The Outback

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The Outback is the interior of Australia. Most of the big cities of Australia are situated on the coast and the vast majority of the population live in these cities.

In the Outback .... 

                    There are few inhabitants and little rain. It's almost a desert.
                    However, it represents almost 85% of the Australian landmass.
                    The Australian Outback is both harsh and  beautiful. It's unique in the world.

There is one major "town" in the outback. It is a "town" but not a "city". Only 24,000 people live there. There are a lot of hotels for tourists and travellers. The town is called Alice Springs :

The majority of the people who live in the outback are cattle farmers who work on "ranches" that the Australians call "cattle stations". The children don't go to school because there are not any schools. They have their lessons by using "The School of the Air". The "School of the Air" is a distance-learning school. Before children had to listen to their teacher on the radio. But now, of course they get their lessons by the internet :

Medical treatment is of course a problem for the people who live in the Outback. Sometimes the nearest doctor can live more than 200 kilometres from his or her patients. This is why doctors who live in the outback have an obligation : they have to learn to fly a plane. If you can't fly a plane, you can't become a doctor ! These doctors are called "the Flying Doctors". And in the 1970s and 1980s there was a popular Australian television series called, of course "Flying Doctors".

There are a lot of sites in the Outback that tourists want to visit ...

In the first picture we can see "Uluru" or "Ayers Rock". It is a huge monolith in the middle of the desert. It is 348 meters tall and is 3,6 kilometers wide. For the aborigines, this rock is a spiritual place. And tourists must respect this religious symbol for the aboriginal people. Before, visitors were allowed to climb to the top of Uluru. But this changed in October 2019. Now tourists are not allowed to climb the monolith.

In the second picture the two rocks that you can see are called "The Devil"s Marbles". They are also situated in the middle of the desert and they look as if they have fallen from the sky. The Devil's Marbles are also sacred to the aboriginal people. According to aboriginal tradition and superstition, if someone tries to take one of the marbles or move it, they will suffer bad luck. Tourists like to visit this site at sunset when they appear to change colour. 

In picture number 3 you can see a natural rock formation that the Australians call "Wave Rock". It has got this name because it looks like a giant wave. It is 15 meters high, and 400 meters long. There are 140,000 people who visit "Wave Rock" every year, which is very impressive because it is a very remote site. Every Summer there is also a Rock Music festival here. 

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