This morning we left Coober Pedy pretty early. We drove all day and stopped at a rest stop just southeast of Adelaide for the night. We covered a lot of ground – 887 kms to be exact!! I drove a couple of hours but Richard drove the rest. He did an awesome job today – so proud of him!!

I wasn’t planning on writing tonight but thought that I would tell you a little about the landscape that we saw in the 887 kms that we travelled today (and the 800 kms before that!!). Richard posted a funny video saying that we could have flown over all of this as he showed a landscape of barren sagebrush that seemed to be endless. Well, in some respects it was. I think I made the comment to him that your dog could run away for days and you would still see it. Though that is partially true, we found that the landscape changed quickly at times. One minute sagebrush, the next minute there would be trees, and next there would be red hills popping out of the ground. Not sure what makes Uluru so special – there are these mounds all over the Outback!! Jk I cannot imagine the spirit of the people living here and what they have to live with everyday – heat, dust, flies, and most of all, the isolation. Though I saw many signs for cattle stations, I did not see one house or ranch in the 1500 miles of travel. They are obviously situated very far off the highway!!

Which brings me to – Wildlife and Livestock!! I mentioned earlier in my posts that we saw cattle living on virtually nothing but still looking great. As we moved south, we were seeing more cattle and signs for cattle stations. Also, cattle crossing signs. Further south there were sheep and sheep crossing signs. And we saw lots of both – unfortunately, some dead on the side of the road due to the road trains (like our semis but with THREE 53 ft trailers behind). However, that was nothing compared to the dead kangaroos that we saw. In some parts, it was like a massacre had taken place. Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately), the only live kangaroos that I saw were in captivity. Lots of dead ones though….

I also saw two emus today – just standing on the side of the road. Probably waiting to jump in front of a road train. Hopefully, they didn’t.

Once we were about 100 kms north of Adelaide the scenery changed again. Not exactly sure where the outback ends and civilization begins, but the grass was greener, there were green crops growing (some hay, wheat, barley – I think), there were farms and there were lots of trees – pine trees and palm trees all in the same row. Amazing!! I think that we passed some vineyards as well as olive gardens. (they were advertising olive oil so made an assumption). In the distance the Flinders Mountain Range appeared and added to the surreal landscape.

Even though the miles were long, I would not change this trip through the Outback. It was all that I thought it would be – and more!!