If you’ve never visited the Australian Outback before, you will probably have lots of questions about it. Here, we give you a brief introduction to this beautiful, unique part of the world…
‘The Outback’ is not a single location. Rather, it describes all the uninhabited regions of the Australian continent. In many ways, it’s easier to explain what the Outback isn’t. Australia has been a rapidly urbanizing country since it was first colonized. The southern and eastern coasts are peppered with large cities, each with its own urban sprawl bleeding into the next. The south-western coast has also become populated, centering on the city of Perth. Other than that, apart from a few small townships and communities, Australia is pretty much Outback all the way.
But what is it? 2.5million square miles of desolate, rugged terrain (or ‘bush’), inhabited by less than 60,000 permanent residents, but visited regularly by intrepid outdoorsmen from all over the world. In fact, it is this relativism which gives rise to the name ‘Outback’. As a concept, it exists in the minds of urbanites, to whom the interior their country is unforgiving, a faraway place to be feared. You will not find many people living in rural areas who call their surroundings ‘The Outback’.
From a tourist’s viewpoint, the Outback, however barren, certainly has its own iconography. Ayers Rock is undoubtedly the most famous image of the Outback. Located 440km south of Alice Springs, this awesome natural monolith attracts visitors from all over the world. Alice Springs itself is often called ‘the capital of the Outback’. With a tourism-driven economy, Alice Springs sits right in the middle of the continent. It’s one of those places on earth of which your first thought is ‘imagine living here’.
Well people do – 30,000 of them. The residents of Alice Springs are connected to the great cities of the coast, thousands of miles to the east, and the towns of the north and south by a small clutch of roads. Perhaps the most dramatic of these is the Stuart Highway, which runs nearly 2000 miles from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Port Augusta on the south coast. Right in the middle the Stuart Highway hits Alice Springs.
Driving across the Outback is certainly an experience. You will see untamed natural beauty, and be humbled by the sheer vastness of the place. However, you will need four-wheel drive, and extensive preparation. You will also have to go without creature comforts for a number of days. It’s not for everyone. Luckily, there are airports at Ayer’s Rock and Alice Springs which will connect you to Sydney. For flights to Australia, visit the DialAFlight website, and start planning your journey into the Australian Outback today.
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I couldn’t get my head around the sheer size of the Aussie outback until I was actually there and driving for days and days and days (and days!) and barely seeing anything but red, flat barren earth. Definitely an experience!
It is incredible how much of Australia is un-populated and barren! Driving around the outback we went for miles and miles without even seeing another vehicle.
Ayres Rock is amazing, my wife and I visited Australia last year on our luxury holiday. We began in Sydney then went to Ayres Rock and finished up at the Great Barrier Reef, AMAZING!