Day 4 Adelaide to Perth - Nullabor Plain

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Simo woke us up once again at 7am for breakfast and we packed up the van and got back on the road for a long days drive which would take across the state border. We made a couple of stops before the border to take photos at scenic look out points along the Bunda cliffs. As we were walking back to the bus from the second look out we saw a baby dugite snake cross the path. As the baby snakes have to protect themselves from predators their more dangerous than than adult snakes, so Simo declined the opportunity of picking him up!As we've been driving west wards we've had a fence running alongside the highway. This fence is to keep the dingos out and it stretches 5736km from Queensland making it the largest man made object in the world. The fence ends in south Australia with a very large cattle grid as it terminates at the highway. Jo and several of the others took the opportunity to lie under the grid and experience a road train drive over them!Thoughout this tour we've seen people taking on the challenge of cycling the route between Adelaide and Perth, and they are effectionatly called crazies! Today we think we peaked when we passed a guy skateboarding! Surprising to us his support crew was no where in site but we gave him a wave of encouragemennt!Next it was on to the Western Australia border. We stopped just prior to the border for lunch and to use up all our fresh fruit and veg as there is a quarantine check as you cross the border, then it was on into Western Australia. We stopped just post the border control to take photos of us half in SA and half in WA. On the drive into the car park Simo spotted a shingle back lizard, so he quickly jumped out and caught him so we could all take a closer look. He wasnt happy to be caught and was looking for any opportunity to have a nibble on someone's finger! But that made for some good photos. Apparently the aborigines used to eat these, everything from their eggs to their liver and they would skin the tail and give to their babies as their version of a pacifier! Within a couple of km of leaving the border we spotted another snake by the side of the road, although by the time we'd circled back he'd hid himself in the grass.Next stop was the Eucla Telegraph station ruins, which are now partially submerged in sand dunes. Simo warned us that the tree next to the telegraph station is the biggest on the Nullabor plain and the locals have spotted the black death adder living amongst it - so we all made sure to steer clear of it! We also spotted a flock of Australia's rarest cockatoo sitting in the tree. They are white on top with bright red and yellow feathers under their wings and so look beautiful when you see them flying over head. Then it was back on the bus for another 300Km drive!The final leg of our journey today was reaching the 90 mile straight. Although we'd passed a couple of stretches of road that double as runways for the flying doctors in emergency situations in these isolated environments, this is the straightest stretch of road in Australia.With over 11 hours of driving behind us we started searching for a camp for the night; this entailed driving off the highway down a dirt track for a few km to escape the noise of passing road trains. After a couple of attempts we found a suitable site and set about the well practised drill of setting up camp for the night, although on this occasion there was the noticeable absence of a shower!

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Photos

Under the cattle grid..
.. to be run over by a road train