Ralh Family Australian Road Trip 2011: Day 53 – Eyre Bird Observatory – Fraser Range Station, 27th May

Sunday, 29 May 2011

Day 53 – Eyre Bird Observatory – Fraser Range Station, 27th May - 29th May

Today we packed quickly and headed further west along the Nullarbor to Fraser Range Station. On the way we passed another walker – Mike who is walking from Melbourne to Perth, raising funds for Arthritis. You can check out his blog on www.thearthritisway.wordpress.com and donate if you like. What is amazing, is that he is in his seventies, travelling by himself, carrying his own food and bush-camping. A truly inspiring character – and of course he must be as mad as a hatter!

Mike making his way from Melbourne to Perth

Between Caiguana and Balladonia we passed Australia's straightest stretch of road at 124km. It's pretty straight with little to interrupt the views of red dirt and shrubs the Nullarbor Plains.

They forgot some of the Skylab debris!

We also stopped off at the Ballodonia Roadhouse, to fill up with petrol. It has a free museum with local history as well information on the Sylab satellite, which crashed nearby in the 1970's. Apparently, Jimmy Carter rang the roadhouse to apologise for the inconvenience. Miss USA also visited to take advantage of a unique photo-shoot , which sounds like more fun.

Watch out for camels, emus and kangaroos!

Then we finished our drive for the day by camping at Fraser Station, a working sheep station that also has a lovely camping ground. We ended up staying for two days, to give everyone a bit of a pause. It was time to cook with the remains of our meagre supplies, cooking pancakes and cake, play Uno, cricket with Jasmine and practice the guitar some more. It got a free music lesson one evening from Mike and Di who were travelling in the opposite direction to SA. A perfect end to a great day.

The station has a great camp kitchen, open fire, and is well laid out – certainly this oasis in the Nullabor is a recommended stop.