Winter 2019 - OZ 12 Road Stories

2019 - OZ  12   Road Stories

Wonder What He Hit

Our drive was through the very arid area of Southern Australia, but basically there is just one road to drive on and it is hours upon hours of just driving. Driving on the left side of the road, driving and watching out for hopping wildlife that we KNOW appears very suddenly and is totally unaware of the danger it is in. Smack and the wildlife is killed. If it is a bit bigger, like a kangaroo, the car gets damaged, too.

Watch for Camels, Emus and 'Roos

So far we are lucky; we only hit a bunch of birds, their down feathers stuck on the windshield wipers and the grill of the car. I still don’t like the idea of driving and then killing ‘innocents’.

So I drive aware, alert and watchful. 

I don’t know what happened to us around Balladonia in the Nullarbor Plain (Latin: null arbor – no trees). After a day’s drive we stepped out of the car and both of us were totally wiped out. 

A Lot of Nothingness

We were tired to the bones. I was actually woozy and so was Carol. Carol thought it was CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) poisoning, that the car’s exhaust created it, but we checked out the car, no that was not the case. It might have been some other cause, but we hit the bed right after we arrived at the Balladonia Motel. 

Look Up

The area we drove through is …nothing…  No trees, just a few bushes by the side of the road.

IF and WHEN we saw a few scraggly trees, they had a ‘red’ bark, strange trees.

We took pictures of road signs because they were sparsely used, and a bit strange, too.

Australia made some stretches of their highway system into landing strips for airplanes. No, we did not see a jet land but the signs are there to warn you that it ‘could’ happen.

Landing Strip on the Highway

 Gasoline prices were $191.3 per liter in Balladonia. We paid for our small, very basic room $ 160/night. Nothing was included in the room price except it had A/C, a total blessing in this heat.

Bikers Camping

Some folks ‘camped’ in the dirt near the only gas station with nothing around but space, distance, emptiness.  There was just our Motel, the Balladonia Motel, with a gas pump and a restaurant.

Home Sweet Home - For the Night

We were happy to be there, the whole setup was very basic, but we had water, we had food, we had shelter. No, not the fanciest place, but it served us well.

We felt fine the next day, the weariness had left us, and we felt totally OK.

Strange, I wonder what made me feel this way; I have not felt this way since.

Road Train

The next day on the road we were again, greeted by Road Trains. I felt fine driving.
 

Another Road Train

I still wonder why I got out of the car and felt woozy. There might be something in the Australian air that is different.