Today was our 2nd Rest Day and well deserved. The last two days had been on the draining side (157 and 182 km). Eucla doesn't have as many tourist attractions as many other places so the itinerary for today was short.
The morning took a while to warm up; there had been a light shower during the night. Then a wind started in the late morning and lasted till just before sunset.
After a lie-in and breakfast served in my room ( that sounds luxury but wasn't) I first did the necessary chores. Gear in the bag needed to be rearranged and then washing to be done. Surprisingly, in spite of the heat and the fresh breeze all day, the washing took ages to dry. But all is now presentable for the next section.
My first call was to the Telegraph Museum here in the Eucla Roadhouse ( they prefer to be called Eucla Motor Hotel). Eucla was the location of the most important telegraph station relaying messages from Perth to the rest of Australia and to the world. It was established in 1877 on the Eyre Highway near the coast on the Roe Plains. We cycled all along those Roe Plains yesterday.
The telegraph station had a large staff (Eucla then had a population of 100) and operated from 1877 till 1927. It was a repeater station, necessary because both sides of Australia used different versions of Morse, International and Australian. Messages were carried along an iron wire suspended on poles. In 1927 things changed; all messages were then carried on copper wire further north along by the railway. In the 50's the telegraph station building succumbed to mounting sands and today is almost completely submerged. It was a 5 km cycle out to the station along a dirt road from our accommodation. I took my time and indulged in taking a few shots. Some of the other cyclists also came to view.
It was another 1 km walk over sand dunes to the beach where I paddled for a while in the Great Australian Bight. First time I was in this particular ocean. We'll see it better tomorrow from the cliffs. The beach was covered with whale bone and sea- grass pods(?) and the tracks op people and birds.
A little further up the beach stood the timber remains of the jetty which had been busy when the telegraph station was being set up and operating. Today it's just a landing and drying spot for the sea-bird population. It was so pleasant and peaceful here on Eucla Beach.
Nothing much else here in Eucla, just a few residential streets for those working in Dept of WA Agriculture and police. ( The border with SA is just 12 km up the road.) Prepared a bit of lunch in the park kitchen and enjoyed it in the sunshine.
At 5.30 we had our usual meeting re tomorrow and the we three had our dinner again in the roadhouse, sorry, motor hotel. We're all set now for the next section. Early tomorrow, we cross the border into South Australia. Any fruit or veg we have has to be binned at the border (like water at the airport) as a precaution against the spread of fruit fly.
Resting easy tonight and looking forward to the alarm sounding at 6 am.
.......and thank God for a lovely day.
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