The Dangers of Travelling in the Outback

There are certain dangers associated with travel in the Outback. There are, of course, the obvious ones - running out of water or gasoline, having your car break down in the middle of nowhere, getting bitten by a poisonous snake or spider - but there are also less obvious ones...

In cattle country, there are no fences at times. Cattle wander out into the middle of the road all the time, and if it just happens to be dusk, and the cow just happens to be black, well... just look at the sign and you get the picture...


Then, there are the road trains. Road trains are very long semi-trucks, usually at least 3 to 4 containers long, that deliver goods between the cities and the outback. They a huge, wide, and usually travelling at high speed.


Lots of critters find their way onto the roads - lizards, snakes, kangaroos, cows, dingos - and eventually some get hit, especially around dusk and at night. The Wedge-Tail Eagle is usually one of the first to take advantage of this situation, and sometimes in large numbers. They are not easily scared off from a free meal, so you run the risk of hitting these large birds.


And, apparently, you also have to worry about aliens!