Where the tarmac ended, the jarring presence of road crews, graders and towering eddies of red dust offered a vision of the road"s future: one day, perhaps soon, the Outback Way will be sealed along its entire length. Already, only 1,200km remain unsealed and best driven in a 4WD. What it gains in speed and ease of access – after rains, unsealed sections of the road can become impassable – it will surely lose in romance. Here was a road, perhaps even a desert, on the cusp of great and irreversible change.