The Nullarbor!

When we stopped for petrol as we were leaving Ceduna one of the locals told Eric that it was 50 degrees on his verandah yesterday- I thought the car may have exaggerated! We were more than relieved to be hitting the Nullarbor with a very reasonable 29 degrees. We decided on a big day of driving and to try to get as far as we could before dark. We stopped at the Head of Bight to enjoy the views- no whales this time of year but an experience worth having. The petrol across the Nullarbor ranged from 185.9 to 198.1 so it was a costly exercise. Listening to podcasts help pass the hours and the boys have been fantastic in the car. At 7pm we thought we might try motel accommodation to save us the hassle of setting up and packing up, so we pulled into Cocklebiddy. The room was very basic to say the least but when I pulled down the bed spreads (because they looked grubby) I discovered a generous sprinkling of mouse droppings. At the same time Joe declared delightedly "ohhhh a rat!" as it took off out the door. I hustled everyone out the door as quickly as that rat. The boys were in fits of giggles at that stage because I had shouted out to Eric "mouse shit!!!" Eric went back in to reception to explain the situation to the German backpacker who was managing the place. After several attempts to explain Eric had to say "mouse shit everywhere!" before he caught on. We were very quickly refunded the $110 it had cost us. Of course as he relayed this story to the rest of us the boys cracked up again, they have delighted in reminding us that we both used the rude word for poo in front of them. We happily set up the tent in the camp grounds instead. We all break into random giggles whenever one of us remembers something about the experience. While I was stopping to take a quick photo of the said droppings (of course I had to get a photo) a stray cat wandered in and gave me a death glare- I backed away quickly and left it to enjoy dinner! We thought that we would indulge in an easy dinner and ordered some chips for the kids and veggie burgers for Eric & I. This and 5 cold drinks amounted to almost $70! We have planned the return trip with the benefit of hindsight:)
When packing up this morning we uncovered a cute little lizard along with about 3 mice under the tarp. We have to count our blessings, it has remained lovely and cool- all of that in 50 degrees may have unravelled us completely.
We have driven in and out of thunder storms all morning with stunning lightning all around us. As we leave Norseman and head into Esperance we have clear skies and warmer temps. We are hoping for a grassy site by the water tonight.

Head of Bight.