Day 11

Tuesday 17th March 2015

Cocklebiddy to Fraser Range Station

Confused with time zone changes we wake at 5:00am and it is broad daylight. When we open the door the flies are waiting and zoom in. Damn I’d only just managed to kill the ants that took up residence in the fridge. Yep that’s right they were inside the fridge busily doing what ants do. Now the flies want my breakfast. We haven’t seen any live animals since the emus around Port Augusta and very little road kill. I think the insects are dominating out here.

Last night we had to operate on our toilet. It appears that the rough Fowlers Bay road dislodged the seal slightly causing it to smell like a urinal at the MCG, on Grand Final Day.

Cocklebiddy is a dusty run down servo/motel and it makes the gravel pit camp seem like 5 stars. We’re punching into a head wind now so fuel consumption will suffer.

The “90 Mile Straight” (Australia’s longest straight road, 146.6kms) is very boring. It stretches from Caiguna to Balladonia and the scenery varies between low scrub to saltbush. If we could find a commercial use for saltbush this country could sail into the 22nd Century free of debt. The only entertainment for us is looking for decorated rock piles wearing singlets. We are a strange nation.

The Balladonia Roadhouse is an oasis in the woodlands. It has a great little museum that features NASA Skylab junk that crashed to earth around here in July 1979. Debris was scattered all the way to Esperance so the Esperance Shire cheekily sent NASA a $1400 fine for littering.

We roll into Fraser Range Sheep Station at lunch time. It is well signposted and easy to locate. The sites are spacious and gravelled to keep the red dust down. It is surrounded by the ranges on three sides. The gardens are a good example of dry climate horticulture as there are succulents and a rainbow of bougainvilleas. We have a lazy afternoon in the sun and share drinks with our neighbours.

Note: Isn’t it funny how a nice neat caravan park inspires you to give the van a good scrub? We pulled into Fraser Range and Shirley and I both started scrubbing like women possessed.

I’ve finally found the spreadsheet that has the costings for this trip so for those of you with an anal interest in figures I will update the earlier posts.

Accom: $30

Travelling Kms: 344Kms