I've never been to Australia. Want to, though. A buddy of mine from way back, his brother moved out there for work about fifteen years ago, and every time he comes back to Missouri he's got stories about these long, empty roads that go on forever between towns. Says it reminds him of driving through the Ozarks except the Ozarks eventually end and out there, sometimes they just don't. So when I came across this piece from Broadsheet about art destinations worth driving to across Australia, I paid attention. Because any road trip man worth his salt knows the drive is the whole point.

The concept is simple and it's one I've preached about for years. You get in the truck, you point it down the road, and you go see something that makes the miles worth it. Over in Australia they've got these spaces scattered across the country, wildlife sanctuaries and vineyards and art installations, built for people willing to burn some fuel to get there.

What caught my eye is how many of these places live way out in the middle of nowhere. One's a sculpture park set on rolling hills. Another sits on a working vineyard where you can look at art and then drink wine from the same soil you're standing on. There's a wildlife sanctuary that doubles as a design space. They built these places on purpose, out where the land is still wild, because that's where art hits different. You're not walking through some sterile gallery in a city with a parking garage and a coffee shop downstairs. You're standing outside with the wind coming across open ground, looking at something a person made, and it means more because you drove three hours to see it.

Tell you what, that's a universal thing. Doesn't matter if you're in New South Wales or southern Missouri. A destination that makes you work for it, that makes you commit to the drive, always sticks with you longer than something easy. I drove nine hours round trip once to see a custom knife maker over in Arkansas. The knives were beautiful, sure, but the drive through those back roads at dawn, fog hanging low over the Buffalo River, that's what I still think about.

The vineyard angle interests me too. I like a place that respects the land enough to grow something from it and then turns around and builds something beautiful on top of it. That's working land and creative land existing side by side. In my experience the best places are the ones that don't try to separate those things. You can work a piece of ground and still make something worth looking at. My grandfather had a pond on his property that he dug himself, and when the sun set behind those hills and the water went still, it was as fine a thing as anything hanging in a museum.

I reckon some of these Australian spots are the same way. You've got people who looked at raw countryside and said, we can build something here that makes folks stop and pay attention. That takes nerve. The kind of person who doesn't mind being twenty miles from the nearest anything because that's the whole idea.

If I ever make it down there, I'd want to do it right. Rent something with four wheel drive and some clearance, plot a route through three or four of these places over a week, and just see what the country looks like between them. Because the art gives you a reason to go, but the land between here and there, that's what you remember. Same as anywhere.

If you want to see the full list of spots, check out the original article. It's got specific locations, what each one offers, and how far the drives are. Worth bookmarking if you've got any plans to visit that part of the world.