Time Passes Over the Nullabor

Time passes always.

A month ago, I crossed the Nullabor. I knew brutal heat and long distances. From my window, I saw emus strutting and the far horizon as we hurtled through the Western Australian Outback. In those moments, it felt like the hours were too long and I would never reach my destination.

The Nullabor is home to the longest stretch of straight road in the Australia, the 90 Mile Straight. It continues for an unbroken 146.6 km of the Eyre Highway. The scenery blends into one as the sun beats down and scrub cycles past relentlessly. Its windswept coastline fields crashing waves and a strong wind, and when I stood on its cliffs, there was nothing between myself and Antarctica except the Southern Ocean. 

At night, after a cramped day in a four-wheel-drive, I camped in a swag under pristine stars, finally enjoying a break from the heat in the cool of nightfall. In the inky sky, satellites glowed as they crossed the heavens, celestial road trains weaving through the dark. It's an experience I will never forget.

It's an experience that has ended.

The Nullabor, Western Australia (Photo credit: Sonia Morell)

Now, I am back in the throes of city life. The nine-till-five, the traffic, the mental load of surviving in an urban ant hill. The straight road into the outback has finished for me. Time has carried me through that trip, out to the other side, and back into reality.

At night, I glance through my bedroom window at the street lights outside my house. I pull my blinds down hastily, ready for bed so I can snatch enough sleep that I may function at work the next day. The hum of suburban vehicles is my background noise. The silence of the Nullabor is now just a memory, as are those untouched constellations and the sense of stillness and space.

Despite the change in environment, I do not despair. Just as time has delivered me back to my everyday life, so it can one day carry me out of it again, into another part of Australia, somewhere new to explore. I know in my heart that I will again hear the pulse of the desert and the see the wonder of the stars. I keep the touch of these places deep in my soul. 

Nothing is forever. 

The Outback still calls, and I will return.