Whether starting the day as a ringer in a stock camp, a drover in a remote part of Australia, or a traveller somewhere in the far-flung reaches of the Outback, the first act of the day is to roll your swag. A swag is not only your bed. It is your castle and wardrobe. It is often your only respite from the harsh toughness of the Australian bush. When looking for a seat to sit around the fire, your swag is that seat.

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There are three songs guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye and a lump to the throat of even the most nonchalant and carefree expatriate Australian: Advance Australia Fair, our national anthem; I Still Call Australia Home, Peter Allen’s call to those far from their native land; and ‘Banjo’ Paterson’s, Waltzing Matilda. To ‘waltz matilda’ is a very iconic form of travel. It means to carry your swag, to be on the road, to travel the Wallaby Track.

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Geology defines the character of the Australian Outback. It was the deserts, ranges, and gorges that most enticed me with their collective grandeur, and where I found my greatest connection with the country. In the ranges, in particular, the history of their creation told a fantastic story. In some places, the rocks had been twisted and buckled, their original form faulted and fractured, folded and uplifted.

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The expression ‘down the track’ is one of the more frequently used Australian idioms. It conjures up feelings of remoteness, of going to places where few others venture, of the dry, dusty environment that is so often the heart of Australia. Whether it refers to a time, a place, or a direction, it is as part of the everyday Australian vernacular as ‘g’day’. It is also a throwback to the days of an earlier Australia when to ‘hump the bluey’, to ‘waltz matilda’, or go down ‘the Wallaby Track’ were an accepted part of the itinerant workforce lifestyle and lexicon.

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From the beginning of time, humanity has sought the fountain of youth – a single, magical elixir for the various ailments of life from which we all suffer. Many in our society continue to look outside themselves for this wonderful, elusive potion. Many of our myths and fears hint it is something found external to our being.

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Working as a ringer on a large cattle station is a particularly Australian experience. For many overseas visitors, and coast-bound Australians for that matter, the ringer, stockman, or drover is one of the more enduring and iconic images of the Australian Outback along with that of Uluru, majestic ochre-red gorges, and a remote track leading to the spinifex-clad horizon. It may seem a romantic portrayal of a freedom previous generations once enjoyed that we no longer do.

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Travelling the vastness of the Australian continent, there was one defining geological and cultural thread binding the myriad of diverse scenes together. It is to Australian society what basement rock is to the continent’s integrity. That thread is granite, marble, and sandstone; its form the plethora of war memorials lovingly built in every city and town in memory of Australia’s war dead.

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The road still called. Nature’s exciting, mesmerising siren call had not yet released its gentle but firm grip on my soul. Despite having spent 2002 travelling and working in the vastness of the Australian Outback, my feeling of not having fully experienced everything Nature had to teach was still there. I felt an apprenticeship had commenced though it had yet to finish. There was still much to see and many lessons to learn before Nature, and Odin, would release me from the walkabout path I had chosen.

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The Great South Land is an extraordinary continent. It is a place of such enchantment and ancient beauty it perpetually amazed and awed, succoured and sustained me during my two years of walkabout. In every sense, its lights, colours, rocks, plants, and animals were elements of alchemy that combined to inspire my fascination for, and connection with, so much of the country travelled through. And the Gulf country was no exception.

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The Kimberley region of Western Australia is one of the last frontiers, not only in Australia but also on Earth. Its ancient sandstone and quartzite ranges, untamed rivers, and awe-inspiring opulence make it one of the few truly wild places humanity can still enjoy. From the spectacular and chiselled escarpment of the Cockburn Range to the plethora of magnificent gorges carved through the ancient King Leopold Ranges, the panoramas are never-ending.

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While the deserts, ranges, and gorges of the Australian Outback are places of rugged beauty, they are but a small part of the continent’s geographic totality. While much of my time was spent enjoying these places in Nature’s inland realm, my path occasionally took me to inspiring sandy vistas framed by the ocean’s invigorating luxury.

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The Pilbara is one of the oldest landforms on Earth. Its creation over 3.5 billion years ago provides a fascinating insight into the true genesis of our world. Not only do its ancient iron, basalt, and granite hills contain some of the oldest rocks on the planet, they also contain insights into the earliest life on Earth.

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After two years of happily living out of a dusty swag, of exploring Australia’s diverse and breathtaking vastness, of seeing the inspiring natural brilliance that is the Great South Land, my journey now approached its completion. For much of my wandering, there had been no real time pressure. I moved on when it felt right to move on and stayed when it felt right to stay. The concept of time only influenced my life through the amount of light each day.

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