roadtrip

Mom and I drove to Geraldton last weekend.  We had such a good time! It is a four and a half hour drive down an isolated highway.  We have both done the drive so many times before but this was the FIRST TIME I have ever seen an echidna in the wild! I was so excited - I was driving and I shouted and pulled the car over and spun around to whiz back and go look at it.... unfortunately the poor guy had been made into road kill a few hours ago... But I'm still claiming that as 'seeing an echidna in the wild'. Fair enough right? Another first for that trip was a sighting of a red tailed black cockatoo - they are as big as a crow but fly with the movements of an eagle and have an intense red tail. Very cool.  On that drive it is always a given that you will see goats, pink & grey galahs, cows, roos (alive or roadkill), sometimes foxes and wild cats (usually road kill) and hopefully they stay on the side of the road... but more often than not, especially the cows decide to wander across just as you are driving by... Its best to watch their heads - if the head is down and eating grass then you are probably alright.... if the head is up and looking around your best bet is to drop your speed by half and keep a watchful eye on them..... Hitting a roo is not so bad, their main weight is at the base so they don't normally flick up and do much damage to the car, but cows are much more bulky and dangerous!
The rest of the weekend was full of shopping, eating, talking and beer drinking - all good things.

And of course we had to dress up a little to take ourselves out to dinner - beautiful salmon the first night and a lovely Italian meal on the last night. A really nice weekend away!