On windy days so many balls of it get snagged on the wire fences that they look more like bushy hedgerows. In winter the sun does little to ease the ice-cold wind whipping out of the desert. Just out of view, over a ridge by a lone eucalyptus tree, a herd of 60 or so sheep brave the dust. Even the tireless sheepdog Pearl is weary of the gale as she hitches a ride on the motorbike back to the farmstead with Dorothy's son Chris after mustering the flock. The 21,600-hectare farm has 4,500 merino sheep and 180 cattle.
Every day is a working day.
Out of the blustery and hostile sky drones a small plane, battling to keep level in the turbulence. It swoops low over the lake, flooded by the previous month's unprecedented rainfall, and makes a brave and skilful landing on the dirt runway. The Piper Cherokee 6 turns on a dollar coin and taxies to a large bag hanging from a post. Out jumps a figure, unhooks the bag and loads it into the plane, replacing it with another. The post has arrived at Inkerman Station, near Broken Hill, in outback New South Wales.