00:00The Australian outback, it covers a huge area, most of the country outside of the cities.
00:08A vast tract of land that is both remote and arid.
00:13Take the harshest extremes of the outback, the Simpson Desert.
00:17Temperatures here can exceed 60 degrees Celsius while annual rainfall is less than 200 millimetres.
00:25In the Simpson Desert, the outstanding features are the sand hills, the longest parallel dunes in the world.
00:32Some are as high as 30 metres.
00:35While there are no maintained roads across the desert, each year a few hardy adventurers choose to cross it on foot.
00:41This man, Rob Piccaro, pulled a cart with his food and water from one side of the desert to the other,
00:47struggling to haul the cart up and down hundreds of dunes.
00:51The crossing also involved passing through large tracts of spinifex.
00:59It's a harsh environment, but it does sustain wildlife.
01:04Take the thorny devil.
01:06It's camouflaged in shades of desert browns and covered in spikes.
01:11Fierce as it looks, it's only 20 centimetres long.
01:15Far larger and just as prolific are camels.
01:19Australia now has the largest population of one-humped dromedary camels in the world,
01:24since they were brought in by Afghani railway builders in the 1800s.
01:30Imported to provide transport through inland Australia, these camels have since made it their domain,
01:36with an estimated half million now roaming the outback.
01:40Dingoes too thrive in these harsh conditions.
01:43They're descended from the Asiatic wolf, with a long, sustained howl similar to that of a wolf.
01:49Unlike domestic dogs, which can deliver two litters each year,
01:53dingoes are contained to just one litter a year.
02:01Red kangaroos can be found all over the outback.
02:06The red kangaroo is the largest of all kangaroos and the largest surviving marsupial.
02:13It inhabits most of the dry inland of the central part of Australia,
02:17where it eats grasses and other vegetation.
02:23The Australian outback also has a range of deadly venomous snakes.
02:27Among the most deadly is the inland taipan, the most venomous of all snakes,
02:32the small but well-camouflaged death adder,
02:35the western brown snake, full of paralysing venom,
02:39and the aggressive king brown, full of more venom than any other Australian snake.
02:46Common across the Australian outback are emus.
02:51It's the male of the species who incubates the eggs,
02:54a part-time job he conducts between feeding sessions.
03:00After 60 days of incubation, cracked eggshells are all that remain
03:05as the newly born chicks forage for their first insects.
03:11Their black and white striped plumage will be replaced by the deep brown feathers of their parents.
03:18And once again, while the chicks are brooding like this,
03:21it's their father who looks after them.
03:26All of this activity is watched over by the lord of the Australian skies,
03:31the wedge-tailed eagle.
03:34With a wingspan wider than an average car,
03:37this eagle is one of the world's largest and is known to kill baby kangaroos.
03:45The billabongs and waterholes of the Australian outback
03:49attract a host of birdlife.
03:52Brightly coloured grass finches come in to drink every few hours.
03:5918 species of these finches have been identified in Australia,
04:04all displaying their characteristic of habitually cuddling together in close physical contact.
04:12While most of the outback is flat and featureless,
04:15one truly inspirational sight is Uluru, or Ayers Rock.
04:20This massive red rock towers 350 metres, or 1100 feet, above the ground
04:26and is almost 10 kilometres or 6 miles around its base.
04:30One notable feature of Uluru is how it appears to change colour
04:34as different light strikes it at different times of the day and year.
04:38Sunset is a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows red.
04:45Uluru is literally an island mountain,
04:48and it's one of the most beautiful places in the world to visit.
04:52Sunset is a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows red.
04:58Uluru is literally an island mountain,
05:01an isolated remnant left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range.
05:07It's blessed with an equally impressive neighbour, Kata Juta,
05:10or the Olgas as the Europeans call them.
05:14The peculiar rock formation of Kata Juta are about 25 kilometres or 16 miles from Uluru.
05:21With special viewing areas along the road,
05:23giving tourists the best views of both sights at dawn and dusk.
05:30Another desolate place in the Australian outback is Lake Eyre.
05:35Everywhere you look, an endless horizon, not a tree, not a bush.
05:40And all you can see is this endless plain of white gypsum and salt.
05:46And you can't penetrate it if you're looking for water.
05:49It's just so hard.
05:51No water, and high temperatures.
05:53Temperatures up to 60 degrees in the height of summer.
05:58Despite these harsh conditions, creatures still survive here, like the bearded dragon.
06:06These lizards puff themselves up, and as you approach them,
06:09they always present the largest profile towards you to try and scare you off.
06:14Search the salt, and you'll find lots of little spiders that live out here.
06:19Drought is not the only condition one experiences out on Lake Eyre.
06:23Every 30 years or so, heavy rain in inland Australia sends water sweeping across Lake Eyre.
06:29It fills and climbs to the height of a two-storey building.
06:33When Lake Eyre floods, pelicans and other water birds fly in tens of thousands to breed on its islands,
06:40free from disturbances by people and predators.
06:44Surprisingly, Lake Eyre and the rivers that fill it are teeming with fish and crustaceans during the flood.
06:50They become easy pickings for adult pelicans, who feed cooperatively,
06:54herding fish into the shallows and dipping their bills simultaneously to trap fish.
07:02Another outback waterway that's taken on mythical proportions is the Combo Waterhole in central Queensland.
07:09This part of the Diamantina River inspired the bush balladeer Banjo Patterson
07:14to write Australia's unofficial national anthem, Waltzing Matilda.
07:19As in the ballad, the waterhole is lined with couloir trees.
07:25Across the outback, there are supersized cattle stations.
07:29The Sharmlee River Station is typical of cattle properties on the Kimberley region of far north-western Australia.
07:36A slice of outback peace.
07:39Peace that is shattered when a helicopter is called in for a very special mission.
07:44One of the challenges facing outback property owners are wild bulls.
07:49They're called Mickey Bulls, and catching them can be hard and dangerous.
07:56The team of catchers comprises the aerial musterer Peter Mitchell,
08:00the property owner Peter Camp, and the new recruit Josh Harley.
08:05Among the hazards they face, bush fires.
08:09They actually started this one accidentally when strong winds whipped their campfire out of control.
08:16It's a dangerous mission.
08:18Chopper pilot Peter has to dodge the trees and direct the crew below.
08:24The reason they need to catch these wild bulls is to stop them breeding with purebred stock.
08:30For Josh, it's a very physical exercise, man versus bull.
08:36What Josh is trying to do is unbalance the bull, pull his tail hard enough to topple him.
08:42But this bull is just a bit too big, and Josh too much of a lightweight.
08:48Time for the master to show his trick.
08:51Back behind the wheel, there are heavier bulls to bring down.
08:54This time they'll use the vehicle. The bulls are too heavy for one man to unbalance.
08:59The tactic now is to nab the bull.
09:02The catchers insist the bulls are never hurt.
09:05Once they've tethered the bulls, they still have to load them into the cattle trucks.
09:11The next stage of a trip that will see them shift to buyers in Indonesia.
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