The road from Balladonia to Caiguna includes the longest straight stretch of highway on the continent, 146 km (90 miles) without a bend. Quite suddenly the mallee forest disappeared and we were on the Nullarbor Plain. I had expected no trees but this plain is much less flat and treeless than the Hay Plain.
We hag a relatively long day's drive because we missed the rest area I had planned to stop at. In the event, we had to pay the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse an outrageous amount ($11) for parking in their back lot.
We celebrated Jean's birthday in some style. We had corned beef and all the trimmings followed by an excellent trifle washed down with some very nice White Pointer and then we had coffee and port and spent the whole evening "at the pictures" watching Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Rings on video. All together a very satisfactory celebration considering that we were in one of the most deprived places in the whole of Australia, no view, no grass, no TV, no radio, no telephone, and the only fresh water desalinated bore water at 8c/litre.