The Outback is another one of those words that Aussie’s words that means a lot to them but not much to anyone else (take billabong or dunny as other examples). As far as I could figure out, generally it means the part of Australia that is not on the coast and not built up, and for those familiar with the geography of Australia, that means that the outback covers quite a large area.
Leaving behind the beautiful coast line north of Cairns within a day we found ourselves pretty much in the middle of nowhere although not before we sampled some beautiful mountainous rain forest. By chance we stopped in a car park for lunch, surrounded by those wonderful rain forest sights, sounds and smells, only to discover a natural wonder. Creatively dubbed “The Crater” we found ourselves staring some 60 metres down into a large (yup you’ve guessed it) crater at a rather murky pool, which apparently went – at least – a further 130 metres under the water (no one has been deeper to find out)! It was the result of volcanic activity in the area and was actually formed with a violent volcanic gas explosion which blew this massive hole through the rock. Impressive, this power of nature stuff.
I use the term we quite a lot in this blog, and that usually refers to Espe and I, however the attentive amongst you will remember that a charming Frenchman rode with us up to Cairns. When we (Espe and I) returned from our four day live aboard on the Great Barrier Reef I checked my phone to see a few messages from Guillaume, who unsuccessful in finding work in Cairns decided he would head over to Katherine or Darwin instead. He asked, provided that it wasn’t to much of an intrusion, if we would possibly be kind enough to take him with us, but only if it really was no inconvenience at all. We’d enjoyed his company, cooking and washing up skills previously so were happy to invite him back on board, besides, his contribution to the fuel cost was a great help.
We (Espe, Guillaume and I) knew we were out in the outback for real once we were surrounded by red soil and not a lot else. The nothingness was really striking, as was the straightness of the roads which even the Romans would have been proud of. The longest, and dullest straight we covered stretched for some 70kms.
Boring huh? That was a mere 30 seconds… now imagine 8 hours of that a day, for a week. We are talking serious distances here and with over 500 km between towns, villages even, being stocked up with fuel, food and water was essential. You might imagine it as boring, but I loved it. Despite being big and empty, the outback is incredibly diverse and besides there are lots of distractions apart from the great sounds emanating from the ipod (Gotan Project’s “Mi Confesión” is a current favorite).
Of great interest, at least to Guillaume and I, were the massive 50 metre long 3 or 4 trailer road trains hurtle towards you at great speed. Not as scary as facing and Indian bus in a Rickshaw but still quite daunting when you have to pull off the road onto the gravel as one of these goliaths passes by.
Another thing that continued to amaze me about Australia, and this is not just in the outback but everywhere, is the diversity of wildlife. Take the following for example.
The termite hills in the photo above deserve a mention. We saw thousands of these mounds spread along the side of the road. Often lots of small ones close together giving a grave yard like appearance, but sometimes we were treated to a single huge mound rising over two metres tall. Fascinating story of how they come to be but I can’t bring myself to write it now (it’s 11.15pm, I’ve been up since 5.30, running round like a madman all day and I have a flight to catch tomorrow morning). Next time we’re enjoying a beer, remind me and I’ll fill you in.
Occasionally in between the nothingness, big towns, even small cities would exist seemingly thriving in the middle of nowhere. Mt Isa, a huge mining town was one such place and as we passed through our timing could not have been better, as we arrived for the final day of the Mount Isa Rodeo, apparently Australia’s biggest Rodeo event. So of course, we went along to see what it was all about. I had no idea really what to expect but the event gave an entertaining insight into outback culture. There were a collection of events including the standard bull and horse buckerroo but along with it horse time trials, capturing and riding of a wild horse (possibly the toughest event), team lasso events whereby the contestant had to capture a calf by the horns and rear legs. All impressive stuff, which I hope my pictures are testament to. Best of all though was how 90% of the crowd were dressed like cowboys.
