A gigantic limestone sitting right on top of the Great Australian Bight, doesn’t this place hold a truly unique energy that embodies both death and creation? I murmured as I recall this memory fragment.
Because of its uninhabitability, most of the landmass remains undeveloped. To this day, no one knows the full scale of what this rock, Nullarbor, can contain. Perhaps we don’t need scientific research because Aboriginal people already figured it out through mythology.
Nullarbor Dreaming is a documentary about an expedition in which a group of professional divers dives into one of the underwater caves in Nullarbor. It quoted this myth from the start of the documentary : “An Aboriginal dreaming story says after Dukkha , the god created the earth . He sent his spirit down from the northern sky in the form of a great rock, which hit the land near the Great Australian Bight and then bounced into the sea, where it sank from sight. From this sprang the spirit woman Juco and the spirit man Jukar, who found their way to the land from the sea through one of the many underground caves that honeycomb the Nullarbor Plain with streams of water that run out to the sea. From the cave, they saw the light of the sun, Jindu, and climbed towards it. As they reached the entrance, they were born as Mother Earth; man was born.”
As my jaw dropped watching this documentary like God sends, my examination had a new progress, I once again confirmed- Nullarbor is the gate to life; it builds from the dead, and as water penetrates through the dead, it creates wombs that give birth to life. It becomes a cycle! Ecstasy rumbled through me; my discoveries had a new layer of profound color painted across the canvas in extreme contrast.
I believe a personal journey is a direct reflection of the land we stand upon. As we pay closer attention to our body, mind, and spirit, we will eventually find the synchronicity within. We are the sons of the land, and it shapes our reality, just like the weather events such as storms, earthquakes, and bushfires; they are all forms of messages would guide us to find the right path.
Me and my partner came to the border of Western Australia and South Australia in 2023 to work in a roadhouse. The location is right at the middle of Eyre Highway; it stretches 3,000 kilometers through the Nullarbor Plain. Driving across the Nullarbor is an iconic road trip in Australia as this is the only sealed road you can take from Adelaide to Perth. Most people only see this place as a beautiful sight to the Great Australian Bight. Apart from that, there’s nothing around. Nullarbor literally means “no tree.” The land is so harsh for most plants or animals to survive; You even rarely see a kangaroo jumping around ; instead, tons of thousands of broken-down cars on the side of the roads that couldn’t survive the journey across the Nullarbor, This place definitely feels dead most of the time unless you travel a bit deeper.
I felt the same ; I knew there were caves around the area but nothing more before I arrived . We got the job offer in January 2023. Two weeks before that, we both caught COVID and were stuck in a hostel room in the city of Melbourne, with our pockets almost run dry and desperate in need of a job. Especially the post-COVID period, cost of living in Australia skyrocketed. The dream of returning to Uluru still held a heavy weight in my heart at that time, but after years of looping the eastern side of the land, it felt almost impossible to go all around Australia and come back to the center – it’s another 10,000 km trip!
We searched for hundreds of work opportunities everywhere, and nothing seemed like a perfect fit for us until this job advertisement magically appeared in my email. I carefully counted the time I had left in Australia and mapped out the best route to get back to Uluru. Somehow, this felt amazingly right, and it was time for me to reach the border to the other side. The only state I had yet to set foot in was Western Australia. As visiting caves is one of my favorite adventures, I felt the calling in search of a deeper truth inside the darkness and came out just like the bats that fly across Melbourne’s night sky. I desired some kind of unexpected rebirth.
We patiently wait for a week and eventually received a call from the management and got the job, we enjoyed out last week celebrating in the city; saying goodbye to our friends; packing our bags into our tiny little Toyota corolla and hit the road, left the hustle and step ourselves into the silence.
We passed the last city we would see for the next six months and headed west at the intersection leading into Central Australia. We passed the last grocery store, a small fish and chip shop, a tiny café, and a town of only ten people. Eventually, the signs of Nullarbor appeared. Civilization faded away like a breeze, and we immersed ourselves in the vast plain.
To step back into the desert felt immensely quiet. The voices that whispered through the emptiness crawled back out of the hidden darkness, and a pair of sorrowful eyes stared at me once again. This time, I‘m not here to fall, I’m here to fly across.
Before my partner and I met in the rainforests of Far North Queensland, she had also walked her own journey through many icy, forlorn landscape. For both of us, crossing the border and reaching one of the furthest unseen corners of the earth revealed the purpose of our companionship was to lead each other further, beyond our emptiness, instead of turning back.
The moment we were finally close to our destination, a strong scent of salty air reached our noses as the ocean appeared across the endless plain, a scene beyond imagination; a 20-hour drive on the road had led us to a fresh start. The stillness of the vast plain suddenly filled with prosperity and a strong force of life kicked into the dry sandy air. This was something new; my partner and I both screamed the name of the ocean – the Great Australian Bight!
Our life living in a small cabin room, working in the middle of the largest limestone on earth begins from this day. We met a group of people from all over the world; as no one were around, we are the closest family to each other. We often spent our time going out to explore the desert in someone’s four-wheel drive; searching for wandering herds of camels; driving to the cliff and climbed down to see untouched sand dunes that stretched for miles, casually hanging out at the broke-down car yards across the road; lighting a campfire to cook soup in a tin; using parts of the broke down cars to build a shelter. We were just like an expedition team, each searching for one’s unique life meaning but walking on the same path, abandoning our burdens in society, sharing our past, our stories freely, singing out our pains and joys. This land were wide opened up for transformation to all souls that are willing to.
One of our favorite spots to visit was recommended by a co-worker from Slovakia who had worked there for over two years. It was a sea cliff hidden along a rocky path 10 km away from the roadhouse. Because our small car was able to drive over the hard, rocky ground, we went there every time we had the chance.
From the side of the Eyre Highway, you take a turn onto a narrow road full of small rocks. Our car used to bump around along this path, but as long as you kept it slow, you were able to get through easily. You then reached a flat area. We used to park our car in front of a sloping cliff. We would overlook the ocean from the top and walk down the steep hill to the edge of the cliff, where we saw waves rolling in like monsters and crashing into the invincible sea cliff. We would curiously try to look out from the edge of the cliff, trying to see what was hidden on the other side. Eagles would often fly through the sky and dance with the rhythm. Occasionally, a lizard would climb up the rocks and say hello. The hills behind us made us feel isolated, just like an island. Seashells were scattered all around like a graveyard. Here, we felt the Nullarbor in its most energetic form, where I witnessed the incredible birth from the ocean on top of a dangerous cliff, receiving the gift that was rolling in from far offshore.
Although I would never be able to reach the other side of the ocean from there, carrying the heavy weight that had accumulated through years of traveling across the endless desert, here, I found a new door to that end—a brand-new possibility, a new vision into the mystic ocean. Standing right on top of a rock that had aged from the dead, I felt lighter.
A solo venture is an exploration; a shared venture forms a story.” I discovered. The deeper layers of the path slowly revealed themselves, leading me to the purest territory that lay within my heart. Eventually, it all reflected back to Uluru—the centre. As we journeyed through all kinds of expeditions across the land, we finally reached the sacred cave that lay beneath the surface. And that’s a whole other story—another memory fragment waiting to be picked up…
2nd August 5:31pm Taipei, Taiwan
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