In the shadows of the Rawlinson Ranges the Warakurna Roadhouse is the last stop for those driving to the Northern Territory and beyond.
The roadhouse, 1,700 km from Perth in the far north of Western Australia's Goldfields, provides food, fuel, and water for travellers on the Outback Way, a stretch of sealed and gravel road connecting Laverton in Western Australia to Winton in Queensland.
The desert road is famed for being "Australia's longest shortcut", but in recent years the roadhouse has earned its own reputation as a must stop for another reason — jokes.
Manager Nathaniel Rosenberg is affectionately known as the "dad joke guy", a moniker he earned for his repertoire of predictable puns.
"So what did Spartacus say when his wife got eaten by a lion? Nothing. He was gladiator," he said.
Now a regular feature on the social media feeds of visitors passing through Warakurna, Mr Rosenberg never expected his roadside antics would earn him a cult following.
"There's a Facebook group called The Great Central Road and there are people talking about travelling through," he said.
"My name has popped up in there, and it's like 'if you're going to Warakurna, see Nathaniel, he's got a dad joke for you'."
The 20-year-old said the jokes were a way to break up — what can be at times — a monotonous journey.
"People usually get a good laugh out of it and that's the thing, you know, when you're on this road, there's not a lot to make it more memorable," he said.
"You remember … Ayers Rock, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, all that, but I guess the road here isn't — there's not too many things to be like 'wow'.
"So just to make it a little bit more memorable I thought I'd sprinkle a little bit of dad jokes on top, just some razzle-dazzle."
With outback fame comes the pressure to deliver the best possible dad jokes and Mr Rosenberg is the first to admit not all his land — even with his family.
"There are bad ones for sure," he said.
"There have been a couple where as I'm saying it, I'm like, I know it's already bad. Like it's bad by my standards.
"Dad is sick of them. He doesn't even like dad jokes."
Warakurna's other locals are also split on his material.
"His jokes, dad jokes, some of them you would frown on. But most of them he gets you, they're quite funny," Greg Livesay said.
But Mr Rosenberg said dealing with tough customers is all part of the gig.
"It's especially fun when you get the big, like, serious-looking blokes, and [they're] like 'I'll hear a dad joke'. And as you say it you see that smile creep through," he said.
As long as people keep laughing Mr Rosenberg said he would keep the jokes coming.
"Wait, did I tell you dog tree?" he said.
"See that tree over there, people from my mum's country, Papuan New Guinea, actually call those dog trees.
"Do you know why they might be called dog trees? Well if you look carefully you can actually tell by their bark."
Between the jokes, Mr Rosenberg and family run the roadhouse, the adjacent Yurliya Art Gallery, and the local airport.
The work is hot and the hours long, but it is something he said most people his age, and those living in the cities, would not get to experience.
"I wasn't quite prepared for the different amount of stuff I'd be doing. I've learned so much on this job — surprisingly," he said.
"You have all your normal roadhouse stuff like fuel and all that, but then you're out there filling up aeroplanes as well. That's something I didn't think I would ever be doing."
It is a long way from Hervey Bay in southern Queensland where he grew up, but Mr Rosenberg said going rural was something more young Australians should consider.
"When they think of remote work they might think of the mines or something like that, they don't really think [about] remote communities, doing aged care, or being a cop or working at a roadhouse or being a school teacher," he said.
"You save a lot of money and it's good, especially for me as a 20-year-old, to kind of have that foundation, I guess, just to try and start me off.
"More people should experience it, for sure."
