3,185 - 3,425km, Days 160 - 167 Cocklebiddy to Balladonia

Phew! That's the long straight done! Such a relief to be in the rolling hills of the Great Western Woodland, a massive area of high biodiversity the size of England, with most of the endless saltbush now behind us.

It was a rather bizarre departure from Cocklebiddy, as the ABC programme "Back Roads" was out here filming some episodes on the Nullarbor, and somehow tracked us down and arranged for a sunrise interview as we were leaving the roadhouse - not our standard way of getting going in the morning, and definitely not the time of day when I'm feeling most eloquent, ha ha.

The horses and I set off along the dog fence again, waving Alex off as she headed off to find our campsite for the evening. That arvo I had one of the biggest scares of the trip. Poor old Micky was happily trotting along behind us, when for some unknown reason he decided to turn and trot straight through the old fence we were following. He got his front legs over it, but got stuck on his hinds, brought up short. Luckily he is such a chilled out guy, and instead of panicking (as Mr Richard would have done), he just promptly sat down - literally! - and whickered at me once in distress as I jumped off Richard and cut him out. Fortunately he only had one serious cut, and although it was on a joint and proved slow to heal, we taped it up and slathered it with honey and betadine. What a great little fellow that horse is!

From Caiguna, we started the 90 Mile Straight, 146km of road without a bend... which actually didn't mean anything to the boys and I as we had our lovely track along the dog fence to follow. It got to a point where we arrived at some station land, and found that the track actually ran on the station side of the fence, which was initially no problem as there was a gate to get in... but then no gate to get out! So the horses stayed on the other side of the fence for the final three days in to Balladonia, as we camped just on the roadside and carted feed and water across the fence to them.

There were lots of camel footprints in this area, and I was on high alert and constant mild dread that we would encounter some, but fortunately we didn't - horses are notoriously afraid of camels, and feral bulls are absolutely terrifying.

I met some folks working on one of the stations mustering cattle. They had just finished bringing them in, ready to be sold off, as the station was destocking due to dry conditions. All the dams, which apparently usually have water in them, are dry at the moment. It's hard to imgine this place ever being able to hold on to surface water, but according to locals, this is dry even for the Nullarbor.

During those last few days of salt bush, following the dog fence, each early morning and sweltering afternoon, it was starting to get to me. Not boredom, exactly. Just a building feeling that I was ready - ready for this part of the trip to be over. So when we came in to Balladonia, still on the station side of the fence, and found the gate to be locked and no easy way to get the horses across to the roadhouse, I had to laugh at the irony! Anyway, it was only a few km detour until we found a gate, thanks to Alex's reconnaissance missions, and what a relief to finally arrive at Balladonia! Even if the welcome was a bit cold. I guess these roadhouses get hammered by tourists, and the last thing they want is something else taking up their precious time, space and water.

Regardless, we found a shady little patch for the boys, and spent a lovley day off drinking chilled beverages and watching movies 😊🐴