across millions of years of land formation .
A sign indicated whale-spotting , so we stopped to waste our money in the heat . It beggared belief that whales could be spotted without going out on a boat , they weren ’ t sea-lions for goodness sake ! And yet ! There we were , walking along the gangway , staring out two adult blue whales and a young calf that had pulled into a small cove just for us . Australia , you ’ re a lucky country !
Having never travelled the Nullarbor , both of us had imagined some kind of hellscape , a desolate furnace of bastardness . It was quite a surprise to see green brush , even trees , which was contradictory to the moniker of the Nullarbor , Latin for ‘ no trees ’. Our attention was drawn to eagles circulating high above , we debated the unfortunate timing if our steeds decided to let us down , barely noticing an emu standing next to the road watching us zoom past .
Ridiculously difficult to spot amongst the bushes , we whizzed by at what felt like less than a metre from its face and can only imagine the disaster that would befall us if its pee brain decided to stretch a leg . Suitably rattled , we slowed down just enough for a truck driver coming the other way to honk his horn trying to capture our attention . Reducing speed significantly , we screeched to a halt when thirty or forty wild camels ambled across the road . And we ’ d baulked at an emu !
As we neared the Western Australia border , we ’ d noticed the motorcycle traffic had increased exponentially , and got chatting to one rider at a rest-stop . Apparently , we ’ d timed our trip perfectly for the annual ‘ Border Run ’.
We spent the evening at the campground behind the Border Village Roadhouse , where two brothers used to meet , setting off from Adelaide and Perth , respectively . Over twenty years or so others joined in , and they even have a famous Christmas pudding exchanged annually and never eaten , now encased in plastic for eternity . One lady we met , and we swear this is true , came all the way from Sydney and had to pull over for a nap every hour because she suffered from narcolepsy . And yes , if you ’ re wondering , they did all ask why the hell I was wearing a racing white leather jacket and how it was so clean , apart from the sand I was still shaking out of it .
As we took off the following morning , we followed a large B-Double that stormed passed . Not that my old girl was particularly fast , we ’ d caught up quickly and I overtook .
Communicating via the headset that it was still clear ; I saw Justin in my mirror pull out from behind the truck .
“ Oh shit !”, Justin yelled as I
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