The Outback

Leaning against the low fence, I looked out over the vast open space in front of me. The cold beer in my hand was a welcome relief from the wet, steamy heat that surrounded me. The sweat beading on my forehead rolled aside as I tipped my head back to take a swig on the cool, fresh liquid.

I breathed in the humid air, my lungs filling with the rich Arnhem Land perfume. The grey clouds rolling over the horizon and the slight metallic taint to the air heralded that coming rains. The wet season approached, and with it the beginning of our isolation.

"Dean!" A voice from inside broke my quiet contemplation. "It's ready."

I turned and looked back at the house. "Coming!" I called out.

Neel stood at the doorway, a tea towel over his shoulder like a parody of the domestic dream. The house seemed to wrap around him, a well-designed U-shaped building surrounding a sheltered central courtyard with an oasis of tropical plants.

The building itself was basic, but nicely set out, and the surroundings were like nothing I'd seen.

Not a bad place to call home for 3 months even if we were a little trapped.

I had embarked on this endeavour just 2 weeks ago, after some months of intensive planning. Jobs were tight, and that was particularly so in the entomology field. Seems that when the economy is falling apart, no one wants to spend money on bug research.

So, on one level, this job researching nocturnal insects in the remote Australian Top End was the best that I could find.

On another level, a chance to escape my life for 3 months didn't seem so bad after all.

The last 12 months had been, to quote a late monarch, Annus horribilis. My marriage of 5 years had fallen apart after I found her sleeping with her personal trainer. I think I was as upset by the ridiculous cliché of it all as I was by the look of bliss on her face as she straddled his naked body on our bed.

I then realised that all of our friends were really her friends as they ghosted me one by one. I don't know the exact point at which I had given up on keeping in touch with my pre-relationship mates, but I do remember sitting on the couch realising I was totally alone.

My attempts to be the bigger person and keep the separation amicable just resulted in me losing the house and the car to boot. So, when the funding on my research dried up, I was finally left with nothing.

After some weeks trying to find new employment, this job was forwarded to me by an old mentor. It seemed ideal when I looked at it. All expenses paid, accommodation, travel, food allowance, and a decent wage on top of it. All of that for spending 3 months in tropical northern Australia.

As I looked at the fine print, though, the shine started to wear off a little. The part of tropical Australia in question was around 500km from the nearest settlement, and even that was essentially a roadhouse.

Added to that, the time of year that the insects I was to be studying were most active was during the wet season. That meant the roads would be cut off by flood waters for around 3 months. Once I arrived, I'd be stuck there until the waters cleared.

With the way things were falling apart around me, though, it only took 24 hours of deliberation before I sent in my application. It couldn't possibly be worse than this!

It wasn't a big surprise when I got a positive reply a few days later. I don't think they were expecting a huge number of applications.

The months between that reply, and my eventual trip out here seemed to fly past in no time. The time was filled with orientation, a literature review and all the inevitable logistical arrangements that go into a 3-month expedition.

Thankfully the research team employing me had a lot of experience managing this sort of trip. If it were me alone, I think I would have ended up living on 2-minute noodles and dry pasta for the duration.

Finally, I found myself behind the wheel of a Hilux, driving down the long dirt roads of Northern Australia. Music blaring, I sung loudly out the window, waving to the last of the grey nomads driving their caravans down south before the rain hit.

I was nervous, but full of hope. I was determined to make this work. After such a horrible year, something had to finally go right.

The drive to the research house was an incredible experience. It had been more than 200km since I had last seen another living soul -- well, human anyway. The kangaroos were plentiful out here, and a source of constant worry while driving.

The tropical savanna of Arnhem Land stretched out as far as I could see in every direction, the long, straight dirt road seeming to be the only thing available to provide some perspective.

Waterholes punctuated the drive with some regularity, their deep, moon-like craters dropping down amid the surrounding red dirt. I stopped at a couple to look into their depths, scenes of tropical paradise revealing themselves to my curious eyes.

Finally, I arrived at my destination, dusty and exhausted. My new housemate, Neel, had heard the approaching vehicle and came out to greet me. We'd spoken on the phone a couple of weeks ago, but this was the first time we met in person.

"Well, I guess you're either Dean or you're lost!" his easy smile instantly put me at ease. "Not too many reasons for someone to be all the way out here."

I laughed. "It definitely the furthest I've ever been from civilisation, that's for damn sure." I gratefully took the cold beer that he offered me. "Well, I've driven halfway across the Territory today, I think, and this is definitely the best thing I've seen today!"

I took a huge swig of the ice-cold liquid, the shiver running through my body a welcome release.

"I guess you'd probably like to chill for a bit, but why don't we get your food unloaded first before the ice melts in the cooler boxes, and then I can show you around a bit."

"To be honest," I replied, "if you could point me to the toilet, I could really use a piss first. My bladder feels like it's about to burst, and this beer's not helping." I took another swig to prove the point.

Neel gestured around at the open space surrounding the house.

"For a piss, I guess anywhere's your toilet." He said. "Not like anyone's going to sneak up on you. If you're shy, though, there a toilet at either end of the house, just outside the main bedrooms."

Not sure that my bladder would quite survive a search around the house, I quickly took the first option. Taking a few steps away, I turned my back on him and quickly opened my pants, taking a long, hot piss on the ground looking out at the surrounding bush, as Neel made his way towards my vehicle. The sense of freedom it gave me came as a surprise.

I shook off and zipped up, turning back to the ute as Neel wandered towards the house with a heavy cooler box in his muscular arms. I quickly grabbed a second and followed him inside.

Neel had arrived the week prior, and so, being the senior housemate, gave me the tour. The house was essentially divided into two residential wings, with a shared kitchen and living space in between, all curved around the central tropical courtyard.

"Each wing looks to be set up the same," Neel explained, "with 3 rooms and a bathroom to each side. Since we're the only 2 here this season, I figured we might as well choose the best ones."

As he showed me to my room, it was clear he'd made the right decision. The room was at one point of the u-shaped house and was huge. Large floor to ceiling windows displayed views in 3 directions.

On one side, I could see through the courtyard to the opposite wing of the house. Through the windows on the other 2 sides, I could see for miles. Low vegetation and some trees filled the space, but the elevated position of the house allowed for uninterrupted views.

"Pretty awesome, huh?" he said, taking a swig from his beer as he stood beside me.

"You got that right!" I laughed. "Bit of a change from my apartment in Melbourne!"

He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze as he turned to leave the room.

"I'll leave you to unpack the rest of your things." He said as he walked towards the door. "I've made a start on dinner, so just come and join me in the kitchen when you've had enough of unpacking."

Those first weeks had passed in a blur. My initial couple of days were spent scouting for an appropriate study site, located by necessity near the field hut a couple of kilometres north of the main house.

My research role was simple but time consuming. The study was looking at the nocturnal behaviour of insect communities and essentially required a lot of repetitive observations and recordings. The nocturnal aspect was presumably why the role had been difficult to fill. No one wanted to spend all their nights sitting in the bush watching bugs.

For me it was perfect. I'd always been a night owl, and the time to my own thoughts was a blessing.

I quickly fell into a routine, heading out each night, collecting data, collating it on my laptop in the field hut before returning to the house by about 9am and then sleeping till mid-afternoon.

Neel was working on a project from a different university examining the relationship between fungi and a particular species of native shrub. He was gone each day to his research site off to the south before I returned home.

We had the evenings to be social before I headed off to work again.

It had actually been a nice balance for a new house-mate relationship. We were still in that initial 'polite' phase, no arguments, just friendly chatter. The limited time together helped to reduce any chance of friction.

I turned my back on the gathering storm on the horizon and wandered back into the house at Neel's call. Luckily for both of us, Neel enjoyed cooking, and was quite skilled in the kitchen, so we quickly determined that responsibility to be his. In return, I took on a few more of the cleaning tasks and the arrangement worked well.

I grabbed another couple of drinks out of the fridge as I came in, setting them beside our standard seats at the dining table. The humid air condensed almost instantly on the cold glass of the bottles.

"Looks like the rain's going to hit tonight." I said as Neel scooped generous servings of rich, fragrant curry into our bowls. "I guess we are really in for the long haul now."

"Yep." He grimaced. "No point having second thoughts now. We'd never make it out before the roads flooded."

"Well with meals like this, I don't think I'll be in any rush to leave!" I took a mouthful as we sat at the table. "So good! You really are a wizard with those provisions."

Neel blushed, never one to take a compliment. "Could use a bit more salt." He mumbled awkwardly.

We ate in silence for a moment.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," I jumped in before the conversation kicked off again. "Have you been having any trouble with the internet lately?"

The internet at the house was via a satellite connection, and generally worked surprisingly well. A couple of times over the last week, I'd found myself at a loose end and tried to stream some porn, only to find the dreaded spinning circle, and eventually an error message. Different sites had all been the same.

Neel looked up at my question and smirked.

"You've discovered the porn block, huh?" he laughed.

"Ah...well...I.." I spluttered, blushing.

"It's fine." Neel laughed. "I'm just surprised it took you 2 weeks to work it out."

"Well, actually," I admitted, relaxing a little now. "A couple of days to work it out, 2 weeks to mention it. Have you, ah, found a work-around?"

Neel shook his head sadly.

"Afraid not." He said. "The house is owned by some Christian mob in Darwin and they're the ones that hold the satellite link. The universities just lease the property and amenities from them. Looks like it's a pretty solid block too. I've tried everything I could think of to get around it, even using a VPN. Nothing works."

He looked positively mournful.

"It's a human rights violation if you ask me!" he was getting more animated now. "At least if they'd warned us, we could have brought a flash drive or something."

I chuckled at his emotional response. "That's too bad, I guess." I said. "Guess it's lucky I've got an active imagination.

As awkward as the conversation was, it seemed to break down a bit of a barrier between us. The atmosphere seemed to have softened a little. I tried not to think too much about what had been going on in his bedroom while I was out each night though.

"Hey, I forgot to mention," I said changing the subject. "I had a bit of company on my shift last night. I little bandicoot came up and ate apple straight out of my hand! I've never seen something so tame. Sat right beside me and ate it. Gave me a look as if to say thanks before heading off into the scrub again. It was the funniest thing!"

"Really?" Neel looked surprised. "Normally they're so skittish. Must have gotten used to you there every night I guess. You should take some more tonight and see if the little guy comes back."

"Yep, already in my pack." I laughed.

I cleared the plates from the table and set to the dishes as Neel headed off to the shower. As I dried and put away the last pan, Neel wandered back in. He wore just a singlet and loose shorts, his swinging dick beneath the material betraying his lack of underwear. Uncontained, it was hard to miss. The boy was blessed.

We sat down on the couch, to watch a couple of episodes on TV before I had to head to work.

A flash of lightening and loud crack of thunder preceded a heavy fall of rain by only a few seconds.

"Going to be a bit of a different night tonight, I think." I said anxiously looking out the window. Glad I set up the shelter last week so at least I won't be sitting in the rain all night!"

"I'll bet." Neel agreed. "Sounds pretty miserable!"

"Actually, the rain should be good for my research. Helps to improve the population numbers. Also, takes a bit of the heat out of the air. Maybe I won't be sweating as much!"

"Don't count on it." Neel laughed. "Wait till you see how humid it gets once the rain hits."

The hour grew late, and I took my gear out to the shed to pack it in one of the electric buggies we used to get around the place. They were great for short distances, although their silent running made them a bit of a hazard at night. I had to drive slowly enough for the many kangaroos and small marsupials to run off into the bush as I snuck up on them.

The sound of thunder rumbled as I drove down the familiar path. The air was thick with anticipation of the rain to come. The crickets in the bush around me were raucous in their excitement, already beginning their mating rituals in readiness for the life-giving rain.

The shelter I'd built at the research station was simple but effective. A few pieces of wood and iron thrown together to keep me out of the elements without disrupting the ecosystem I was observing too much.

I took a seat in my chair, and took out my thermos, just as the first drops of rain tumbled down. I barely had time to register them before the heavens opened, like something out of a bible story, and the rain plummeted down.

The noise was surprisingly loud as the massive raindrops plummeted, drowning out the familiar sounds of the nightscape around me.

The rain fell straight down, with barely a breeze to slant it one way or the other.

It was beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.

I breathed in the heady fumes of the newly moistened earth, the name petrichor coming to my mind unbidden from the depths of my remembering.

I checked over my shelter, satisfied that it was holding up ok. Safe and dry, I took out my laptop and began to work on my first report, while I waited for the rain to ease.

The coming days were like carbon copies. Each day was hot and humid, the pressure building steadily until the sudden downpour of rain each evening.

I grew to love it. The rhythmic build and release of pressure seemed so primal and sexual. The earth seemed to respond almost before my eyes, with wildflowers suddenly shooting up from the moist soil, and insect numbers booming.

The cycle of life out here depended on this natural phenomenon.

It did come with some downsides of course. The heavy downpour usually didn't last too long, so I was still able to get about the work I needed to do without getting completely drenched. The humidity though was a killer!

Everything felt wet. Turning the pages of a book felt like peeling wet tissue paper. It was impossible to dry washing, even inside out of the rain.

And the mud got EVERYwhere!

Even worse, the storms impacted on our satellite internet connection, so even the limited network access we had was patchy at best.

One night out under my shelter, I watched in dismay as my laptop battery notification flashed just seconds before it shut down. I must have forgotten to switch on the charger the previous morning when I'd gone home. Thankfully I had just enough time to save my work before the screen went blank.

I glanced at my watch. Five am. A little early to be heading back to the house, but there wasn't much else to be done for the night anyway.

I packed up my gear and loaded it onto the back of the vehicle. It would be good to get home a bit early anyway.

I drove the short distance back home, the near-silent electric engine barely making a noise. I pulled around behind my side of the house so as not to disturb Neel's sleep so early.

The horizon was just visible, a faint grey line against the dark night sky. The warm air that had seemed so claustrophobic when I first arrived here now felt like a familiar hug. I breathed deeply staring out into the darkness before stepping quietly into my room.

The cool water from the shower washed the mud and debris from my naked body. I felt a little wired, my skin electric. It seemed as though I could feel every drop of water running down the length of my body.

I rubbed a hand slowly across my chest, gliding smoothly over the lathered soap. My nipples stood firm under my fingertips as I rubbed them absently.

I looked across at the mirror as the water cascaded over me. Through the steam, my body stood on display. The Territory was doing it some good, I could see. The extra physical work associated with daily life here was clearly better than my piddling attempts at gym attendance back home.

My cock swelled a little as I looked at myself. I rubbed it a couple of times, admiring its half-chubbed appearance but with some effort I turned my attention back to cleaning myself. I was a little horny, but really too tired to jerk off just now. I longed to lie down and put my swollen feet up.

The faint light of the pre-dawn was just enough to see by as I climbed onto my bed, wearing only my bath towel. I sat leaning against the headboard watching the morning creep slowly over the horizon.

The floor to ceiling windows were framed by curtains that hung limply on either side. The windows had a slightly reflective tint to keep the rooms cool in the hot weather. It allowed me uninterrupted views of the beautiful outback on mornings like these, without having to give up my privacy. No one could see through these windows unless I switched on my light.

Not that it really mattered anyway with only one person within 800km!

As if my thoughts had summoned him, I heard Neel's door slide open as he walked, stretching, out into the growing light, wearing only his tight, blue underwear. His near-naked form seemed surreal in the grey light, all muscle and hair and highlights.

Without so much as a look towards my room, he flopped out his cock and let out a hot, streaming piss onto the red soil. I blushed a little at the unexpected revelation, but knowing he couldn't see me, I watched him with more than a little fascination.