Madura Roadhouse to Norseman, WA

The longest straight road in Australia was beckoning today on our epic 530 kilometre roadtrip adventure to the end of the Nullarbor and the Eyre Highway. The Eyre Highway is 1,664 kilometres long, bookended by Port Augusta in South Australia at one end and Norseman in Western Australia at the other.  We were dreading the longest straight section, but to be honest it didn't actually feel long or straight as it's peppered by many risers with changing terrain. The museum at the Balladonia Roadhouse was interesting, as we learnt about Skylab, an American Space Station launched unmanned into space in 1973 with a mission to prove if humans could live and work in space and expand knowledge of solar astronomy. Until 1974 various crews of three men stayed between 28-84 days living and working at the Space Station. Then in 1977 after only four years orbiting earth, Skylab was decommissioned and the Space Station's systems were shutdown. Skylab became a rogue spacecraft floating through space. It was undetermined where or how Skylab would come to land. That is until 12th July 1979 when Skylab re-entered the atmosphere, spraying fiery metal fragments upon the earth. Pieces landed at Balladonia station and as far south as Esperance. Balladonia and Esperance became instance international news headlines and the owners of Balladonia station even received a telephone call from the then American President, Jimmy Carter, who rang to apologise for the inconvenience, offering to pay for any damage to their property.