Continuing on the next day, I was conscious of keeping to the C roads that I love, as well as proceeding West - it certainly makes for an interesting and different route compared to the one Google maps wanted me to take. That's how I went to Willaura, a tiny place that has a railway line and silos on one side of the road and a lot of closed and shuttered buildings on the other. Except for the supermarket. It was (sort of) open because the girl saw me park across the road and left the register so that she could come and pat Maggie. The power of the dog! Then on to visit friends, Ilsa and Lee, at Bahgallah (near Casterton), where they are renovating/rebuilding/creating their house. Wow! It's impressive to see the progress already!
A lovely old pub, but closed like most other businesses.
Ilsa, showing Maggie one of the many kelpie statues in Casterton. THEY think it's the birthplace of the kelpie ... I'm sure Ardlethan has something to say about that!
And so goodbye to Victoria. Now I really feel like I'm on the road. I don't have a set plan other than being in Ceduna in about three weeks time and I would prefer not to repeat what I did when last in South Australia. Maggie is feeling relaxed already and I'm enjoying being back in the van. So I had a short stop in Mount Gambier (obligatory walk around the Blue Lake and some shopping) before I headed to Kalangadoo. 
Umpherston Sinkhole in Mount Gambier
Maggie enjoying a bit of off-lead wandering
Kalangadoo? Where? you ask? Well, sort of in the middle of nowhere, is the answer. What's there? Nothing much but it did have a pub where you could stay for free as long as you spent some money there. Being a Saturday night, I thought the pub would be rocking. Wrong. It was an away night game and so there was me, Maggie, Kira the bar maid and Jason, the very, very drunk guy who was very, very funny. Unfortunately, I decided to have the roast pork for dinner ... big mistake since it and the vegetables had been kept warm since lunch. But it was a bit of a hoot and I had a lovely sleep in the back yard of the pub.
Jason took this surprisingly steady and centred photo. As you can see, not very busy.
Kalangadoo calls itself the Home of the Red Gum ... and let's face it, there were some nice red gums around BUT if they think this stump is the biggest red gum ever, they really should come and visit Mansfield.
From Kalangadoo, I've come to Southend. A gem of a place! I'm in the bush camp, surrounded by birds (and rabbits) and two minutes walk to the long, clean beach of Rivoli Bay. Maggie is in heaven and has already managed to transfer a considerable amount of sand into the van. South from the bay, the shoreline becomes a series of jagged limestone cliffs and there is a huge network of walking paths along the edge and through the Canunda State and National Parks. And there's no one here! A few families camping quietly amongst the dunes, some locals going out for crayfish. Otherwise, we have this little piece of heaven to ourselves. 
A beach, a ball ... mine, all mine!
Calcified roots and trunks, along the cliff edge.
So where to next? Not sure ... perhaps we'll go West ...
