A Washington Post photojournalist looks back on his two weeks traversing Australia's often grueling, constantly surprising Outback Way.
What could have been better for celebrating my reporting partner’s 39th birthday than a feast of two microwaveable “pub-sized” meals at a lonely Australian roadhouse some 150 miles from nowhere?
It has a notorious reputation: Drivers stranded in brutal heat with not enough water. “Bull dust” hiding rocks that can rip a tire to shreds. Accident hazards in the form of kangaroos and feral camels. I glanced nervously at our one and only spare. At least it was full size. But had we made sure our jack included all its parts and worked right?
One of the rules about driving in the Outback is the same one that I often hear in Latin America: Never drive at night. The cattle ranches Down Under — they’re known as stations — are massive, often sprawling over a million-plus acres. Many are not fenced, and the cattle are known to congregate on the roads, especially after dark.
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