In the outback

A very young country lying on the oldest of the continents. A land of extremes. Extreme rainfall - which locals measure in metres, not millimitres - giving rise to rain forests, huge palms trees, long rivers and billabongs populated by unusual birds, colourful butterflies and hungry crocodiles. And extreme heat, with temperatures jumping "up to ridiculous" - said the driver pointing at the 45 degrees on the termometre - home to stunning many-million-year old monoliths, snakes, lizards and pesky flies.

Life in the outback is extreme as well. No phone connection, limited water supply, long distances and all sort of threats, from venomous snakes to floods, from isolation to heat strokes. Still, people come here: ranger posts, cattle farms, national parks shops and services. Doctors here come by airplane and there are sandy red runways in the middle of a semi-desert land. Children, used to interact only with adults, go to a virtual school in a classroom of a few thousand square km. The definition of friendliness here has a no-nonsense nuance which sets it quite apart from the east-coast laid back attitude.

Never mind decades of explorations and modern life. The dangerous fascination this frontier land exercise on human spirit is still intact.