Drive to Walhallow

Well, after many long days of travel, I finally made it to Walhallow Station on Monday afternoon. On Sunday at noon I took the Greyhound from Darwin to the HiWay Inn, a roadhouse 9 hours into the Outback down the Stuart Highway. A roadhouse is like an oasis of shelter along an endless highway of absolutely nothing. Sometimes they're situated in tiny towns, but more often, like the HiWay Inn, they are the only mark of civilization for hours. They generally consist of a gas station, sparsely provisioned store, a grill, bar, and a motel plus RV hookups.

I knocked around the roadhouse until about 11 on Monday when a yound guy named Matt came from the Station to fetch me. It was another 5 hour drive down the Tablelands Highway (11), mostly in the rain. The Tablelands Highway, like many in the Outback, is a one lane road. Not one in each direction. Just one. Although you rarely come upon another vehicle in such a desolate place, when you do iy quickly turns into a game of chicken. To add to the excitement, the highway runs through several Stations so there are cows all over the roads. These creatures are so close to ferel that they act as if they have never seen a vehicle in their whole life.

We got to the Station around 4 and I was quickly settled in and then taken to meet everyone. All 11 of them (that's counting the 2 children). Everyone is very nice and all moderately confused as to why a young American would want to work in the middle-of-nowhere Australia. The explaination of "Because it's Australia," which so much sense in America mostly draws blank stares here. Oh well.