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Have you ever read some genuinely useful graffiti on the back of a public toilet door?
Not just "Bek + Steve 4eva" but something that actually informs you and - to be honest - helped my faith in humanity.
"Slow down for Wedgetails. Use your horn early!"
To put this in context, it was on the back of the door at Yunta - maybe 150 kilometres from the SA/NSW border, up in the vicinity of Broken Hill.
And Wedgetails, are of course Wedgetail eagles. I didn't see any on this summer roadtrip but I had on previous ones and they are very big and very slow to get off the road where they like to eat roadkill.
So to me, this was useful information that may actually help save someone one day.
But that's the kind of kindness you can see on outback roads.
There are large parts of Australia where you can travel a long way without many landmarks.
And while the scenery is stunning - and much nicer shade of green than it was when I last went on this route - there is a lot of it.
You can only admire the baby goats for so long, at which point another car on the road becomes a novelty.
It became a nice way of passing the time to wave to each car - nothing extravagant, just a little lift of one or two fingers from the steering wheel in acknowledgment that we are two drivers on a long stretch of road.
The wave is something that country driving is known for. It's a bit of a cliche, but definitely something I've noticed on other drives - more prevalent the further from Adelaide or other metropolitan centres.
But then I started approaching urban life again. As I got closer to town, my little finger salutes were getting less responses from the approaching vehicles.
I figured once I was on the other side of town it would start up again but no, that time was passed.
It seems weird to say but - based on the experience that urban life means less waves - the regions stop at Cobar!
Maybe we need a note on the back of the toilet doors at Cobar, reminding everyone of the power of the country salute.
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