Roadkill! (Alana's Nullabor reflections)

We rose before dawn and watched it come up over Streaky Bay - a quick tea and toast, then packed up the van - heading for Ceduna to get supplies before hitting the Nullabor. The weather forecast was for 35 and we were keen to get some ks chewed up before it got too hot.

While on the Eyre Peninsula we had travelled through Barngala, Nauo Barngala and Wirangu country and were heading into Mirang country, through Yalata Aboriginal land driving almost parallel to the vermin and dog proof fence.

The country we were travelling through holds powerful ancient and recent mythology - stories have travelled across this great plain for millennium and been handed down to generations. My mother crossed the Nullabor in the early-mid fifties with a current boyfriend of the day. Suffice to say that they parted ways after that trip (those long, hot, arduous miles will do that).

Those days there were less roadhouses and opportunities to get petrol and water, the road, while sealed, was not wonderful. Cars had no air conditioning and were not made as well as cars today. Mum insisted we carry an extra fan belt and extra water. I had to keep reassuring her that our trusty Fiat Ducato was in A1 condition and our fresh water tank holds 85 litres. She wasn't convinced.

Our first day was a stinker and each time we stopped the flies headed straight for our eyes, ears and mouth - lots of them. But despite those annoying pests, we finished the day in high spirits.

The vast flat landscape initially stretched to the horizon as a blue and red canvas (salt bush, blue bush and red dirt) for miles and miles, gradually changing vegetation as we travelled west.

The proceeding days cooled to the mid 20s and the nights were perfect for sleeping. The sunsets and sunrises were beautiful.

The camaraderie we experienced was heartwarming and surprising. I guess we were all in it together on our respective treks across this frontier. We loved every moment of the crossing.

I remember those long drives on holidays as a child and later as a parent trying to find things to amuse. Eye spy was a good one - but didn't suit the Nullabor at all - S for sky and B for bitumen with the odd C for caravan was a bit boring, and there were a serious lack of yellow VW bugs to count. So I started a fauna count. On one side was any live animals we saw and on the other side was the roadkill. Quite depressing you might say, but I bet some wild-life expert somewhere would be very interested in my Nullabor fauna statistics.

The list below is four days counting (give or take the odd hour here and there when I was busy enjoying the trip and ignoring fauna completely)

Live animals:

sheep - lots around Ceduna
dogs - a few here and there
cats - one feral on the Ceduna road
birds - many kinds and lots of them
lizards - I pygmy mulga goanna and one shingle-back
crows - main bird on the Nullabor - all over the place
emus - 3
hawk - 1
roo -1

Roadkill:

emus - 4
lizards - 1 blue-tongue
sheep - 1
rabbits - 2
cats - 1
camels - 1
eagles - 1
roos - 77 (yes it was horrible)
crows - 2
wombats - 1
indescribable - too many to mention and yes, yukky, very yukky!!