THE OUTBACK
(Class 2A - L.S. "Da Vinci", Canicattini Bagni, Siracusa)

The Outback is the flat, arid and desolate inland of Australia.

It makes up almost the 85% of Australian landmass.
In the outback you can travel for days without meeting anyone.
This is the reason why it is called "Never-Never".

Very few humans live there and they often work in a Station.
A Station is like an American ranch: cattle and sheep are grazed in these huge tracts of land. Sometimes a Station can be larger than a country, so people who round up stocking and checking fences ("Stockman") have to use helicopters or small planes to do their work. A person who work in a Station is called "Stationhand" , while the owner of a Station is called "Station-manager".
People have been forced to adapt to their isolation by long distances.
A two-way radio and an airstrip are vital to any outback station.

Because of the distances children can’t attend school regularly, so they learn by the "School of the air", a school where teachers and students interact via a two-way radio.
The medical service works with planes outfitted as flying ambulances and clinics, and it also give advice over the two-way radio .

The outback isn’t particular only for this kind of life,but it contains many typical places like "Uluru" (or Ayers Rock) and the "Olgas" .

The "Devils Marbles" in the Red Center,
the"Wave Rock", in the south west of Australia, near Perth,
and the "Katherine Gorge" , too
in the Kakadu National Park, near Darwin,
attract many tourists.