That's what really sets him apart from modern British writing

That's what really sets him apart from modern British writing".INSIDE AYERS ROCKBy Les MurrayInside Ayers Rock is litwith paired fluorescent lightson steel pillars supporting the ceilingof haze-blue marquee clothhigh above the non-slip paversCurving around the cafeteriathroughout vast inner spaceis a Milky Way of plastic chairsin foursomes around tablesall the way to the truck drivers' enclave.Dusted coolabah trees grow to the ceiling,TVs talk in gassy colours, andround the walls are Outback shop fronts:the Beehive Bookshop for brochures,Casual Clobber, the bottled Country Kitchenand the sheet-iron Dreamtime Experiencethat is turned off at night.A high bank of medal-ribbonylolly jars presides overisland counters like opened crates,one labelled White Mugs, and covered with them.A two-dimensional policemandiscourages shoplifting of giftsand near the entrance, where-you payfor fuel, there stands a tribal manin rib-paint and public tassel.It is all gentle and kind.In beyond the children's playworldthere are fossils, like crumpledold drawings of creatures in rock.. Tony Bullimore threw back his head and laughed when I asked him yesterday if it was true that Kevin Costner was going to make the film about his extraordinary shipwreck survival in the Southern Ocean. Without replying, he reached out and touched the brim of my hat and pushed it down to my nose It was a gesture that said: "Don't be so cheeky". Then he was hustled into an ambulance and whisked away from the quay at Fremantle, near Perth, to be reunited with his wife, Lalel, after a hero's welcome on a brilliant sunny morning.

Mr Bullimore was overwhelmed by the sight that greeted him when he sailed in at 8am local time yesterday, accompanied by the French yachtsman Thierry Dubois aboard the Australian frigate HMAS Adelaide, the ship which rescued them both after their yachts capsized 1,600 miles south-west of Australia while competing in a French-organised round-the-world race. Thousands of cheering well-wishers, a navy band playing "It's a Wonderful World", flags, speeches, government officials, and at least 100 journalists and camera crews, made it a great hero's return, and a scene for which Hollywood reportedly is already preparing the script.Determined not to be hobbled by the trench foot which he picked up during four days trapped in the hull of his upturned yacht, Mr Bullimore walked with a limp and a broad grin down the gangplank. It was the former Royal Marine's first landing since starting the Vendee Globe race off the French Atlantic coast in November. Two fingers on his left hand were bandaged, and his hands and nose bore the marks of frostbite. Wearing grey navy overalls and a blue cap, he said: "I have been given another chance It's been absolutely astonishing I am slightly emotional over this. All I can say is thank you to everyone on the Adelaide..." Then he turned, looked up to the ship's crew and threw open his arms.

They clapped him.Mr Dubois said: "If you want to speak about heroes, Australia has a lot of heroes and I think I have met some of them, the aircraft crew, the ship's crew ... This is something I will never forget."At Fremantle Hospital, Dr Harry Oxer, director of hyperbaric medicine, said the men were in extraordinarily good shape. Mr Dubois required no treatment but Mr Bullimore will have daily treatment in the hospital's hyperbaric chamber, similar to the decompression treatment given to divers with the bends. The chamber will maximise the flow of oxygen to his damaged fingers and feet.