the black track: the great australian outback

I have been in Australia for quite a few months now and i still don't feel like i have seen the real thing. So far my time has been spent in Sydney which is a modern, multicultural and lively city but a city is a city as they say and as much as they all have their own identities, to a certain extent you know what to expect. I was keen to get out of there and experience the Australia that i was told about as a child, those vast expanses of flat land, the red dirt, those illusive cowboys. I set off on a month long road trip from Townsville on the east coast, through the outback of Queensland and crossing into the Northern Territory, final destination Darwin.

This trip has been unforgettable. The towns getting smaller, the cowboy hats emerging and of course the aboriginal settlements becoming more common. The roads in the outback are the straightest i have come across in my life, so straight that the end becomes a hazy mirage. The countryside is so flat with hundreds of miles between settlements and little sign of life between, its an almost haunting place. You notice the earth becoming redder and drier (and your clothes becoming dirtier!), the termite mounds get bigger and bigger, some are taller than me and litter the landscape. And the stars, oh the stars, never have i been so aware of the solar system (i must admit between the 5 of us we had some long discussions and big questions about the stars and the moon, none of which any of us had answers for so every conversation was frustrating.... note to those travelling through the outback: bring a book on astronomy, it may be the best thing you do!) The outback is a strange but fascinating place.

There is also the frightening side to the outback, the danger of bushfires is always apparent. As you drive along there are signs displaying the current risk. There is just nothing to stop the fire once it starts. We came across quite a fierce and frightening fire which is shon in the photo below.

The buildings are very interesting to me, more so than their urban cousins. They tend to be lightweight shed-like structures clad with wither tin or timber and so they sit very well within their surroundings. The great Australian architect Glenn Murcutt is a master of interpreting these buildings in a modern way.