh apart from the airconditioning that is. The AC seemed to be losing it's grunt in the last few weeks but hadn't really been a problem until now, when we needed it most. It obviously needs re-gassing but nowhere to do that now, we just had to press on. Not ideal with three people squeezed into the front of a Landcruiser but it certainly added to the adventure.
This part of the Nullabour drive was by far the highlight, the cliffs run straight into the ocean for about 100km, just next to the highway. Absolutely amazing and I'm sure it would be a much bigger tourist attraction if it wasn't so far from everything else!
We decided to stay at Cactus for the night. Most surfers will have heard of Cactus, perfect waves but with the heaviest locals in Australia. Stories abound of visiting surfers being punched out in the surf, shotguns being fired off in the carpark, etc. How much truth in that we weren't sure. We stopped at the pub in Penong (the turn off for Cactus) and the locals seemed friendly enough. Got to the campite and ran up the sand dunes to see perfect, offshore 3-4 foot waves peeling in three different spots and looking like Indo.
The campsite was full of travelling surfers and the Victorian guy across from us said it was pumping today and would be even better tomorrow. Score! The vibe actually seemed pretty friendly too, the campsite caretaker kid even gave us a surf map when we paid our fees. Maybe tomorrow would be our classic surf of the trip? I went to bed early dreaming of barrels and peeling walls (and trying not to think about the shark breeding ground close by!).
