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The Outback is a hot and
inhospitable place, but is home to the Jackaroo (cowboy), a Crocodile Dundee
type character who is as rugged as the landscape he lives in.
The
term 'Outback' describes the arid inland areas of Australia, however the term
more accurately describes a feeling rather than a sharply marked out region.
When one travels so far from civilisation and is over powered by the emptiness
of the landscape and in awe of the vast distance they have travelled, it is
at that point that you know for sure that you are in the Outback. The landscape
consists of huge deserts such as the the Gibson, the Great Sandy, the Great
Victoria, Tanami and the Nullabor Plain. Australia's desert areas are the
biggest in the world outside the Sahara.
Outside of the desert regions but still in the arid Outback are some mountainous regions such as the Macdonnells, Musgrave, Petermann, Flinders, Hamersley and Kimberley mountain ranges. Most other areas in the Outback are actually Stations which is a term similar in meaning to a farm or ranch, the difference being size, as some of the bigger stations are larger in area than some countries. This pastoral activity continues in the Outback along with mining and oil production. Stations provide basic economic necessities in the Outback by transporting supplies from cities via Road Trains, which are huge trucks with 3 sometimes 4 full trailers.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service provides medical assistance to people in the Outback, and correspondence schools of the air instruct pupils using two-way radio equipment, internet and television.
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