1 00:00:38,270 --> 00:00:41,569 Two-thirds of Australia is as dry as a bone - 2 00:00:42,107 --> 00:00:47,340 over 5 million square kilometers of rock, scrub and sand. 3 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:53,040 When Europeans came looking for farmland in the centre - just 150 years ago - 4 00:00:53,552 --> 00:00:56,146 they were dismayed by what they found. 5 00:00:57,056 --> 00:01:00,787 They wrote it off as the 'dead centre', rejected it, 6 00:01:00,959 --> 00:01:03,792 as a good-for-nothing wasteland. 7 00:01:07,099 --> 00:01:09,363 That couldn't be further from the truth. 8 00:01:15,307 --> 00:01:18,743 The continent's dry heartland is like nothing else on the planet, 9 00:01:19,178 --> 00:01:21,112 and it's full of life. 10 00:01:33,992 --> 00:01:37,951 But could the new Australians ever see this spectacular land, 11 00:01:38,130 --> 00:01:41,725 and love it, for what it really is? 12 00:01:51,543 --> 00:01:53,170 Although the centre is hot, 13 00:01:53,345 --> 00:01:55,575 much of it doesn't look like desert at all. 14 00:01:56,115 --> 00:02:00,313 The first European explorers were convinced they'd find pasture here. 15 00:02:07,126 --> 00:02:11,893 They found swathes of tall grass - surely the answer to their prayers. 16 00:02:15,767 --> 00:02:18,600 But Spinifex is as tough as old boots. 17 00:02:18,937 --> 00:02:23,101 It's the only grass that can grow in the poorest and driest soils. 18 00:02:26,245 --> 00:02:29,408 The lack of native grazing animals should have tipped them off. 19 00:02:29,781 --> 00:02:32,750 Not even kangaroos can chew on this stuff. 20 00:02:35,721 --> 00:02:39,179 But these grasslands were dotted with strange red mounds, 21 00:02:39,525 --> 00:02:42,119 a clue to what DID thrive here. 22 00:02:43,695 --> 00:02:46,789 There are grazers, billions of them. 23 00:02:47,199 --> 00:02:50,066 The explorers just couldn't see them. 24 00:02:52,271 --> 00:02:55,763 Termites are the only animals that can stomach spinifex. 25 00:02:56,208 --> 00:02:58,733 The grasslands cover a quarter of the continent, 26 00:02:58,977 --> 00:03:03,414 so termites are one of the most powerful forces in Australia. 27 00:03:10,322 --> 00:03:14,452 They've turned a virtually inedible grass into their bread and butter. 28 00:03:14,693 --> 00:03:16,820 They have it all to themselves. 29 00:03:20,232 --> 00:03:22,496 By chewing it up with spit and soil, 30 00:03:22,734 --> 00:03:27,433 termites can even turn spinifex into walls that harden like brick. 31 00:03:38,350 --> 00:03:43,083 The result is a multi-story complex that's both cool and secure. 32 00:03:43,255 --> 00:03:45,155 And not just for termites. 33 00:03:52,531 --> 00:03:55,796 At any one time the mound is crawling with spiders, 34 00:03:55,968 --> 00:03:58,835 centipedes, geckos and skinks. 35 00:03:59,204 --> 00:04:02,469 The termites themselves are a living larder. 36 00:04:16,588 --> 00:04:18,818 Most of the grassland's life and death struggles 37 00:04:18,991 --> 00:04:22,222 are played out along the mound's humid passageways. 38 00:04:26,465 --> 00:04:30,060 For the knob-tailed gecko it's murder in the dark. 39 00:04:40,912 --> 00:04:43,176 But the centipede is no walkover. 40 00:04:51,790 --> 00:04:54,657 Each mound is a world within a world. 41 00:04:54,926 --> 00:04:59,761 Termites eat grass; centipedes eat termites; geckoes eat centipedes. 42 00:05:00,198 --> 00:05:03,895 In the desert, termites make the world go round. 43 00:05:11,410 --> 00:05:16,006 In the grasslands outside the mounds, there are others waiting to pounce. 44 00:05:19,785 --> 00:05:24,313 Low-energy lizards have really struck it rich in this desert economy. 45 00:05:30,529 --> 00:05:32,156 They're virtually drought-proof 46 00:05:32,331 --> 00:05:36,358 because they can survive on far less food and water than mammals or birds 47 00:05:36,668 --> 00:05:39,364 and so there are millions of them. 48 00:05:40,138 --> 00:05:43,266 Australia's desert wealth can be measured not in pasture, 49 00:05:43,542 --> 00:05:47,069 but in the phenomenal variety of lizards per acre. 50 00:05:50,582 --> 00:05:53,710 They have this unpredictable country licked. 51 00:05:59,057 --> 00:06:03,551 Most lizards eat anything, but this one is picky. 52 00:06:09,134 --> 00:06:12,365 The thorny devil only eats little black ants. 53 00:06:12,537 --> 00:06:16,496 A thousand a day... if it can get into the groove! 54 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:23,243 It's cleverer than it looks. 55 00:06:23,715 --> 00:06:25,706 Ants know the whiff of a dead comrade, 56 00:06:26,017 --> 00:06:28,451 so the devil never lets them smell its breath. 57 00:06:28,854 --> 00:06:32,722 It keeps lifting its head to puff away the telltale formic acid fumes. 58 00:06:33,091 --> 00:06:34,991 The ants never catch on. 59 00:06:40,365 --> 00:06:44,426 The first Europeans thought all these animals were useless. 60 00:06:45,270 --> 00:06:49,468 And when they didn't find rich grazing land, they just saw emptiness - 61 00:06:50,442 --> 00:06:52,205 the Never Never. 62 00:07:00,318 --> 00:07:05,051 So it was a big surprise when they found people making a living here. 63 00:07:10,662 --> 00:07:15,964 Aboriginal people have survived in the centre for over forty thousand years. 64 00:07:22,674 --> 00:07:24,073 They moved across the land, 65 00:07:24,242 --> 00:07:28,611 tapping into many different water sources and living off bush tucker. 66 00:07:39,524 --> 00:07:42,516 They understood how to make the desert work for them. 67 00:07:50,602 --> 00:07:54,504 They also used fire, not just for cooking and warmth, 68 00:07:54,673 --> 00:07:57,005 but to manage the land. 69 00:08:03,748 --> 00:08:06,410 They still use fire stick farming today. 70 00:08:06,952 --> 00:08:08,579 To burn off the prickly spinifex, 71 00:08:08,753 --> 00:08:12,211 and encourage edible plants to grow in its place. 72 00:08:19,764 --> 00:08:22,858 It's a controlled version of the wild fires 73 00:08:23,168 --> 00:08:27,730 that would have swept through the Outback even before these people arrived. 74 00:08:36,548 --> 00:08:40,507 Most of the plants in the bush are dry and naturally packed with oils. 75 00:08:40,685 --> 00:08:43,745 They ignite readily but they don't always die. 76 00:08:43,922 --> 00:08:46,982 And their seeds often survive a blaze. 77 00:08:54,432 --> 00:08:57,333 The scorched earth is a kick-start for new growth; 78 00:08:57,802 --> 00:09:01,363 bush tomatoes, yams and bush-berries flourish. 79 00:09:01,873 --> 00:09:03,363 Strange as it may seem, 80 00:09:03,675 --> 00:09:06,075 many plants have evolved to live with fire 81 00:09:06,244 --> 00:09:08,644 and so has the wildlife. 82 00:09:14,252 --> 00:09:17,050 The mala is a small desert marsupial 83 00:09:17,222 --> 00:09:22,182 that cannot breed without the succulent shoots that germinate after fire. 84 00:09:29,768 --> 00:09:32,601 Bilbies also benefit from fire stick farming. 85 00:09:35,807 --> 00:09:39,903 They look like down-under Bugs Bunnies but they're marsupials too. 86 00:09:44,249 --> 00:09:46,012 They eat more or less anything. 87 00:09:46,384 --> 00:09:47,316 But after a blaze 88 00:09:47,485 --> 00:09:50,579 the poor desert soil is fertilized by the ash, 89 00:09:50,889 --> 00:09:55,019 so there's a greater variety of plants and insects for them to sample. 90 00:09:56,728 --> 00:09:57,592 Like the mala, 91 00:09:57,762 --> 00:10:00,925 they feed after dark to avoid dehydration. 92 00:10:01,099 --> 00:10:05,798 It's wickedly hot during the day, so some kind of shelter is vital. 93 00:10:09,474 --> 00:10:12,739 They have powerful front legs and claws to help with that. 94 00:10:19,384 --> 00:10:23,081 Two metres down is an air-conditioned retreat for the whole family, 95 00:10:23,455 --> 00:10:27,391 and it's also the safest place to be during a grass-fire. 96 00:10:31,429 --> 00:10:35,889 In good years, after a burn, they can have four litters on the trot. 97 00:10:36,534 --> 00:10:38,764 So they can breed a bit like rabbits! 98 00:10:45,610 --> 00:10:49,910 To survive in the Outback you need to understand how it ticks. 99 00:10:50,081 --> 00:10:54,541 Something the Aboriginal people had learned from the life around them. 100 00:11:01,993 --> 00:11:05,053 To them this landscape is steeped in meaning. 101 00:11:05,463 --> 00:11:09,661 Their journeys across the centre follow paths of memory and understanding, 102 00:11:09,901 --> 00:11:11,960 which often meet at sacred places 103 00:11:12,237 --> 00:11:16,071 like Kata Tjuta... and Uluru. 104 00:11:31,423 --> 00:11:33,584 To us it's a photo opportunity. 105 00:11:34,125 --> 00:11:39,256 To them it's a timeless place that describes the way they see the world. 106 00:11:45,870 --> 00:11:48,430 Patterns of erosion on Uluru's surface 107 00:11:48,707 --> 00:11:50,231 tell the story of how the people 108 00:11:50,408 --> 00:11:54,310 are connected to their ancestors and to the land. 109 00:11:54,479 --> 00:11:56,572 They are intimate with it. 110 00:12:00,318 --> 00:12:04,448 But for newcomers, the desert heart couldn't be more alien. 111 00:12:07,659 --> 00:12:11,356 Frustrated Europeans battled to find a route across the continent. 112 00:12:12,030 --> 00:12:16,330 Having travelled thousands of kilometers over the flattest country in the world, 113 00:12:16,568 --> 00:12:20,834 they were disheartened to find a chain of mountains blocking their way. 114 00:12:24,943 --> 00:12:28,106 The MacDonnell Ranges were once Himalayan-sized, 115 00:12:28,780 --> 00:12:30,179 but Australia's so old, 116 00:12:30,348 --> 00:12:34,079 they've crumbled and rusted into a geriatric spine. 117 00:12:47,832 --> 00:12:51,359 Even so, it was a challenge to find a way through. 118 00:12:52,771 --> 00:12:53,863 Unexpectedly, 119 00:12:54,038 --> 00:12:59,169 their search took them from desert to an inner sanctum of natural wonders. 120 00:13:04,682 --> 00:13:10,621 65 million years ago Australia was covered in luxuriant forests like these. 121 00:13:11,189 --> 00:13:15,455 This valley of red cabbage palms is the last of their kind. 122 00:13:19,764 --> 00:13:22,232 They were cradled here as the climate dried up, 123 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,631 saved from drying out because the porous rocks around them 124 00:13:25,804 --> 00:13:28,136 hold water like a sponge. 125 00:13:35,780 --> 00:13:38,943 Some of the trickle-fed pools never dry out. 126 00:13:39,117 --> 00:13:42,314 That's heaven in a place where it might not rain for years. 127 00:13:46,291 --> 00:13:47,781 Here, in the heart of the desert, 128 00:13:48,092 --> 00:13:52,222 explorers were amazed to find fresh-water fish. 129 00:13:58,336 --> 00:14:00,668 The billabongs in the ranges are so isolated 130 00:14:00,839 --> 00:14:04,605 that some fish are found only in particular pools. 131 00:14:12,450 --> 00:14:15,283 This must have been a sight for sore eyes. 132 00:14:25,363 --> 00:14:26,887 Because of this permanent water, 133 00:14:27,131 --> 00:14:31,932 there are more bird species in Australia's deserts than in all of Britain. 134 00:14:41,079 --> 00:14:44,446 It's a particular lifesaver to birds on a dry diet of seeds, 135 00:14:44,749 --> 00:14:49,652 such as budgies... and zebra finches that need frequent drinks. 136 00:14:55,460 --> 00:14:59,419 The finches pump the water up with their tongues. They need to be quick. 137 00:15:14,445 --> 00:15:18,142 They're forced to play cat and mouse with the local falcons. 138 00:16:00,525 --> 00:16:03,517 But it's the spectator that gets lucky. 139 00:16:16,641 --> 00:16:18,541 Life is a gamble in the desert... 140 00:16:18,943 --> 00:16:23,209 and there are only a few deep, shady gorges that never dry out. 141 00:16:25,650 --> 00:16:30,280 That's where black-footed rock wallabies hole up in the crevices and caves. 142 00:16:39,564 --> 00:16:42,727 A sun-soaked ledge takes away the night-chill. 143 00:16:48,239 --> 00:16:50,537 Usually they're not around in the day, 144 00:16:50,808 --> 00:16:55,404 but this is the breeding season and life is getting a bit frenetic. 145 00:16:59,250 --> 00:17:02,845 The male is trying to winkle himself in behind a female. 146 00:17:13,297 --> 00:17:16,323 But she's determined to keep her back to the wall! 147 00:17:20,438 --> 00:17:21,769 To reach all the females 148 00:17:21,939 --> 00:17:26,433 he needs mountain-goat precision and wallaby spring-loading. 149 00:17:31,516 --> 00:17:33,575 They'd like to stay glued to the rock face, 150 00:17:33,751 --> 00:17:36,948 but most of their food is on the gully floor. 151 00:17:44,362 --> 00:17:46,796 Rock wallabies are not much bigger than a cat. 152 00:17:47,165 --> 00:17:51,465 Packs of dingoes work these gorges, so they need to watch out. 153 00:18:04,449 --> 00:18:05,780 As the day stokes up 154 00:18:05,950 --> 00:18:09,351 they do the sensible thing and find some shade. 155 00:18:19,630 --> 00:18:23,066 In most other deserts of the world rainfall follows a pattern, 156 00:18:23,301 --> 00:18:25,496 however scarce it might be. 157 00:18:25,670 --> 00:18:29,436 In Australia it's totally and utterly erratic. 158 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,780 The rain is usually too light to make a difference. 159 00:18:46,124 --> 00:18:48,388 But the mountains channel whatever does fall. 160 00:18:49,127 --> 00:18:52,096 Rivulets become creeks and then rivers. 161 00:18:52,396 --> 00:18:55,729 This is how a little goes a long way. 162 00:19:02,540 --> 00:19:05,941 The Finke River has been cutting its course out of the central ranges 163 00:19:06,110 --> 00:19:08,874 for nearly 300 million years. 164 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,174 It's thought to be one of the oldest rivers on earth. 165 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,556 It doesn't go to the sea, but heads further into the desert 166 00:19:19,724 --> 00:19:21,988 and over a 700-kilometre route 167 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,823 it transforms the dry lands beyond the mountains. 168 00:19:30,701 --> 00:19:34,933 Even as a ribbon of sand it's beaded with precious waterholes. 169 00:19:45,750 --> 00:19:48,275 And long after water has vanished from the surface, 170 00:19:48,519 --> 00:19:52,546 an avenue of trees can tap into water hidden deep in the sand. 171 00:20:05,269 --> 00:20:09,205 Red-tailed black-cockatoos are never far from the Finke. 172 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:14,139 They flock along it - to wherever the food and water happen to be. 173 00:20:15,446 --> 00:20:17,607 The large trees are a real draw. 174 00:20:21,085 --> 00:20:26,523 It's in their shade that the cockies spend the hot afternoons socializing. 175 00:20:36,033 --> 00:20:38,968 Red River gums offer multi-storey housing... 176 00:20:40,471 --> 00:20:42,564 with made-to-measure nest holes. 177 00:20:51,415 --> 00:20:56,045 These cockatoos are very large parrots, so they need something roomy. 178 00:21:00,191 --> 00:21:03,251 It'll be a tight squeeze once Mum's in there too. 179 00:21:18,809 --> 00:21:22,006 These intelligent birds can live for over 50 years, 180 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,249 and they spend a whole year raising a single chick. 181 00:21:25,483 --> 00:21:27,417 It has a lot to learn. 182 00:21:31,422 --> 00:21:33,413 The outback is not a predictable place. 183 00:21:34,158 --> 00:21:38,288 In a long run of difficult years cockatoos must fall back on past experience 184 00:21:38,462 --> 00:21:41,397 to find enough to eat. 185 00:21:47,138 --> 00:21:49,732 Aboriginal people also had to be resourceful 186 00:21:50,007 --> 00:21:52,532 and they never stayed too long in one place. 187 00:21:52,977 --> 00:21:54,911 The Finke was a natural highway... 188 00:21:55,346 --> 00:22:00,147 so not surprisingly it also opened up the centre to newcomers. 189 00:22:05,156 --> 00:22:09,991 They arrived on imported camels and muscled-in around the reliable waterholes. 190 00:22:10,428 --> 00:22:12,862 The Aborigines fought this land-grab. 191 00:22:13,130 --> 00:22:14,791 There were ugly conflicts. 192 00:22:21,972 --> 00:22:26,500 By the late 1880s even the poorest rangeland had been settled. 193 00:22:28,412 --> 00:22:32,041 But many cattle stations went bust after a few dry years. 194 00:22:32,483 --> 00:22:34,474 It's easy to get caught out. 195 00:22:34,819 --> 00:22:38,050 The centre can look more promising than it is. 196 00:22:42,226 --> 00:22:45,093 Mulga country doesn't even seem like desert. 197 00:22:45,463 --> 00:22:49,126 It's a dense woodland of acacias, bloodwoods and ghost gums, 198 00:22:49,467 --> 00:22:52,163 rooted in the out-wash of the central ranges. 199 00:22:55,239 --> 00:22:57,639 Most woody shrubs are thirsty and demanding, 200 00:22:57,942 --> 00:23:00,035 but these tough plants have flourished, 201 00:23:00,211 --> 00:23:02,406 despite the poor, dry soils... 202 00:23:02,747 --> 00:23:05,272 and despite unwelcome invaders. 203 00:23:18,429 --> 00:23:22,365 In the 1880s camel-trains were the only way to cross the desert 204 00:23:22,733 --> 00:23:26,464 but once roads had been built the camels were abandoned. 205 00:23:32,376 --> 00:23:36,142 With no natural predators they've made themselves at home. 206 00:23:36,747 --> 00:23:38,612 Australia is now the only country 207 00:23:38,949 --> 00:23:41,941 where one-humped camels live naturally in the wild. 208 00:23:54,265 --> 00:23:55,232 In the breeding season 209 00:23:55,399 --> 00:23:59,199 males do their best to pull as many females as they can. 210 00:24:17,488 --> 00:24:21,322 The dulaa - an inflatable sac lining the roof of their mouths - 211 00:24:21,725 --> 00:24:23,955 could only be a camel turn-on. 212 00:24:32,636 --> 00:24:35,434 But mostly, this display is for the males. 213 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:58,226 The biggest bull starts to throw his weight around. 214 00:25:16,347 --> 00:25:18,281 Things can get really heavy. 215 00:25:31,529 --> 00:25:34,828 This upstart gets well and truly bounced. 216 00:25:42,072 --> 00:25:45,132 Over half a million camels roam the centre now. 217 00:25:45,309 --> 00:25:46,833 They're no longer a curiosity, 218 00:25:47,278 --> 00:25:49,269 they're serious pests. 219 00:25:53,517 --> 00:25:55,508 Despite their over-whelming presence, 220 00:25:56,987 --> 00:25:59,854 ...it's the little guys who run the place. 221 00:26:03,594 --> 00:26:07,758 Every morning a huge ground-level operation takes place. 222 00:26:08,165 --> 00:26:12,625 Units of meat ants fan out to find overnight carnage. 223 00:26:15,406 --> 00:26:17,397 They'll butcher this dead grasshopper... 224 00:26:18,943 --> 00:26:22,470 ...and then carry the body-parts back to their bunker. 225 00:26:32,456 --> 00:26:35,084 Meat ants outnumber everything at floor level. 226 00:26:35,426 --> 00:26:38,156 All other invertebrates are dead meat. 227 00:26:42,866 --> 00:26:47,235 Taken belowground these bodies are an extra dose of fertility in the soil. 228 00:26:47,705 --> 00:26:52,005 It's ants that give mulga trees the boost they need to grow in the desert. 229 00:26:57,581 --> 00:27:01,210 Deep in shade is a nest of bulldog ants. 230 00:27:01,986 --> 00:27:05,319 There are over a thousand different species of ant in Australia, 231 00:27:05,789 --> 00:27:08,121 but these are the ankle-biters. 232 00:27:09,426 --> 00:27:12,452 Each one is four centimeters of aggression. 233 00:27:12,830 --> 00:27:15,230 A creature of the underworld. 234 00:27:21,071 --> 00:27:23,096 But they aren't out for themselves. 235 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,068 Caring and sharing works best in the desert. 236 00:27:26,477 --> 00:27:29,776 Hunters bring back insects - even small reptiles - 237 00:27:30,214 --> 00:27:32,808 which feed everyone inside. 238 00:27:38,956 --> 00:27:41,447 They've dug shafts two metres underground. 239 00:27:41,992 --> 00:27:45,257 The Queen and her larvae are coddled in the deepest, coolest, 240 00:27:45,462 --> 00:27:48,090 and best protected chambers. 241 00:27:57,441 --> 00:28:01,571 Teamwork is the ultimate buffer against extreme heat and drought. 242 00:28:01,779 --> 00:28:04,543 The Queen produces a constant supply of larvae. 243 00:28:08,786 --> 00:28:12,950 Together with squads of carers, fortress-builders and food-gatherers, 244 00:28:13,223 --> 00:28:15,714 these colonies are virtually immortal. 245 00:28:23,467 --> 00:28:26,163 Beyond the influence of the ranges and the Finke River, 246 00:28:26,403 --> 00:28:30,339 this driest of continents presents the greatest challenge. 247 00:28:31,041 --> 00:28:35,171 The largest area of parallel sand dunes in the world. 248 00:28:37,481 --> 00:28:40,279 The Simpson Desert would cover most of Britain. 249 00:28:44,722 --> 00:28:48,488 The early explorers miscalculated much of Australia's desert. 250 00:28:49,026 --> 00:28:51,620 But there's no mistaking the Simpson. 251 00:29:04,208 --> 00:29:08,008 The towering ridges were piled up 18,000 years ago... 252 00:29:08,178 --> 00:29:10,874 by storm-force, prevailing winds. 253 00:29:11,081 --> 00:29:12,844 It's still windy today. 254 00:29:20,424 --> 00:29:22,051 Aboriginal people avoided it 255 00:29:22,292 --> 00:29:24,123 and when the first European reached it, 256 00:29:24,495 --> 00:29:27,726 Charles Sturt thought he 'stood at the gates of hell.' 257 00:29:34,338 --> 00:29:38,536 Europeans didn't cross it until just over 60 years ago. 258 00:29:40,744 --> 00:29:46,114 In 1939 a scientific expedition rode into the inferno. 259 00:29:51,555 --> 00:29:54,149 It was part field trip, part adventure - 260 00:29:54,458 --> 00:29:59,157 the white man's stamp on the last area of Australia to be explored. 261 00:29:59,396 --> 00:30:03,389 A final frontier where it hits 50 degrees Centigrade in summer 262 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:06,433 and where sandstorms can blow for days. 263 00:30:34,298 --> 00:30:37,756 The expedition never saw how animals cope in this fan oven 264 00:30:38,101 --> 00:30:41,127 because most of them stay well hidden. 265 00:30:44,808 --> 00:30:48,574 The main survival trick is to only come out at night. 266 00:30:52,482 --> 00:30:56,213 There are a surprising number of animals in the desert hardcore. 267 00:31:03,327 --> 00:31:06,091 One of the toughest is the mulgara. 268 00:31:13,270 --> 00:31:15,397 It doesn't even need to drink. 269 00:31:15,639 --> 00:31:17,539 Insects are 80 % water 270 00:31:17,808 --> 00:31:22,370 so it gets all the food and liquid it needs from its nocturnal hunts. 271 00:31:30,988 --> 00:31:33,456 Nor can they be fussy about what they eat. 272 00:31:33,790 --> 00:31:36,054 Mulgara will switch between anything - 273 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:41,020 birds, lizards, insects, spiders, even other mammals. 274 00:31:41,198 --> 00:31:43,393 And they can store fat in their stubby tails 275 00:31:43,567 --> 00:31:45,797 to see them through the lean times. 276 00:31:47,571 --> 00:31:51,473 No other country has so many feisty little desert carnivores. 277 00:31:52,209 --> 00:31:54,700 Even when a male makes a romantic advance, 278 00:31:55,078 --> 00:31:58,775 it's a ferocious affair that can last for 8 hours. 279 00:32:28,211 --> 00:32:31,476 Although they mate every year, many litters die. 280 00:32:32,115 --> 00:32:34,913 Sometimes there's just not enough food. 281 00:32:37,054 --> 00:32:40,023 But mulgara can live for over six years. 282 00:32:40,290 --> 00:32:43,088 A few individuals survive even the longest droughts 283 00:32:43,460 --> 00:32:46,918 so at least some babies are likely to make it through. 284 00:32:53,403 --> 00:32:56,201 The Simpson desert is hot, but it's not hell, 285 00:32:56,373 --> 00:32:58,364 even for little devils. 286 00:33:03,547 --> 00:33:07,313 Under the sand dunes it's cooler and the temperature stays stable. 287 00:33:07,484 --> 00:33:10,476 A good place for Thorny Devil eggs to incubate. 288 00:33:13,490 --> 00:33:16,789 Although the egg chamber is a bit gritty, it's safe. 289 00:33:17,027 --> 00:33:19,791 So they can take their time hatching out. 290 00:33:38,348 --> 00:33:40,248 It's just a halfway house. 291 00:33:40,784 --> 00:33:43,685 Once they've rested, and their spikes have hardened up, 292 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,650 the babies will dig their way out. 293 00:34:02,706 --> 00:34:06,403 Tunnelling up through half a metre of sand when you're thumb-sized, 294 00:34:06,576 --> 00:34:09,067 must seem like the Great Escape. 295 00:34:37,607 --> 00:34:39,598 First they get their bearings. 296 00:34:46,516 --> 00:34:49,849 They could easily overheat so they look for shade. 297 00:34:54,491 --> 00:34:58,086 Running on instinct seems to work - in the end. 298 00:34:58,728 --> 00:35:01,720 And they find their first meal of ants. 299 00:35:13,143 --> 00:35:16,670 The Simpson Desert might seem like a life sentence to humans, 300 00:35:17,314 --> 00:35:20,647 but not to the free-roaming symbol of the outback. 301 00:35:28,358 --> 00:35:31,759 Red Kangaroos are Australia's biggest native animal, 302 00:35:31,928 --> 00:35:33,725 standing taller than a man. 303 00:35:33,897 --> 00:35:37,526 But they live on sparse grasses and herbs. 304 00:35:39,636 --> 00:35:43,572 Five metre bounds are a highly efficient way to cover lots of ground 305 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:46,468 in the search for scattered food & water. 306 00:35:58,288 --> 00:36:00,518 Many roos die during severe droughts. 307 00:36:00,690 --> 00:36:03,056 But they get numbers back up in good times 308 00:36:03,226 --> 00:36:05,626 by becoming permanent breeding machines. 309 00:36:17,874 --> 00:36:22,277 At any one time a female can have an embryo, on hold, inside her... 310 00:36:23,146 --> 00:36:26,513 a joey suckling on one type of milk in her pouch. 311 00:36:29,486 --> 00:36:30,180 ...and a young-at-foot 312 00:36:30,353 --> 00:36:33,516 drinking a different type of milk from a separate nipple. 313 00:36:40,864 --> 00:36:41,762 With all this going on 314 00:36:41,932 --> 00:36:45,493 the males are in a constant state of sexual tension. 315 00:37:17,267 --> 00:37:20,759 They only lose their drive in the very driest and hottest years 316 00:37:21,004 --> 00:37:24,496 when their testes, quite literally, fry. 317 00:37:29,279 --> 00:37:31,747 This way everyone saves energy! 318 00:37:34,317 --> 00:37:38,151 Even though they're big, kangaroos don't need liquid every day. 319 00:37:38,989 --> 00:37:40,513 But where do they find a drink 320 00:37:40,690 --> 00:37:44,592 in a sun-baked land with little or no surface water? 321 00:37:50,267 --> 00:37:54,363 On the western edge of the Simpson desert there's an oasis. 322 00:37:58,375 --> 00:38:03,438 It's a series of natural springs that are forced up from underground. 323 00:38:04,681 --> 00:38:06,706 Aboriginal people knew where to find them 324 00:38:06,883 --> 00:38:10,546 and which springs flowed even in the worst droughts. 325 00:38:13,423 --> 00:38:15,823 Australia's such a vast continent that 326 00:38:15,992 --> 00:38:20,053 early explorers were convinced they'd find an inland body of water. 327 00:38:20,430 --> 00:38:23,194 When they first asked about the existence of these springs, 328 00:38:23,667 --> 00:38:25,658 the Aboriginal people lied. 329 00:38:25,969 --> 00:38:28,665 This knowledge was gold dust. 330 00:38:42,118 --> 00:38:46,680 Each pool is like a desert spa complete with exclusive clients. 331 00:38:46,856 --> 00:38:50,849 The hot-water vents stir up a cocktail of algae and other food, 332 00:38:51,094 --> 00:38:53,688 which is where some of the fish feed. 333 00:38:56,766 --> 00:39:00,429 These aren't called Dalhousie Hardyheads for nothing. 334 00:39:01,071 --> 00:39:04,131 They're swimming in water that's halfway to boiling point. 335 00:39:14,250 --> 00:39:17,117 The Dalhousie springs, as they're now known, 336 00:39:17,454 --> 00:39:21,652 leak out from a much larger and more extraordinary natural wonder. 337 00:39:23,426 --> 00:39:29,331 One of the biggest underground reservoirs anywhere - the Great Artesian Basin. 338 00:39:30,767 --> 00:39:34,362 Much of this water fell as heavy rain long ago, out east. 339 00:39:34,771 --> 00:39:37,797 It's taken two million years to seep slowly down 340 00:39:37,974 --> 00:39:41,637 through the porous underlying rock, to the centre. 341 00:39:51,454 --> 00:39:54,480 It would be many decades before the colonists learned 342 00:39:54,657 --> 00:39:58,354 to pump this water up for their sheep and cattle stations. 343 00:39:58,661 --> 00:39:59,753 In the very early days 344 00:39:59,929 --> 00:40:04,992 they'd pinned all their hopes on rumours of an inland sea. 345 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:12,936 This is what they found. 346 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,278 From a distance it looks like a snowfield, 347 00:40:20,517 --> 00:40:24,385 except that here, an ice cream would melt in seconds. 348 00:40:24,654 --> 00:40:26,884 It's a salt-lake. 349 00:40:32,962 --> 00:40:39,299 Lake Eyre covers 9,000 square kilometers and lies 15 meters below sea level. 350 00:40:39,469 --> 00:40:42,404 It's the very sump of Australia. 351 00:40:48,378 --> 00:40:49,242 A sea alright, 352 00:40:49,412 --> 00:40:54,645 but one of mud, covered with a blinding, heat-thickened salt-crust. 353 00:41:06,629 --> 00:41:09,757 In 1840, when Edward John Eyre discovered it, 354 00:41:10,033 --> 00:41:15,096 he stared in horror at 'one vast, low and dreary waste'. 355 00:41:25,114 --> 00:41:27,048 Although the lake was named after him, 356 00:41:27,317 --> 00:41:30,445 his hopes of finding water were crushed. 357 00:41:40,463 --> 00:41:44,763 He called it Australia's Dead Heart and the name stuck. 358 00:41:49,739 --> 00:41:52,867 Eyre, like most of the Europeans who came after him, 359 00:41:53,209 --> 00:41:56,007 never got to grips with Australia's desert centre. 360 00:41:56,546 --> 00:42:01,381 They'd never experienced a place so random, so unforgiving. 361 00:42:02,318 --> 00:42:06,049 A place where it never rains, but it pours. 362 00:42:30,113 --> 00:42:33,378 You might have to wait over ten years to see this. 363 00:42:36,553 --> 00:42:42,423 And every thirty years or so, it rains so hard even Noah would be impressed. 364 00:42:48,331 --> 00:42:51,926 Thousands of square kilometers of desert are awash. 365 00:42:52,101 --> 00:42:54,569 But as these epic floods drain away, 366 00:42:54,938 --> 00:42:58,032 something truly remarkable happens. 367 00:42:59,943 --> 00:43:02,468 None of this water will ever reach the sea. 368 00:43:04,581 --> 00:43:10,019 It flows inwards to the country's lowest point - Lake Eyre. 369 00:43:17,594 --> 00:43:21,928 Edward Eyre had been in the right place at the wrong time. 370 00:43:22,098 --> 00:43:25,795 And missed one of Australia's most astonishing spectacles. 371 00:43:31,874 --> 00:43:33,842 It's not known whether birds on the coast, 372 00:43:34,010 --> 00:43:37,377 fifteen hundred kilometres away, can smell the water 373 00:43:37,547 --> 00:43:40,345 or whether they sense a change in the atmosphere. 374 00:43:40,516 --> 00:43:44,953 But they arrive from all over Australia, and in their thousands. 375 00:43:54,263 --> 00:43:55,787 Pelicans head for the islands 376 00:43:55,965 --> 00:43:59,765 where their nests will be safe from goannas and dingoes. 377 00:44:12,515 --> 00:44:14,847 By the time the last spaces are being filled, 378 00:44:15,184 --> 00:44:17,209 some chicks will have hatched already. 379 00:44:26,295 --> 00:44:28,559 But how do they know to breed here? 380 00:44:28,798 --> 00:44:32,393 If this desert sea only forms every three decades, 381 00:44:32,802 --> 00:44:35,293 how do they know what it has to offer? 382 00:44:41,744 --> 00:44:43,439 Pelicans are long-lived, 383 00:44:43,813 --> 00:44:49,115 and it's now believed that the wise old birds remember where to go. 384 00:44:54,223 --> 00:44:57,158 And they aren't the only ones to keep coming back. 385 00:45:10,273 --> 00:45:13,709 These waters are stuffed beyond imagination with fish, 386 00:45:13,876 --> 00:45:16,709 shrimps, snails, mussels and yabbies. 387 00:45:16,879 --> 00:45:21,111 A population explosion triggered by the floods. 388 00:45:21,484 --> 00:45:24,112 And it's all within easy reach. 389 00:45:31,394 --> 00:45:33,555 Pelicans operate like a fleet of trawlers, 390 00:45:33,830 --> 00:45:36,731 scooping their netted beaks through shoals of fish. 391 00:45:54,450 --> 00:46:00,355 Then when their crops are full they return to off-load the catch back at the nest. 392 00:46:09,799 --> 00:46:11,994 This isn't just a family gathering. 393 00:46:12,268 --> 00:46:14,099 It's a pelican pick-up joint. 394 00:46:20,176 --> 00:46:23,077 Birds from different parts of Australia get together, 395 00:46:23,379 --> 00:46:27,406 and in this way pelicans keep their genes well mixed. 396 00:46:28,417 --> 00:46:31,477 There are around 50,000 pairs in this colony, 397 00:46:31,854 --> 00:46:34,880 and some chicks are nearly as large as their parents. 398 00:46:38,261 --> 00:46:42,789 In their frenzy to eat the big ones almost suffocate down their parent's gullet. 399 00:46:42,999 --> 00:46:44,489 They have to be shaken out. 400 00:46:58,447 --> 00:47:02,747 Pelicans will spend the best part of a year here, breeding to the bitter end. 401 00:47:03,286 --> 00:47:07,655 The chicks that hatch last may not have fledged by the time the fish run out. 402 00:47:17,500 --> 00:47:21,368 Lake Eyre will evaporate into mere memory. 403 00:47:26,175 --> 00:47:27,836 Australia's desert heartland 404 00:47:28,010 --> 00:47:32,208 is dominated by this breath-taking cycle of drought and flood. 405 00:47:32,615 --> 00:47:35,482 It doesn't follow any rules, which is why, 406 00:47:35,651 --> 00:47:39,519 for over a century most new settlers turned their backs on it. 407 00:47:44,427 --> 00:47:47,954 Only very recently did the centre become a place to visit. 408 00:47:48,664 --> 00:47:52,998 People have come to love its stark beauty and intriguing detail. 409 00:47:53,803 --> 00:47:56,397 With understanding has come respect, 410 00:47:56,772 --> 00:47:59,673 both for its nature and its people. 411 00:48:00,042 --> 00:48:03,978 It's now treasured as the very essence of Australia. 412 00:48:06,649 --> 00:48:11,518 The much-maligned centre has finally been taken to heart.