During summer, Adelaide residents and tourists alike flock to the pristine beaches that offer some respite from the sweltering heat. But if you drive north of the city, the landscape is a different story. Leaving the outskirts of the city, the historic bluestone buildings give way to suburban and industrial sprawl. Aside from the wheat fields, the terrain further inland quickly becomes desolate and harsh. The grass – where there is any – is brown, not green. As you travel along the straight, flat road, the distance between towns becomes greater, and in between there is no sign of human life as far as the eye can see. If you’re unfamiliar with the area, the remoteness of this part of the state seems like the middle of nowhere, and it’s easy to feel completely cut off from civilisation. And while red dirt and flat plains stretch for miles all the way to the horizon, whether in the pitch black of night or the blazing heat of a mid-summers day, there is nowhere to run if you need to make a hasty escape from something. Or someone. In the dead of night, the only light to show the way is the moon overhead. With no one around for miles, the silence is deafening.
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