IT IS very hot, very flat, and very bare. You might also consider it very ugly. Explorer Edward John Eyre, the first European to cross it in 1841, reportedly described it as 鈥渁 hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of nature鈥�. Others find its bleakness perversely beautiful. At first glance, it may look like a whole lot of nothing, but there is far more to the Nullarbor than meets the eye.
The name comes from the Latin 鈥渘ull鈥� for 鈥渘othing鈥� and 鈥渁rbor鈥� for 鈥渢ree鈥� 鈥� an appropriate name for the 1200-kilometre-wide swathe of desolation straddling the border between South and Western Australia. Still, the Nullarbor has become a magnet for tourists, scientists and potholers, not to mention 32 Postie bike riders, who on 7 May will begin an attempt to cross this inhospitable plain on second-hand Hondas bought from the Australia Post.
What is the big attraction? For a start, it鈥檚 the world鈥檚 largest slab of limestone, deposited by marine organisms 15 to 25 million years ago when the Nullarbor was still sea floor. Today its surface is littered with meteorites that have accumulated over the past 35,000 years or so. The meteorites are preserved by the arid conditions. Usually dark coloured, they are easy to spot against the pale, featureless plain, making the Nullarbor a prime locale for planetary scientists.
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鈥淭oday its surface is littered with meteorites鈥�
The limestone is responsible for some impressive sights. Because limestone is partially soluble, any water that has visited Nullarbor has left its mark. In some coastal regions the Southern Ocean flows inland for several hundred metres, creating spectacular blowholes and underground rivers. Rain run-off from a wet phase of the plain鈥檚 history roughly 6 million years ago has riddled the region with hundreds of caves.
Nullarbor鈥檚 caves have harboured more than their fair share of palaeontological treasures. The most recent find, which was described in detail for the first time this January (Nature, vol 445, p 422), is a cache of fossils representing 69 different species of prehistoric mammals, birds and reptiles, including the first complete skeleton of a marsupial lion. There were also several species of tree-climbing kangaroo, suggesting that the Nullarbor once hosted more vegetation than today鈥檚 sad display of drought and salt-tolerant shrubs.
Sure it鈥檚 got some strange scenery, but who dares to try to cross the Nullarbor? Backpackers in clapped-out cars, retirees on trains and engineering students in solar-powered vehicles feel compelled to make the journey, often in the height of summer. Food, water and petrol are in short supply, though a tarmacked road, the Eyre Highway, now runs along its southernmost edge.
Not that those Postie bike riders will bother with the modern road in their upcoming trek. They will ride straight through the hostile terrain next week to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
