Australia was not always south of the Equator. As Australia formed, it appears to have travelled to the north and is now moving steadily northwards. At present, desert covers a large part of Australia, The Great Sandy Desert, The Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert combine to fill more than half of Western Australia. To the east lies Tanami Desert, The Simpson Desert, and The Sturt's Stony Desert. The Outback. The Dead Heart. The Desert. These names make you think of images of heat, vast tracts of sand, a featureless wasteland where little grows and nothing lives. Many people think a desert is a desolate and lonely place. The desert by moonlight, animals that are nowhere to be seen during the day are everywhere. As dawn comes, the star-filled sky slowly changes from black to stripes of blue, green, orange until the rising sun breaks over the horizon and lights up dewdrops on flowers and huge spider webs that stretch between the desert trees, despite the lack of rain. Patrick Thaiday, Herberton, Queensland, Australia