It is mid-afternoon in Marree, a dusty, sun-bleached settlement on the edge of South Australia's Tirari Desert. Nothing moves but the windmills, pumping in vain for water. Before the freak deluge of the last few weeks, there had not been rain, save for the odd shower, for three months. Shutters are down, blinds drawn, streets deserted. The temperature is pushing 41C, yet this is merely a warm summer's day in Marree. The mercury would have to climb nearer to 50C before the locals would call it a scorcher.
When the producers of the new Kate Winslet film Holy Smoke (which opens on Friday) went searching for a location to portray barren isolation, it was to this desolate region of South Australia that they came. On these desert plains, near the foothills of the Flinders Ranges, Ruth (Winslet's character) is de-programmed to free her from the psychological ties of the religious cult she has joined. As the sun burns my face and I look for miles across shimmering desert, I can see why they chose this part of the world. This is the real Australia - the gateway to the Red Centre, as the country's heart is known. Just the ticket for clearing a jumbled head and becalming a confused soul.
Marree, which is the Aboriginal word for possum, was once much busier. It lies at the end of the Birdsville Track, a 400-mile cattle-driving route famous in outback history. In the 18th century, drovers from the rich cattle pastures of Queensland to the north walked their beasts down to this town, which was an important staging post. Between 1940 and 1980, it provided a vital rail link with the beef market towns of the south. Many drovers used camels for transport - hardy creatures guaranteed to survive crossing some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.
The drovers' stories are full of Biblical hardship. They braved the blistering salt pans and rocky moonscapes of the Simpson and Sturt Stony deserts; endured searing temperatures, a chilling collection of poisonous creatures, clouds of persistent flies and even the odd locust storm.
Resilience is required by travellers in these parts today as the natural perils are still out here, although air-conditioned, four-wheel-drives and the odd gourmet hotel have done wonders to ease the pain. Most tourists make their base at Hawker, population 490, which is 170 miles south of Marree. From here, the beauty of the Flinders Ranges and the many walking and driving trails are close at hand, and the best way to see them is with an Aborigine guide.
Joe McKenzie and Pauline Coulthard were born and raised here and know the territory intimately. A day tour includes visiting 5,000-year-old rock paintings and the geological wonders of Wilpena Pound (a vast, natural, crater-like blister on the landscape); and sharing kangaroo steaks and Johnny cakes in a dry creek bed at lunchtime, listening to their stories from the Dreamtime, the time of creation according to Aborigines.
The infernal heat of summer (November to March) dissuades most tourists from venturing into the Flinders and the deserts to the north. Instead, they wait until the cooler winter months (April - October) when night breezes necessitate jumpers and frost can coat the windows of four-wheel-drives in the morning. The cooler temperatures also force the many venomous snakes and spiders into hibernation.
However, the full heat of summer is when the desert shows off its awesome powers and draws the adventurous traveller. The only other person I saw on the Birdsville Track was a lone Austrian motorcyclist - sunburnt but smiling. We met at a break in the Dog Fence, a 3,300-mile-long barrier that runs from the east coast of Australia through the Red Centre and down to the south coast near the border between Western and South Australia. It was built to protect the sheep in the south from the packs of dingoes in the north. We swatted flies for a few minutes and went our separate ways.
I met the biker again that evening at the Prairie Hotel at Parachilna, between Marree and Hawker. We shouldn't have been surprised as this is one of the few hotels for miles and it draws most people who travel around these parts. It is an oasis. Out of the blinding sunlight, guests walk into an air-conditioned bar playing funky music and serving ice-cold beers and snacks. I almost had to step outside and come back in again to check this wasn't another cruel mirage.
On the bar wall is the menu, the real reason for people flocking to the Prairie (and they do, so book early). This is the home of Feral Food, an array of delicious bush tucker cooked up by chef Danni Murray, a local woman who specialises in outback cuisine. "I eat most things but not kangaroo," she said after I'd tucked into a roo steak. "We used to keep them as pets when I was a child." Luckily for vegetarians, she also prepares some stunning meat-free dishes. Later, I dined on emu, camel sausages and goat cutlets, and sank a full-bodied red wine from the Clare Valley, a day's drive to the south. Great food but it needed walking off and I stepped outside on to the still warm desert floor for an evening stroll. The winds had eased and the Flinders Ranges were silhouetted against a rising moon. I felt free, de-programmed from the stress of day-to-day life, and was beginning to love the isolation. The desert had me transfixed.
The practicals
Matthew Brace travelled as a guest of South Australia Tourism.
Flights:
Qantas Airways (0345 747767) has daily flights to Adelaide, with fares starting from £715 return (excluding taxes), including two free stopovers in Asia. Qantas' Boomerang Pass, used in conjunction with an inter-national ticket, opens up destinations across five zones covering Australia, New Zealand and the South West Pacific. Fly within a single zone for £95 and across zones from £110 per sector. If you book direct with the airline, it will also arrange your visa free of charge (a saving of around £8).
Accommodation:
Outback Chapmanton Hotel in Hawker (tel: 00 61 8 8648 4100) charges from £25 a night for single occupancy on a room-only basis.
The Prairie Hotel at Parachilna (tel: 00 61 8 8648 4895) charges from £28 a night single occupancy on a room-only basis.
Tours:
Fray Aborignal culture tours are tailormade and prices vary greatly according to the number of guides and vehicles used, the number in the group and where they go. A private tour costs around £390 for a full day, including all transport, sightseeing, meals and the services of an Aboriginal tour guide.
For a copy of the Australia Travellers Guide, telephone: 0906 8633235 (all calls cost 60p per minute) or visit the website at: www.australia.com
