The last few days on the Nullarbor

27^th November.

Because we were at Madura for so long we got to know the locals.   Bill who works on a very large sheep station invited us to see the property, Mike is much better now and we will continue our journey tomorrow so we were very happy to accept his invitation. The property is at the top of the pass and looks down on the plain below which has Western Myral trees growing.  Bill took us to see  a sink hole.  The land here is limestone and if a crack allows rain water to seep in it can hollow out a large area under the surface like a cave – a sink hole.  This one was quite large and at the back there was another cavity which probably is very deep.  As we drove across the property we saw lots of kangeroos, so they are there we just haven’t been seeing them.  We also saw some cockatoos which Bill said were King George Cockatoos, they were white with a delicate pink on breast and wing.

We left Madura a little nervous of how Mike would cope but he was fine.  We rode 91 ks to Cockbiddy and it was great to be on the move again.  A lot of hills today and many of the myral trees which eventually petered out to grassland and low bushes.  We had little wind until the last 5 ks when we  struck a head wind.  At Cocklbiddy we met up with Paul a  UK cyclist going in the opposite direction  so over dinner we exchanged stories.

 At long last we had a clear night sky and the stars were brilliant.  The trip from Cocklebiddy to Caiguna was very quiet, not many birds for a change.  We have really enjoyed the birds.    Mike had an appointment with the Flying Doctor at Caiguna and of course after the good news that he did not have Meniers we were relieved.

Caiguna is the beginning of the 90 mile straight or 146.6 ks straight.  While the road is straight it is undulating and we really did not notice the difference, perhaps you would in a car. It was a hot day and a truckie named Mick stopped and gave us each  a can of cold soft drink which we were very happy to accept.  The drink we carry warms up as the day goes on so a cold drink is much appreciated.  The wind was behind us so we covered a lot of ks doing 131ks for the day.

A couple of bush camps and we were headed for Fraser Range.  After leaving Balladonia the scenery change considerably.  We were riding through the Fraser Range so lots of hills, mostly up as we climbed out of the plain and there were large flowering  gum trees.  There were also a few wild flowers.

The wind has changed and we had a head wind all the way to Fraser Range so we were glad to get there. Fraser Range is a sheep station which has accommodation and we were hoping to make it for Heather’s birthday which we did.    After the grotty road houses Fraser Range was like an oasis.   There was a thunder and lightning show that night, the first rain we had seen since Penong all those weeks ago.  It was so wet in the morning we stayed another night and went for  walk  across the property where we saw 30 – 40 kangeroos as well as adult emus with chicks.     This was the last night. we were to spend on the Nullarbor