h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Very amusing true account of dirt roads in Australia. He or she forgot the wombats and Mice once we drove for miles over live and dead mice, all starving and making for the nearest town, which was overrun with them, and sight seeing buses were taking people to view them. We had to stop there to take on water, as on the Nullabor Plain there is very little water to spare. We wanted to eat, so chose eggs thinking well the mice couldn't have got to them. We wouldn't even eat any bread, well that was easily got at. As we left it was awful especially driving over the live ones. Still as we were driving from Adelaide to Perth we had to get a move on. At least the roads were tarmaced and people did toot and wave as they passed. We had to stop at every available petrol stop to get food and fill up to the full with petrol, as only enough in some places to get from one place to another on the fuel. At least we did not travel at night, most of the stops had a sort of motel, if not up to standard. We left one norning at 5.00 a,m and almosr ran into a 6ft roo, in an ordinary sedan car. At one service station my husband was walking across to the pumps and in drove one of these huge trains that was spoken about. He made straight for my hisband who had to lierally jump out of the way to save his life. Most of those drivers are pretty gross. We heard one come over our television one day and the language. Well I am no angel but I have never heard anything like it. If you live in the bush you have got to be tough, if you live in the towns all round the coast, it is no worse than living in any other large city. Did he mentioned snakes, I can't remember but you leave them well alone too. And the red and white back spiders and the funnel web spiders. Yes I suppose on the whole Australia is a dangerous place to live. Still it's warm. Cheers Marj Busby

Were they really mice? I thought you-all had planigales instead?

Sea Change trying to be funny? never heard of them This was a true account, not for morons. Marj

No, sorry I am from America. I remeber seeing a nature documentary about how there are native marsupial critters in Australia the size of mice called planigales.

Didn't think you actually had mice, just all those rabbits.

Pack rats in the Mojave Desert are a kind of jerboa. The Mojave is the desert that borders California and Arizona near the Mexican border, and contains Death Valley, which is the continental US lowest point.

I mention them, because they will nest in you car if you leave it too far from your campsite. Water hoses are their delight to gnaw on, and their nests are these huge stick filled things. First, the sticks break your radiator fan, and then you overheat as water leaks out. Worse, is if you catch them by surprise, they tend not to run, so your engine smells like baked rat. Don't get me started about the rat that hit the fan.