Well the best is all behind you, 
by the time you reach my age in years
And the only luxuries you know 
are a T-bone steak and a round or two of beer
And the roads you know are the distant tracks 
And the bulldust and the never ending spaces 
And the only family you know 
Is the smiling friendly outback peoples faces

I've got no family of my own, 
This old drivers always been, a rolling stone
But there's always some waiting, 
Waiting there beyond the saltbush sea
No matter how long I've been gone, 
They've always got the billy on 
Waiting like a family for me'

[Instrumental]

There's always someone waiting 
On a lonely isolated cattle run
Sitting on the stockyard rails 
To roll a smoke and watch the setting sun
And we'll shake hands and we'll swap news, 
Boil the billy on the coals for tea
By first light I'll be loaded up, 
Sail again across the saltbush sea.

Tomorrow I'll be gone again 
Alone with my fully loaded train
The farewells are behind me, 
And it might be 12 months ‘ere I call again
But there's a bond that ties me to 
The people of beyond the saltbush sea
It's the bond of the outback 
That makes them like a family to me

I've got no family of my own, 
This old drivers always been, a rolling stone
But there's always some waiting, 
Waiting there beyond the saltbush sea
Oh no matter how long I've been gone, 
They've always got the billy on 
Waiting like a family for me

Waiting like a family for me.