Day 11

DAY 11
29-06-2006
Thursday

Osca : Two changes to our blog presentation.
1. Day 11 is “Walkabout Day 11” and does not necessarily correspond to how many days it has been since we’ve left Melbourne, but it makes it easier for us to compile our writings and pictures. Sometimes we have a day or so off from our walkabout to work on pictures and blog updates or just lay low to let our budget catch up.

2. Up till now the bulk of the pictures were at 600x300 pixel resolution. This was to compensate for the slow laptop I was working on and save time during uploads. It has been pointed out in an email that it would be nicer to have a higher resolution. The pictures on the Walkabout digital postcards (available soon) will be 1600x1200. The CD’s will also contain the raw images as they come off my camera at 2592x1944, but for now a compromise 1280x768 perfect size for notebooks, but not too big to post on the blog.

Eve : We leave Ceduna and head west. At Penong, the town of 100 windmills (they are not just scattered one here, on there – there are 6 in one paddock, 4 in another, over the ridge several more appear – we hang a left toward what from a distance looks like a snow covered mountain range. The sand dunes of Point Sinclair stretch along the horizon. They are huge. Ominous. As the wind blows you can see the sand dancing over their peaks. On the other side is the ocean.

“we hang a left toward what from a distance looks like a snow covered mountain range”

Suddenly Chewie ‘hits the anchors’ (brakes). We smoothly continue to glide along the dirt road. A small green shape disappear out of view and under the van. “We missed it” proclaims Chewie triumphantly, as he dashes off with his camera. The lizard happily remains in the middle of the road, sunning itself. After all, this is his place. We are the visitors.

“The lizard happily remains in the middle of the road, sunnying itself”

Getting a bit more adventurous, we turn off the “main” unsealed road “To the Beach” on to a sandy track. It winds itself between a few low sand dunes. One can just see over the top of them from the van. Speckled with shrubs and bushes. We emerge around a corner and before us the track turns into a Beach all its own. Though the wind is feirce, even here, the small bay’s waters ripple gently. A black sea bird periodically dives under the water for a snack. Then bops up and down on the surface. I can only see his head between the ripples and a tail, but he seems to spend more time under the water than on top.

Meanwhile, Chewie is climbing the sand dunes. Please, excuse me. I must join him and act as a windbreak.

When we turned off from Penong the local school children were out playing in their brightly painted playground. It was lunchtime. When we returned back to the turn off I looked at the clock. It was 5.30pm. We had spent several hours on the dunes. It was “texture heaven” for Chewie, who, though he has quite a wide vocabulary, was reduced to “Oh, wow! Just Awsome!”