From my trip report into one of Australia’s outback post-apoc landscapes – Mad Max Ground Zero – Roads & Kingdoms – with bonus photos!

As an American, Wayne’s vision of Australia was shaped by watching the Mad Max movies as a boy. As for me, I’ve developed an ever-growing interest in works about “Zones of Alienation” (places where reality begins to break down). Books like Roadside Picnic, written by the Strugatsky brothers, about the aftermath of an extra-terrestrial event. The brothers prophesized places like the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and give a name to the people that explore the forbidden lands: Stalkers.

The focus of our trip is just such a journey into a genuine nuclear wasteland. We refer to our coming adventure into the Woomera Prohibited Area as a trip into “the Zone.” We kit ourselves out as if we were a Stalker in Chernobyl: a mix of mostly cosmetic military-surplus gear and some crucial protective equipment. It is fitting that the expedition will be mounted from Coober Pedy, where parts of George Miller’s Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome were filmed. It’s the perfect place from which to embark on expedition into a real life post-apocalyptic landscape.

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