Ceduna (wikipedia) is a small town in the West Coast region of South Australia. It is situated in the northwest corner of Eyre Peninsula, facing the islands of the Nuyts Archipelago. It lies west of the junction of the Flinders and Eyre Highways around 786 km northwest of the capital Adelaide. The port town/suburb of Thevenard lies 3 km to the west on Cape Thevenard. It is in the District Council of Ceduna, the federal Division of Grey, and the state electoral district of Flinders. The name Ceduna is a corruption of the local Aboriginal word Chedoona and is said to mean a place to sit down and rest. The town has played an important but minor role in Australia’s overall development due to it being a fishing port and a railway hub.

History – Murat Bay in Ceduna looking over to Thevenard during Oysterfest 2012 Matthew Flinders on his voyage in the Investigator, anchored in Fowlers Bay on 28 January 1802. He went on to explore the coast and named Denial Bay, Smoky Bay and the islands of Nuyts Archipelago. He was disappointed to find no river and gave the name Denial Bay because they did not find fresh water. French expedition leader Nicolas Baudin discovered Murat Bay after meeting with Flinders and named it after Joachim Murat. He also named the point of Thevenard after the Admiral and Minster of Marine Antoine-Jean-Marie Thevenard, and Decres Bay after Denis Decres, duke of the First French Empire There was a whaling station on nearby St Peter Island during the 1850s before settlement. The Commissioner of Crown Lands, faced with widespread agitation to open West Coast lands for agricultural settlement, invited three farmers in July 1887 to inspect the lands between Streaky Bay and Western Australia. They were optimistic about the area and recommended that the necessary surveys be started at once. In 1889 the Government in Adelaide formalised the Far West with survey lines. In June 1901, the town of Ceduna was proclaimed. For many years, locals called the township Murat Bay and it was not until the railways came and called the siding Ceduna in 1915 that locals adopted the name. The Ceduna Jetty was built in 1902. The Tod Water pipeline was officially opened by Mr M McIntosh, Commissioner of Public Works, June 1928. Ceduna was the site of a major satellite telecommunications facility operated by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission. It was a major employer in the town until made redundant by technological change. It was built in 1969 and by 1984 almost half of Australia’s International telecommunication traffic passed through Ceduna’s Earth Station. On 4 December 2002, Ceduna received international attention when the path of totality of a solar eclipse passed directly over the town. Though the day had at times been partly cloudy, and although mere kilometres away in Thevenard the view was still clouded over, the southwestern sky where the Sun and Moon were located was clear from Ceduna itself at the time of the total solar eclipse, late in the afternoon. In the 2007/2008 State Budget, Premier Mike Rann (who had opened the new Ceduna TAFE campus in the early 1990s) announced a commitment of $36 million for Stage 1 of the Ceduna Hospital Redevelopment. It was opened in 2011. In February 2010 Premier Rann opened the world’s largest mineral sands mine operated by Iluka Resources. The $390 million mine is located 200km North West of Ceduna.

Description – The town is the last major settlement before crossing the Nullarbor Plain from east to west. It is set on Murat Bay and the sandy coves, sheltered bays and offshore islands of the bay make it a popular base for a beach holiday. The foreshore at Ceduna is lined with Norfolk Island pine trees. There is a jetty for walking, fishing and small boats.

10^th March, Tuesday

We packed the final few things this morning and said our goodbyes to the other happy campers we met in Elliston. The road to Ceduna is mainly along the coast with a stop over in Streaky where we had originally booked at the caravan park and cancelled. We had brekkie and then checked out the caravan park to see if we had done the right thing in cancelling the booking and YES, we did do the right thing. The caravan park is on the beach and packed in like sardines, awnings just about touching the van next door, NO THANKS! Streaky Bay is a lovely town and the bay is gorgeous and it would have been nice had they had another caravan park slightly out of town, like Elliston. We arrived in Ceduna at about lunch time and we were going to stay at the Airport caravan park but thought that we would have a look at Shelley Beach.  There are 4 caravan parks in Ceduna, 2 of them being out of town and 2 of them in town.  We don’t like staying in town so that’s why we chose the other 2.  We arrived at Shelley Beach (first time ever that we haven’t booked a spot) only to be told that the sites they had left were too small for our van but they did have some other sites which they reserve for big vans which have their own toilet and shower as it’s away from the rest of the caravan park.  We fitted into that criteria and when we got to the site, LORDY LORDY how gorgeous it is. It’s situated on top of the dunes overlooking the beach, just a short walk down to the beach. There are 5 of these sites and 3 chalets with this outlook and secluded from everyone else, we were so lucky getting this, it’s only 2kms from town but far enough not to have to be bothered by people walking through. Poor Hugo is back on Anti Inflammatory tablets.  He jumped in the car this morning and missed and we think that he hurt himself.  He hasn’t been happy all day.  We took him for a little walk along the beach which he loved but we probably shouldn’t have done that so he will have to have a rest tomorrow, poor puppy.

11^th March, Wednesday

Another beautiful day, no wind and the sun is shining.  We were a bit worried about being on the top of the dunes with the wind destroying our awning. We had a bit of a late breeze last night and the wind dropped right off later on in the evening. We hit the beach early this morning as the tide was out we were looking for cockles for bait. The serenity here is so amazing, the space we have, the beach to ourselves it’s all beyond words. We decided to stay an extra night and booked in before we left the park to go for a drive along the coast.  We visited some places and then back to town to stock up on groceries as we will take 7 days to go across the Nullarbor and there are very limited groceries along the way and if you do happen to find some they come at a premium price which is fair enough as everything has to be transported in. I have to buy all our veggies frozen because of the quarantine rules crossing back into WA, no fresh stuff and no honey (I gave that all away). When we got back to our little spot in paradise the tide was in and Ralph went down to the beach to do a spot of fishing or should I say “feed the fishies and have a bit of R&R”.  He did catch 3 but they were undersized so they got to swim for another day, Chicken for dinner tonight HAHA. Hugo is tuckered out with his big walk on the beach this morning and we let him rest for the rest of the day because the poor old boy is feeling it so he had another tablet and I think that he is feeling much better, he so loves the beach and tends to overdo things.

12^th March, Thursday

Another perfect day, this is getting boring. Off to the beach to look for more cockles this morning, there are lots of other little creature wandering around on the low tide. Back to the van for breakfast.  We went into town for a few things and took a drive to Thevenard where there are some local fish shops, all fish caught and processed locally. We bought some beautiful fresh whiting and some prawns to put in the freezer for our trip across the Nullarbor, we won’t starve, that’s for sure. The port is in Thevenard, it’s mostly grain, gypsum and zircon that is being loaded onto the ships and been sent to where ever, there is also salt there, huge piles of it but we are not sure what is done with it or if it is loaded onto ships and sent off somewhere. From our caravan site we can watch the loaded ships taking off into the never nevers. From Thevenard the islands of St. Peter and St. Francis are quite visible and the history about these two islands is quite interesting.  I have copied a little blurb here for you to read.

“Gullivers Travels”. The popular 1718 novel by Jonathan Swift, may well have been set on the islands before you. It’s likely that the 2 largest islands, St Peter and St Francis, were seen in 1627 by Francois Thyssen and Pieter Nuyts in the ship the Gulden Zeepaert. An employee of the Dutch East India Company noted their account and considered the possibilities that this land would offer riches in wine, cheese, olives, tobacco and silk worms. Equally as exciting, he thought, was the possibility of discovering giants, in both stature and intelligence, in the Land of Nuyts. Perhaps it was this account which intrigued Jonathan Swift – although his mythical islands of Lilliput were inhabited by tiny people, not giants. His central character, Captain Gulliver, was “driven by a storm to the north west of Van Diemen’s Land” (Tasmania) and wrecked in the vicinity of 30 degs. Latitude. The islands before you are the only known islands fitting this description. No Lilliputians have ever been sighted…….. but some people in Ceduna like to keep an open mind! In 1978 anthropologist Norman Tindale recorded a Wirangu song of the local Wirangu people about “a great white bird” that came of the sky and was tied up to the land so it could not get away.” This song may have described the arrival of Francois Thyssen on the Golden Zeepaert in 1627.”

Ralphie went down to the beach to do a spot of fishing, he caught a couple but put them back so it’s chicken fried rice tonight HAHA, at least we have some nice fresh fish squirreled away in the freezer. The wind came up pretty blowy so he left before high tide and he couldn’t really cast out probably and it’s not much fun standing there with the wind in your face.

13^th March, Friday

WOOOHOOOO Friday the 13^th! Lucky day. Again we woke to a calm beautiful sunny morning. I keep trying to do the sunrise thing but it doesn’t work HAHA. Today is 27 deg. A slight breeze and the sea is so calm it’s like a mirror, no waves at all. We popped into town to top up with water as we don’t want to run out crossing the Nullarbor, you can get water but the quality is suspect and bottled water is so expensive. We are carrying heaps of bottled water but we bought that from the supermarket so not too bad, I think we have about 50 litres of drinking water plus the water under the van for dishes, toilet and shower (should we need it). It’s a packing up and housework day and with the view that we have while doing these chores makes it really easy. We leave tomorrow morning and our next stop for 2 nights is at the Nullarbor roadhouse. I’m not sure if we will have mobile coverage, I’ve been told that the coverage is very limited so if you don’t hear from us for about a week (until we get to Norseman), don’t panic. We have wine, food and water in that order HAHA, so we should be right.