21st May 2014
This morning we drove down to the Eyre Bird Observatory on the coast [without the caravan]. The road in is 30kms, the first 20 of which was a reasonable unsealed road which then went down a steep escarpment and over soft sand dunes to the sea. John did a great job of handling the vehicle in the soft sand.
The area is named after John Eyre the explorer who was finding a land route from eastern to western Australia.
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| The sand road to Eyre |
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| Eyre sand dunes |
The observatory is based in the old Eyre telegraph station which was built in 1897 replacing older buildings. The telegraph line from Adelaide to Perth ran right along the coast at this point and many of the posts and wires are still in place. There are many birds around the area including honeyeaters, finches, pardalotes and swallows. The air was full of their song but they flit around so fast it was hard to get any photographs.
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| Eyre Bird Observatory |
The area is incredibly beautiful and tranquil and we enjoyed a walk through the dunes to the beach.
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| Beach at Eyre |
After this it was back to the long journey west. We were soon onto the longest stretch of straight road in Australia - 145.6 kms without a bend and scarcely an undulation. Spending the night in Balladonia which marks the western edge of the plain.
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| The longest straight road in Australia |
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