In Australia when you hear the term 'Everything is Big', it is no exaggeration nor an idle boast, the sheer size of the place itself dictates exactly that. Try to imagine that Highway One which runs completely around the perimeter of the country, is 23,000 miles (37,000kms) in length, the West coast to the East coast is 5100kms and 4100kms from North to South, then your perception of the size begins to take shape. For this reason, the logistics of transporting people, food, goods and raw materials over these distances, is quite incredible. Of course the airlines service the main cities and major towns, but those places that are isolated by distance have to be serviced by other means.

Perth is linked to Sydney by the Eyre Highway and by the 'Indian Pacific' train which takes 76 hours to make the 4400km crossing. On the Nullabour Plain, which means "No Tree's" the standard gauge line crosses the longest straight run of railway line in the world, 478kms long. The train driver has to punch a button every so many minutes otherwise an alarm goes off. This is  to ensure that he hasn't become mesmerised by the never changing scenery, and fallen asleep! In the NT and NW of WA another type of transport exists, these are called 'Road Trains', which move livestock and general freight over huge area's, see below. These monsters are to be treated with the utmost of respect on the roads.

 The National Railways also connect the major cities and towns with trains like the 'Indian Pacific' which links the 'Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, the 'Ghan' which runs from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs. The 'Overlander' runs between Adelaide and Melbourne while the 'Southern Aurora' connects Melbourne to Sydney. However, in other remote places they would be catered for by using huge road trains, as seen below, (Left).

In the NT, Queensland and NW of Western Australia another type of transport exists, these are called 'Road Trains', which move livestock and general freight over huge area's. These monsters are to be treated with the utmost of respect on the roads.

These guys and some gals cover huge distances delivering fuel, food, water to out-laying towns and cattle stations who are not near the railway or close to the seaports. They take a long time to pull up, notice the big Bull-Bar mounted on the front of the prime mover, they don't stop for animals who may wander on the road and Water Buffalo's are very big and very solid.

Another juggernaut of the north to take care of on the roads is the ore trains which transport the raw iron ore to the sea ports, where it is shipped to the Iron Ore smelters all over the world. These trains can be 7kms long!   Yes, 7kms long, they have 3 massive diesel loco's at the front, 3 at the rear and 2 in the middle! The drivers and crew keep in touch by VHF radio, imagine waiting at a rail crossing while the train passes. Imagine also if they had to pull up in an emergency. 

 'Uluru' an aboriginal name (Ayers Rock) seen below at sunset. This monolith is said to be the largest one piece of solid stone in the world. However, in WA there is another monolith larger still, called 'Mt. Augustus'. This monolith is 8 miles from end to end, is 2000m high, there is only 1/3 of the mass above ground. It is estimated to be over 2000 million years old. While it is larger in size, it is considered to be not so pleasing to the eye, compared with Ayer's Rock. Mt. Augustus is located about 1.5 flying hours east of Carnarvon in Western Australia, it is approx. 5 times larger than Ayer's Rock and is the largest rock in one piece in the world. Ayer's Rock was discovered by the explorer William Gosse on 19 July 1873 and named it after a past SA Premier. Uluru is 348 metres high, has a waterhole on top of it and has an area of 3.33 square kilometres. It is 9.4kms in circumference. Uluru is regarded as a sacred site by the aboriginal people and should be respected by all who visit the site.

Mount Augustus was discovered by explorer Francis Thomas Gregory in June 1858, he was the first European to climb the rock. He named it after his brother Augustus, there are walking trails to the top which vary in length up to 12kms.