The Nullarbor Plain is the world's biggest single lump of limestone - all 250,000 square kilometers of it. Just to give you an idea of its size, the Nullarbor would cover the combined area of England,the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland with a 7,000 square kilometer patch of limestone left over.

The limestone was formed approximately 50 million years ago, about the same time that Australia was breaking away from Antarctica. As the continent tilted the Nullarbor Plain became part of the seabed, eventually forming a crust of limestone up to 300 meters thick. With the coming of the ice age the seas receded leaving the Nullarbor Plains high and dry.

We found it a flat and endless Plain as far as the eye can see. At one point we coined the phrase 'NullaBORING' as we persevered along the seemingly endless dead-straight track to the tiny outback town of Cook. Small clumps of salt bush barely a few inches high dotted the landscape, tiny patches of pale green against the red earth. Flat, flat, flat. Only a heat haze moved on the horizon.

This is not altogether fair…there is much that the eye does not see, given that most of its wildlife is nocturnal. Sometimes a pair of wedge-tailed eagles swoop low: raggedy brown birds, the largest in Australia that act a clean-up crew should a kangaroo carcass be available.

But stealthier predators lurk in large numbers…huge feral cats that can top the scales at 20 lbs. Not your cuddly tabby but a killer and exterminator of many of Australia's tiny endangered marsupials, sitting ducks, that never bothered to develop escape behavior in a predator-free land. Cats, and foxes too, were introduced deliberately, and loved the easy prey. They prospered and thrived to plague proportions and now no one can find a good way to exterminate these unwelcome guests.

We did come across a delightful creature that goes by the off-putting name of Shingle-backed or Sleepy lizard. It looks a bit like our Gila monster but this large skink is typically Australian. Slow, trusting, and not aggressive, it is most often seen crossing a road. Should you rush to carry it to the safety of the nearest verge it will suddenly rear up, gape, and stick out its blue tongue, a startling but perfectly harmless exercise. Each time we waved our hat, it performed on cue. A charming reptile and good photo opportunity. We stopped each time we saw one to enjoy its company.

And that is the story of the Nullarbor where the cats are huge and the lizards rude.

Rains and more closed roads in the Outback caused us to turn the Landy towards the Nullarbor

A stark, flat landscape with miles of sky is what the Nullarbor is all about

It wasn't hard to show a sense of the infinity of the Nullarbor here. These tracks connect the tiny outpost of Cook with the rest of the world

This is a dawn shot, the moon was still visible in the sky but it was as high as the landscape was flat

I got up on the roof of a friend's 4X4 to gain this persepctive

The sign tells it all…

Nicole talks with Sue Brinsmead who traveled with us, with her partner, John, to the remote town on Cook, 100 km or so into the Nullarbar Plains

The Shingle-backed lizard, a resident of the Nullarbar Plains

Dawn over the Bunda cliffs of the Nullarbar Plains, looking east

2 Our friend, John Smith, photographing the Bunda cliffs with us at dawn

A sign at the train station in the tiny outpost town of Cook, 100 km into the Nullarbar Plains. The train from Perth stops at this tiny outpost

A sign on the Nullarbar Plains, at dawn

Half-way across the continent we meet up with a huge Galah parot, puffed up with his own importance