Desert Landscapes From the intense red of the desert soil to the deep purple of the mountain ranges, it's almost like the visible spectrum is bigger out in the Central Australian outback. Alice Springs is surrounded by a red sand sea the size of Europe. The Simpson Desert stretches south from Alice towards the South Australian border and the Tanami Track goes for over 1000km to the north-west and into Western Australia. Hidden in all that remoteness are some of nature's most fascinating treasures. Spend some time exploring this extraordinary landscape and you'll see why the desert is anything but barren.