Crossing the Nullabor Plain

Winding through the Nullabor
on the India Pacific
snaking this way
snaking that way
a journey so terrific

the sunlight on the locomotive
pulling these great carriages
sends great shafts of light
across the plain
Travellers are being hauled
far across the continent
From Perth in West Australia
to Adelaide in the South
and back again

across great swathes of bush
and limestone karst
this significant hugely
important wonderland
where reptiles birds and
plant life stand aghast

At what is happening
to their precious
homeland
Nullabor essentially “no trees”
but a wealth of
blue bush and salt bush plants
drought and salt resistant
if you please

birds and smaller reptiles
make their home there
and in the myriad caves
under the ground
where many rare plants also live
the treasure is their worth
It has such riches for the true environment
on Earth

A wilderness
with so much positive gain
hOW Many say their bored with what is sameness
Sitting in the comfort of The train

I have crossed the nullabor
they tell themselves
Had you walked it
you might have been aware
That what lies under
this vast plain of limestone
Is also full of life
and wants to share

Tourism is one thing
but the Nullabor
has to be protected from it all
The India Pacific gives us all a chance to see it
but having seen it
we must heed the call

this great resource