Head of the Bight?

Well, I think that is where Mark is! Temporary loss of power to his GPS tracker means that I am having to make another educated guess with regards to the terrain he has covered today. However, as there really is only one road which goes east across the Nullarbor and as Google Earth has a measuring distance facility which has allowed me to plot 100 miles from yesterday's last known position, I reckon Mark might be around here....

It is difficult to get bearings from such a small area but basically it translates into a location near to where the Great Australian Bight reaches its most northerly point. Incidentally,It is around breakfast tine in South Australia as I post this and the weather 'layer' in Google Earth is suggesting a temperature of 14 degres. After a night of clear skies, temperatures will be at their lowest in the morning. Mark can expect that figure to rise a lot as the day progresses.!

After leaving the Bunda cliffs area this morning, Mark will have cycled close to these features shown on the left. These are blowholes formed when caves are eroded underground from the coast. Either the hydraulic action of water in the underground caves or compressed air in the passageways forces an exit to the surface.

En route to where I think Mark might be this evening, he will have passed through the Nullarbor roadhouse - probably a welcome sight as he approached it from the west.....Another hotel motel is available for the weary traveller and it is quite intriguing to look at their website and wonder whether Mark was tempted to buy a cuddly camel or kangaroo!

And talking of camels and kangaroos, here is the road sign which greets you just outside the Nullarbor roadhouse..

Meanwhile, back on the road mark will have headed for the point on the Eyre Highway closest to the head of the Great Australian Bight which is best known as superb location for whale watching. It seems that Southern Right whales calve here in great numbers during the winter season from May to September.

Click on the image above to link to the Australian Department of the Environment leaflet about the Southern Right whale in the Great Australian Bight marine park.

P.S. Welcome to today's new blog readers from Ghana, Egypt and Ethiopia ! I have been watching my clustr map with interest and wondering when there would be a 'hit' from Africa .... and there were three in one day. I just have to get someone from Antarctica and that will be all continents represented.

P.P.S. Glad to see that my reader in Churchill on Hudson's Bay is still with me!