Isolation: The Outback Experience

The Australian outback is huge, consisting of distance and space. Although home to many people, its giant area means that for those who live in its far-flung corners, isolation is often a reality of existence. Towns thrive far from other places, and the beauty and terror of the outback is that people must often cross many miles in order to access resources and facilities. 

Yet, the outback is appealing for its unbroken stretches. It make possible the dream of getting away from the hustle of cities and busyness of life. It offers up silence, and space for contemplation. Sometimes the distances seem too great, and destinations too far. But like everything, the outback doesn't last forever; it races away towards the horizon, becoming green pasture and ocean and togetherness again. However, the moment of silence you spend in its depths is magic.

The Nullabor Plain, South Australia (Photo credit: Lea Pearson)

To stand on the side of a desert road and know you are the only person at this present moment seeing what you can see, and feeling the life pulsing from the earth beneath you, is something many people, sadly, will never stop to experience. There is solace in isolation, and likewise, comfort in the knowledge that it is not everlasting. 

A traveller can take the stories of crossing landscapes and borders back to friends and family. Australia is a land of contrasts: oceans and red dirt, sky and earth, outback and city. All have their time and place. Isolation creates room, to breathe, to feel. It doesn't have to be cruel; it can be kind to find a spot where you can be yourself away from pressure and stress. Isolation will always be part of the outback; whether you run towards it, or away from it, is your choice.