"the booming state of Western Australia. Which was, you could say, like Texas. Only it was big."

That's a quote from Eyrie, by Tim Winton.  Not really a novel for lovers of Western Australia (or maybe it would be just the thing for them?).  Anyway, he's right about the bigness.  We got a glimpse into it yesterday as we drove seven hundred kilometres from Karijini to Coral Bay.  We started out climbing through the remote, austere majesty of the Hammersley ranges then worked our way westward and downward through red boned foothills that gradually gave way to open plains.  Vast swathes of spinifex and spindly trees were broken occasionally by grassless fields of red stones and little bushes and slowly turned to coastal heath cut through by long red sand dunes.  The Sun set behind black silhouettes of termite hills, and we came into Coral Bay in the night.  A long drive for a little girl and her two weary parents, the longest we'll do for a long while, but worth it to be back at the beach with all that dust behind us.

~ posted by gav