We Visited the Most Remote Town in Australia

We are traveling to the most remote town in all of Australia. If you overlay a map of Australia on top of the US it's almost the exact same size. Yet the population of Australia is almost 10 times smaller. Making the most remote town in Australia, well, pretty remote.

Feels like the most remote town in the world.

We're going to be taking the next three days to drive to Kiwicura.

Yeah, they know the high five.

And hopefully when we get there we'll meet some locals to learn what it's like to live deep, deep in the outback. I feel like I'm on safari. We have no clue what to expect expect from this journey. Are we lost in outback?

But We've rented a 4x4 with a rooftop tent and we're on our way. Oh, with a broken camera.

All right. Guess we're actually doing this.

Left side of the road. Left side of the road. Left side of the road.

Mate.

Oh, that's the windshield wipers.

If you've been following along with our adventures after we swam with humpback whales and Tonga last week, this is the crazy thing I've ever seen in my life. Still feels crazy to say out loud. We flew from Tonga to Sydney, Australia to catch up on some much needed coffee and Internet. Then this morning we flew from Sydney. Where are we? Then this morning we hopped on a three hour flight from Sydney to Springs which is pretty much the very middle of Australia. And that's where we picked up our home. For the next seven days.

This is happening.

Our first stop was a not so quick trip to the grocery store to buy everything.

Go on.

Let's put our groceries in the car.

Just a girl and her $500 worth of groceries.

Aussie dollar, Aussie dollar.

It's too heavy. I can't do it with one hand. Please watch the rest of this video. We need the ad revenue to pay for that grocery bill.

According to Google Maps We 13 hour and 2 minute drive to Australia's most remote town. And I guarantee you it's going to take us double that.

Like we thought we were going to start at lunch today and the sun setting and now we're just hitting the road. What does that sign say? Warning last fuel 270km. We are in the outback. Those are the signs I wanted to see out here. We do have a full tank. We have 140 gallons of water. We have enough food to last us for the rest of the year. Even if we break down out here and nobody comes to rescue for the next month, I'm pretty sure we'll be okay.

I think we're gonna make it as long as we don't step on a snake.

Biggest thing to look out for is probably snakes as well. So make sure that you've got some decent boots and things like that on.

Oh yeah, just gotta get my boots on. Oh, forgot to buy boots cuz I'm definitely not wearing my cute tennis shoes to get ruined in this red dirt.

We have been driving for 30 minutes and it's already gone from a two lane road to a one lane road that's just slowly being taken over by red dirt. This feels like a real adventure. Why are there broken down cars everywhere? This car is driving straight at us really fast.

Nate, you're running off the road really quickly.

Yeah, we're both alright. We're doing it. We're sharing the road.

Do this all the time.

This is the wild west. I feel like there are no rules, no speed limit.

There actually might be rules and speed limits. We just don't know them.

Oh my gosh. These are the best stars I've ever seen. Yeah, this is awesome.

Milky Way is insane. Wow.

Nice. All right. Home sweet home.

Good morning. Last night was wild.

We bought some really nice beans in Sydney a couple days ago and I'm so excited about this.

Here you go. Thank you. How's your sleep?

So bad. It would be so calm and I would feel myself almost asleep and then all of a sudden the wind would catch and I'd be like.

Oh man, if it stays this windy it is going to be a long week.

All right.

Let's hope this goes down as easy as it went up.

Did it work?

Yeah, that was easy compared to the one in Costa Rica. The zipper just came completely off. I take it back. This is the most annoying part.

Day two. We have a very big day of driving ahead of us.

I think we've knocked out like two of the 13 hours.

We need to do at least eight today.

Did you just hit your face?

Yeah.

Any cars coming on your side?

I'm glad you enjoyed that so much. It's just crazy how remote we already are. Like just sitting there eating breakfast. I would just watch a car pass once every 30 minutes. I can only imagine how remote this town is going to be after another 11 hours of driving.

I don't know why I'm putting on makeup to sit in the car the rest of the day, but. Oh, here we go.

Leaving the pavement.

Our first dirt road.

It might be the last time we see pavement for the next five days.

Oh my Gosh. Our first camel sign. Reduced speed for camels. Come on, camels.

That is the sixth broken down car on the side of the road that kind of looks like it was on fire.

Is this like a thing in the outback? Like, if your car breaks out, it's just too expensive to tow it anywhere. So you just leave it.

We're gonna keep count.

I hope that is not how we end up. That is the first car that we've passed since getting on this dirt road. So I've done some research on the animals that we could potentially see, and I've come up with what I'm calling the outback pick four. So these are the four animals that we're hoping to see before we leave the outback. Obviously a camel, kangaroo, obviously emu, and ding.

Who is dingo?

It's a wild dog.

Oh, gosh. I want to see a wild dog. There's some other really cute name for something that's like half kangaroo and half something else. It's like a wangaroo. It's like a wallaby and a kangaroo.

Sounds like you're making this up.

I'm not making this up. Do they eat camels in cubic room? So many questions.

I feel like they definitely drink camel in the mountain.

Wandering stock. What kind of stock are we talking?

Livestock.

That's actually what it about. Cows.

Can we make our own turn?

It doesn't even show.

What road we would have turned off on. Like, the road that we're on right now does not exist on this map.

I literally cannot think of the last time I used a paper map.

We're in the northern territory.

Are we lost in outback?

I downloaded Google Maps offline. I downloaded another like 4x4 app that I paid $32 for and none of it is working. Is that where we.

I just want to, like, zoom in on this.

Why is it not working? Yeah. So it looks like Google Maps is taking us up this road and doing that.

Okay.

And we're doing this.

But the. This is our road. We are on this road.

Yeah. I think this has got to be the road that we're on right now.

Great.

I guess we keep going.

I'm not overreacting. People die out here.

Oh, my goodness.

Wild stock.

What is it doing? Hey, guys, get out of the road. You're not part of the big four, but we're happy to see you.

Our first wildlife Ken.

And it has bullet holes in it.

Oh, my gosh. Don't worry, truck. We got this. We'll pull over. You just keep on Trucking.

Whoa. I can't see anything.

Omg. We're about to pass another car within two minutes.

Traffic jam, basically.

I actually do think driving out here is pretty dangerous. Not only because of the remoteness, but you just get lulled into this false sense of security where you're like, oh, I don't really have to pay attention. There's no cars around. And then about once an hour there's.

A car or a gigantic 18 wheeler that does not care to move over.

For you work out. No camels yet though.

Hi, Mike, how you going?

10.

11.

I think you skipped one.

12.

13.

Okay, Papunya, we have a lot of options. Oh, we're only 16 kilometers away.

We're going the right way.

Wow. This is like how our parents used to travel. You had to use a paper map and then double check with road signs that you were going the right way.

Here we come.

I just can't imagine that we're about to get to a town.

Woo.

Feel like I'm on a roller coaster.

We know the fate of this car.

Weird.

So, admittedly, we are a lot better at capturing the highs of our life and not the lows that come in between. For example, we've shown a lot of highlights during this road trip and not the fact that we are currently in a campsite infested with flies. Can you hear them? Can you see them?

They don't bite. They just like to land on your face. This is nuts. Like I was saying, just because you don't see a lot of the lows in our life, it doesn't mean they don't exist. It is so easy to follow people online and assume that they have it all together, and it just could not be further from the truth. So let this video be proof that we all have our struggles. And therapy is an awesome way to learn some tools to help you navigate life, whether you have anxiety, depression, or you're just going through a rough patch. Which is why I'm so excited to tell you about the sponsor of this video, BetterHelp. BetterHelp's mission is to make therapy more affordable and accessible. Which is so cool, because finding the right therapist can be tough when you're limited to the options in your area or if you travel full time. But BetterHelp's platform makes finding therapists who works for you so much easier because it's all online. By answering just a few questions about yourself, BetterHelp can match you to a professional therapist in as little as a few days if you click the link in the Description of this video, which is betterhelp.com knockout. Not only will you be supporting this channel, but you'll also get 10% off your first month at BetterHelp so you can connect to a therapist and see if it helps you. If for some reason you feel like you and your therapist aren't a good fit, totally fine. You can easily switch therapists at no additional cost. Finding a therapist is kind of like dating. Sometimes it takes time. So if you are struggling, please consider online therapy with BetterHelp. Just click the link in the description or go to betterhelp.com K&N. That's better. H E L P. Okay, we're gonna go find a new spot. I just received a text message and I see a building. I think we've made it to Vipuna.

Civilization.

Wow. It just came out of nowhere. We have seen nothing but burnt up cars and a few cows. And all of a sudden we're in.

A town like a little recycling project.

Cute. To be clear, this is not Australia's most remote town. It's just a town on the way. I think they have one gas pump.

Wow.

There's a puppy. Do you think it's a dingo? Tara, welcome here. Hi.

You can call me Tara.

Tara and Matthew. Nice.

My name is Kara.

Kara and Maeve.

Yes. Where should we go?

We go this way. I can show you where to go.

There's a car.

There's a car.

Thank you. Thank you.

Around.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but we met someone who watches our videos while we were getting gas. And Tara is her cousin. And Tara and Matthew are married and they live in this community and they ask if we wanted to go witch negro up hunting.

You really can't make this stuff up.

They didn't have one. No, nothing. Where should we go? To my cousin place.

This way?

Yeah. North side. Okay. You said north. Like I should know which way north is.

Just here.

Here, I'm gonna put this up here. It can go up my feet. So go straight. Yep.

Okay. Wow. Now we're really going into the out.

All right. Let the grub hunt commence.

This is the tree that where we get mako from Nwitiri.

Grub. What are you looking for?

Once they try to pop, they leave this yellow bit open and sticking out from the ground. And it tells us whether the witchiti grabs inside or popped out.

So this is where they lay. But this one is empty.

This one popped out as well.

I mean, I'm for sure gonna eat it after watching how hard it is to actually catch one. I was questionable before. I think it'd be very rude to turn it down after all this work. It turns out our hunt for widgety grubs was unsuccessful. But after googling a quick photo, I can't say I'm too disappointed. Especially because Nate's already made me eat grubs Both in the Amazon and Indonesia. So after trying a few local plants.

Oh, wow. It tastes like a gigantic honeysuckle.

We said goodbye to our new friends and got back on the ground.

Oh, this is gonna be a long drive. So back when we were in town, we got a little service, so we put cubicure in our maps and this is the road that Google chose for us. Wow.

43 kilometers on this road. Oh my gosh. We spotted our first camel. It was in the middle of the road.

It was another car that was on fire.

Oh my gosh, it's huge. Please stay.

I can't believe I'm seeing a wild camel. Where'd it go? It just disappeared so fast.

Where is he?

We have been driving for almost 4, 4 hours to get to this town and we passed one car. It's just hard to fathom that a place like this exists. And there's not just what.

The plan was to be there tomorrow morning. And now I'm thinking we're going to be doing good if we get there at all tomorrow.

It's more about the journey.

It is truly about the journey. We actually have no reason why we're going to this place. Except for Google said it was the most remote town in Australia and we wanted to see it. So this is truly about the journey.

Okay, the sun is setting and it is time to find a spot to camp tonight. That rest area that we found last night off the main road, I think was a one time deal. So I think this is going to be our first night Just having to pull into the bush camp on the.

Side of the road, and then we're gonna have to like make camp on what could be a snake infested area.

All right, I think this is home sweet home for the night. We have just pulled off on the side of the road. Feels kind of weird, but it does feel good to be stationary before it is completely dark outside. Oh, honestly, I am exhausted from today. Driving on these roads is no joke. You just got to constantly be looking out for potholes, holding on to the steering wheel for dear life. It was an amazing day, but I am very much ready for a burger.

I think it's dangerous. Oh, no. The pickles, they Leaked everywhere.

All the pickles is gone. There is so.

Much juice in here that our fridge is going to smell pick up no matter how much we cook.

Um, might not be having burgers tonight after all. I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Induction stoves are the worst.

Induction stoves are the worst.

Thankfully. It's like they knew this was gonna happen. There's a gas backup stove in here.

Are you serious?

Yeah. Yeah. So we can still have burgers, just not as easily.

Look at that. A gourmet burger in the middle of the outback.

It's massive.

I totally nailed it, if I do say so myself.

As of 9pm, there is zero wind tonight. Hopefully it stays this way.

Scary.

All right, good night, everyone.

Good night.

Wow. Not a bad view to wake up to.

Good morning. It is so.

Still and beautiful. Slept amazing last night. It is freezing and out back in the winter. Okay, time to make some coffee and hit the road because we still have a lot of driving to do. Oops, left that light on last night.

Took me two hours to make coffee this morning.

Classic van life. The induction stove is still not working. And then the gas stove this morning decided it didn't want to work.

To the outback, they said.

I love you. Cheers.

Today is the day that we visit Australia's most remote town.

We're gonna make it.

Maybe. I think there's a good chance we're not making it. Kara, now that she's behind the wheel, is convinced that we are.

We are not stopping until we get there. Except for eating snacks.

Hit that little back button on the steering wheel on the right side.

You want me to look away from this road?

Yeah. You're going 53 kilometers an hour.

I'm just warming up. Okay.

So it turns out camping on the side of the road is actually no big deal. We parked at 6pm last night. We left at 9am this morning, and we did not see a single car. And now Google Maps says we have six and a half hours. Oh, my God.

You were terrified behind the wheel.

That was scary. I'll agree with you on that.

So we have six and a half hours until we get there. If Karen doesn't kill us first. If you're wondering where all the other tourists are and why we're not seeing more people in these rented vehicles out here. I think most people that rent overland vehicles like this go to Uluru, which is the big famous red rock that we'll be going to days from now. But in order to come out here through these aboriginal Communities. We had to get multiple permits to make this happen. Like, you have to have transit permits to go across all of the Aboriginal land, to go through certain communities. So this trip that we're on right now, I think very, very few people do. This is remoteness on another level. Slow down, slow down.

Hold on, hold on.

What are you doing?

It actually is a bit scary just knowing that I'm in control of this vehicle. And if we break down, there is no one.

Also, we definitely don't have phone service out here. So if we do break down, we have this little gps, but they said, do not press this button unless it's life or death, because it costs a ton of money.

27.

Oh, my gosh, there's three. Three camels. A baby camel. Oh, it's so cute. It has to be days old. I about hit a tree when I saw him. I was going 100 km an hour. I was like, camel. When I saw the camels, I literally just put the truck in park in the middle of the road. And now I made myself a parfait.

Mine kind of tastes like pickles.

No, it doesn't. Not only are we in the middle of the road, but we're in the middle of Australia with camels and their babies. What a great start to the day.

So when I first heard we were going to see camels in the outback, I was a little confused because I don't picture there being camels in Australia, and they're actually not native to the country. But in the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousands of camels were brought over as they were settling the area to transport goods around the outback because they are perfectly suited for this climate. But then shortly after that, in the 1930s, cars made their way here to the outback, and people didn't have as much use for the camels, so they just started letting them go. And the population skyrocketed. So they brought over 20,000 camels in the early 1900s, and now the feral camel population here in the outback is estimated to be over 1 million. Back on the road. Oh, we're actually on the road. Start the car and drive. What do we do?

It's like they're literally just blocking it. Like, no, you can't come this way. We're not moving. They look at you straight in the eyes, like they are so aware of our presence and they don't care.

It's stomping. Do you think that means it's angry?

They can stand there as long as they want. It's about the journey.

Thank you. Appreciate it. This is so epic. I feel like I'm on safari. We are just in the Australian outback. We haven't seen a car in almost 24 hours and we're just hanging out with camels. This trip is truly everything I hoped it would be. Hump day, huh?

Guess what day it is.

Saturday.

Guess what today is. It's hump day.

Woo woo. There's 28.

This is the first car we've passed in 28, 23 hours. Crazy.

Wow.

Pavement.

What in the world just happened? The road that we chose to get here definitely was not the main road.

I've never been so happy to see a road. I mean, it really wasn't that bad.

It was just exhausting.

Where do we tend to get gas Station is?

We have driven from here.

To here. Time to turn the page on my atlas.

Oh, here's the store. It looks closed.

Good thing we have plenty of food and water. 29.

Still haven't seen any mew.

Gonna try not to get diesel everywhere today.

Lunchtime.

Is it the best wrap you've ever had?

Best wrap that I've ever had in the outback.

Camel crossing. Hey, bud, didn't we startle you?

They're very comfortable about 100ft from you.

They're so curious. It cracks me up. He is staring right at my face.

We are so close. We are 10km outside of Australia's most remote town. But as you can see, the sun is setting and it felt like showing up at dark wouldn't give us the best first impression. So the plan is to camp here, right outside of town tonight and head in first thing in the morning.

I would just like to point out the fact that we made it today. We could go now. You didn't think it was possible.

We are so close. But we decided to camp right outside of town tonight just so I can be right.

Morning. Today's the day.

Well.

We'Re here. As expected. The town feels very small.

We have not seen a single person yet.

The most remote town in Australia feels like the most remote town in the world.

Well, what do you say we get some gas and then hope that we meet someone like last time?

Proof that Google was right. Kiwakura, Australia's most remote Aboriginal community. So every one of these towns that we've passed through as we've left Alice Springs has had a single gas pump. So gas in the most remote town In Australia is $2.95 a liter.

Wow.

So glad we came here. I'm kidding. It's Been amazing.

Oh, cell phone service. Look at that. Ah, it's my sister. Wow. It's hard to believe that a Google search from two months ago has led me to standing here. So this is the door of the roadhouse. Looks like you can get a gig of Internet for $15. But what's more interesting is this sign says cat hunting in Kyokura. $100 payment for each cat keep the tail tip and guts and give to Kate or freeze and keep until she's there next week.

Who's Kate?

I don't see any hours on the store. I was hoping maybe if we hung out for a little while it might open.

We got nothing but time.

So this truck behind me is apparently the biggest tourist attraction in town. I read the sign and honestly it was so Australian that I couldn't understand it. Let me just read you some of this sign. Suddenly we observed a black cloud of smoke about 6km away and a plume of dust from a vehicle coming towards us. We thought here comes Scotty to tell us a stray caravan was lying dormant back up on the road. However, Scotty yellow from somewhere the ration trucks grown. They actually ride it with an R. That's fantastic. The ending is the best part. Behind the cabin was bullet. So I shot a hole through the side of the tank and with the tea leaves from the wreck made a cup of tea. So at some point this truck caught on fire. Definitely worth the drive to see this truck. No doubt.

Just when we thought we were gonna leave Australia's most remote town without meeting anyone, we ran in to the first of many new friends we were about to make today. Meet Brendan.

I've been working in Kiwicarra for about three and a bit years doing some NDIS disability support work.

So we're standing here at the airport. Can anyone just fly out here?

It's mainly for service providers and locals, but we do have other flights that come in.

Can you order Amazon packages?

I have been known to order some Amazon pack packages. They take a while to come, but.

Are you for real? Yeah, like that's actually a thing that can happen.

You don't get Amazon Prime. Unfortunately you don't. You're not getting next day shipping.

It's.

It's about a month to get anything.

But it comes and he introduced us to Ray James, who is one of the village elders. Nice to meet you, Ray James. You've lived here your whole life?

Yeah.

Wow.

It's my community.

Your community is here long time?

Many years.

Do you like living here?

What happens if there's a medical emergency out here.

So we've got a clinic in Kirikura which has got a permanent nurse and then there's a doctor that comes out, you know, reasonably often. But if, yeah, if there's an emergency, there's the roar of flying doctors.

A school. How many kids go to school here?

There'd probably be a core of maybe like 30 or so.

And how many grandchildren?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Nine grandchildren.

Yeah.

I love how he had to count.

Yeah.

I got a big mouth.

Bummer.

High five. Yeah, they know the high five.

How do you get food out here?

So I guess the shops serviced by a truck which comes out from Alice Springs, which comes usually about every two weeks if the road's not in good shape, can mean that the truck doesn't come, you know, sometimes up to a month or so.

Nice to meet you, Ray. Thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Then, Jack, just as we were about to leave town, we met Ed, who is an absolute legend.

I've worked here for about almost three years now. But I came here because I care about the environment. And in Australia, the best people to look after the environment are the people who, you know, have lived here for 60 plus thousand years. And so I just thought, you know, I'd love to experience that with them and see how they look after country the right way. I do enjoy living out here. You just feel connected. As a person of European descent in Australia, it's the most connected I've ever felt to the country because of the people and because of the kindness they've shown me and connecting with your country. So that's probably my favorite part.

There's a sign over there talking about rewarding people for killing cats. Yeah, well, can you explain that?

Yeah.

Well, cats are a massive problem in Australia. Millions and millions of feral cats. Each cat kills about five animals per day. So you add that up and that's. Cats have been one of the main drivers of the extinction crisis in Australia. Australia is one of the worst extinction rates in the world. It's because of cats. And Kirikara people traditionally hunted cats through tracking. And so we just thought, let's reward that. It's really important work, make sure they're doing it. And it's worked really well. There are heaps of threats. Species populations around Kirikara where people were regularly hunting cats.

Thank you for that insight because when I originally showed up, I was like, a community that pays people to kill cats. What kind of place is this? That makes a lot of sense now.

The cats aren't cats.

You should see them.

They're about this big.

So it turns out art is a pretty big deal in this little town. And we almost missed the unassuming art center. But that's where we met Tony, who's lived in town for almost two years, and. And Yalti, who is without a doubt the most interesting person we met on this whole trip.

How many years have you been painting?

Lots.

Lots. Yalti and her sister are world famous artists. In this little studio, Yalti painted the original artwork on the breville products that were sold around the world.

I'm starstruck. I know what I'm asking Nate for for Christmas this year. And Yalty's sister has sold her artwork to Beyonce. Yes, Queen bee. Not only that, but Yalti and her sister were part of the pintupi nine, who were the last nine of the indigenous peoples to make contact with westerners. And this only occurred in 1984. So to put this story in perspective, two of the last nine people who entered Western civilization just 39 years ago have ended up becoming famous artists who sell their paintings to massive celebrities. Why hasn't someone made a movie about this yet? Oh, man, what a day. To top it all off, I kid you not, in Australia's most remote town, we just met a subscriber who lives here. It was the cherry on top of such a great day. What are the chances?

With all the people we've met today and with all of the serendipitous things that have occurred, it almost feels like this trip was meant to happen. I was going to be happy if we came here and just got to talk to someone for five minutes. This trip for me, when we were planning it, was way more about the journey than the destination. But it turns out the destination was actually pretty incredible.

I especially love the contrast of pulling up to this town this morning and thinking there was no way we were gonna meet anyone. It was a Sunday. No one was around. And then all of a sudden, left and right. Making new friends, having new experiences.

So now we have about two days of driving to the next spot. See you in the next one.

In the next video, our road trip through the outback continues. So don't miss part two.

This is absolute madness. I've never had this many flies on me at once.

Kangaroo tails. It's like a picnic item. I guess it's such an easy thing to pick up. You know, old ladies will carry them around in their handbags.

Cooked or raw. And yeah, just to go out sit down and cook up some kangaroo tails. A bit of a special treat.

That is so good.

Oh, gosh. I forgot that I was reversing the truck. Reversing? When it gets dark, this is gonna be shady.

Well, it's shady because there's no sun.

How's it going? I think there's a leftover soap in this coffee. Tastes like the dishes.

Okay, who do you think's gonna see the camel first, you or me?

I feel like I'm better at spotting animals.

Yeah, I think you are, too.

What is this thing behind this bush? A huge bug animal.

Oh, it's a wizard.

It's probably wild. It's so cute. It can probably kill you.

It's so cute. Oh, my gosh.

It is really cute. On the dirt again. Just can't wait to get all the dirt again.