There's a moment when you're driving north from Meekatharra when you realise you've left civilisation well and truly behind. The straight stretches of highway seem to go on forever, the red earth glowing under that massive Western Australian sky, and the scrubland rolling out in every direction like a sea of green and gold.
My mate Steve T and I were heading out to the Carnarvon Ranges, east of Kumarina roadhouse, deep in the Little Sandy Desert. This was pre-caravan days – just two blokes, a tent, and a well-stocked esky making our way into country that most Australians will never see. No Lisa on this trip to keep me sensible, so Steve T and I were free to chase every rough track that looked interesting.
The drive itself is something special. These aren't the dead-flat roads you might imagine – there are gentle curves and rises that give you glimpses of what's ahead, though mostly what's ahead is just more beautiful nothing. We passed maybe three vehicles in as many hours. Each time you see another car out here, there's an unspoken acknowledgment: we're both mad enough to be out here, and isn't it bloody magnificent?
The vegetation surprised me. After good rains, the scrubland turns this incredible green, dotted with hardy eucalypts that somehow thrive in conditions that would kill most trees. As a photographer, I couldn't help stopping every few kilometres. The play of light on the red dirt, the dramatic clouds building up in the afternoon sky, the way the road markers punctuate the emptiness – it's all gold.
Kumarina roadhouse was our last fuel stop before heading east into the ranges. Out here, you don't skip fuel stops. The country between services isn't just empty – it's properly remote, the kind of remote where a breakdown means a long wait for help and an expensive tow.
The Carnarvon Ranges were calling, and we had a few days of camping ahead in country that feels like the edge of the world. This is the Australia that gets under your skin, the vast red heart that reminds you just how big and wild this country really is.
