The black-box flight recorder, spray-on skin, the woomera, electric drill and Wi-Fi are all top local inventions, but none compare with Australia's greatest contribution to the world: the road trip.
Because there is a lot of nothing across Australia, our road trips are part meditation, part avoiding death by heatstroke, snakebite, crocodile bite, kangaroos, wandering emus, drop bears, dust, alcohol poisoning, suicide sump rocks and lack of Telstra service.
No wonder last weekend I decided it was time for a road trip to bring the Weekend Australian Motoring ute back from Melbourne to Sydney … via Broken Hill.
Broken Hill should be in South Australia. The locals get Adelaide papers, listen to Adelaide ABC, watch Adelaide television and follow Adelaide sport. Adelaide is closer to Broken Hill than any other capital.
They like their cars out here. The annual Mallee Rally at Sea Lake sees a heap of Mad Max type vehicles try to do four 85km laps of nearby Lake Tyrrell.