THE GULF2GULF Crossing the Australian continent unsupported by mountain bike - 2,600km of outback adventure! Proudly riding for World Vision Australia
The Dirty Nomad
If you like the idea of riding 2,600 km across two states, four deserts, along side taipan snakes, camels, roos and howling dingos in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees and pulling up to 60kg of water on a mountain bike through some of Australia’s most remote outback, then swap your bladder for a trailer, your helmet for wide brimmed hat and your SPDs for a pair of thongs - and prepare for one Australia’s great outback adventures
Karumba Mt Isa Boulia Birdsville
Marree
Lyndhurst Port Augusta
SWAPPING MANLY DAM FOR THE BIG UNKNOWN Good friends Tim Garrett and Dave Turner like to hack around their local trails of Manly Dam or Red Hill on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on the weekend, so what on earth are they doing swapping sweet single track and rocky drop offs for the deserts of central Australia? “We all feel the call of the wild at some stage, it just so happens that we felt it at the same time and thought what better way to experience the remote Australian outback than on our mountain bikes?” THE ROUTE The Gulf2Gulf starts at Port Augusta on the Spencer Gulf, 322 km north-west of Adelaide. It takes us deep in to the Flinders Ranges, rid- Karumba, a small fishing town on ing along the high peaks and rugged the Gulf of Carpenteria. gorges of Pound Range. We continue north to the gateway town of Marree and ride 211 km to one of Australia’s most remote pubs, the Mungerannie Hotel on the legendary Birdsville Track. We will pass through the Strzelecki, Tirari, Sturt Stony and Simpson deserts before continuing through Queensland’s Channel Country north to the mining town of Mt Isa and onto the wetlands of Normanton with it’s migrating bird life and crocodiles! Finally, after 22 days and 2,600 km we should reach our destination of
The long way up
e g y
OFF TO A FLOODING START 2009 saw the worst flooding in rural north west Queensland for 60 years, crocodiles were floating around where they shouldn’t be floating around due to the bloated rivers reaching further south this year. Four days before we were due to leave for Port Augusta, the South Australian Transport website indicated that all tracks were closed north of Birdsville because of the floods. We took a gamble that by the time we would be on the border of SA and QLD the tracks would be open. We were wrong. LEG1: THE FLINDERS RANGES Once in the Flinders Ranges, we opted to take an off road route through the magnificent Pound Range. The Flinders proved to be a good test of our equipment and prepared us for the Australian icon
that is the Birdsville Track one week later. Our voices echoed around the deep canyon of Bunyeroo Gorge as we pointed out emus and rock wallabies, negotiating the tricky descents and then the back breaking climb out the other side pulling our heavy bikes and trailers to the top in the mid day heat.
We spent two days riding through the Flinders NP, through forests of striking ghost gums which contrasted with the ancient red rock jutting into the sky. LEG 2: THE BIRDSVILLE TRACK The Birdsville Track is still one of the outback’s great adventures. The track began during the 1880’s
The long way up as the main stock route from Birdsville to Marree. Marree is a gateway to the ‘corner country’, accessed via the Simpson Desert and renowned for the Diamantina river, Mungerannie & Birdsville Hotels and hoards of adoring flies.
In Marree, the day before departure for to the track itself, we became anxious as we packed our bikes checking and re-confirming whether had to too little or too much water. Tim mixed up our Verofit
powder which we used to replace vital energy in the afternoon heat. I gave the bikes another ‘once over’. What happens if the 10 litre bag of water buried deep in the bottom of the trailer punctures? What happens if we get an irreparable mechanical out there or worse still what if we get a biological? We decided to begin riding at 4:30 am each day. We would ride until 11 am and rest until 4 p.m. doing as little as possible under any shade we could find. On day one we used our head torches in the dark as planned. Although it was pitch black, the track was compact due to being recently graded so riding was a breeze. We couldn’t believe our luck, this wasn’t mountain biking - it was road riding! The light from the torches lead the way, we were all smiles and ticking by at a healthy 25 kph when all of a sudden I heard a crash behind me. As I turned to see what had happened, my front wheel slid into thick sand and I came to an abrupt halt. We had hit our first flood way trough, one of dozens we would encounter on the track. Tim had a bent hanger and lost his top and bottom gear range within only 30
minutes of riding - Welcome to the Birdsville Track! We soon found that riding in the dark was a necessity rather than a choice. The mid day heat was too much for us so the only option we had was to start early and finish late. On the day before we arrived in Mungerannie, we had only four hours sleep. The track is well maintained but you will often find yourself riding in up to three inches of sand over gold ball sized stones. At night time with little visibility the fine sand kicked up from the wind looked just like a snow blizzard. You feel like you are surfing on a bike, sliding all over the place, it’s kinda cool until you either go uphill or crash.
In the mid day heat as we approached Mungerannie, Tim announced in a concerned voice that he couldn’t remember my name for a good 20 seconds further down the track. Although we had enough water and had been eating well, the heat of the desert was starting to take it’s toll on us both. After three days of riding in excess of 40 degree heat, two nights of constant crashing and camping on the side of the track we spot a sign on the hazy horizon that read, “Tasty Burgers,Yummy”. We had reached the Mungerannie Hotel, 211 km north Marree, 300 km from Birdsville. Within 5 minutes of sitting at the Mungerannie Hotel bar we had forgotten
the track and the beating the sun had given us. We wiped the sweat from our faces, the dust from our lips and settled in for an afternoon of chatting with our hosts Pam & Phil, straightening out Tim’s rear derailleur and plotting our course for the following day working out how much water to carry to Birdsville LEG3: THE STURT STONY DESERT, BIRDSVILLE AND RURAL QUEENSLAND By 4pm the following day our bikes were loaded with the most water we would carry for the rest of the trip, around 40 litres each. The bikes were now very heavy and we were maxing out the Bob Trailers recommended load of 32 kg, we must have been up around the 40 kg mark for sure. The soft sand of the Strzelecki desert made way for the razor sharp golf ball sized rocks of the Sturt Stony desert.
We had to ride carefully at night to avoid taking a line which would lead to punctures or worse, a fall. In the day, the sand was burning hot to the touch,
he rode the entire 2,600 km in thongs! Tim would know -
At times we were riding only 7 kph into buffering headwinds and we wondered when the uphill would ever stop. It was soul destroying with the weight of the bikes and heat beating down. On one occasion I turned around and to my surprise noticed it was uphill in the opposite direction too! Riding into the night became more challenging as we negotiated sharp rocks and rutted tracks, we grew tired and we began to crash more frequently, making bad judgements in the dark and picking lines that just weren’t there. Tim lost his torch in the darkness and careered into a sand bar slicing the top of his big toe on the sharp rocks.
THE STURT STONY DESERT The Sturt Stony desert is what is says on the packet, very very stony. Stones in every direction, deep red and black stones for as far as the eye can see. We didn’t realise just how stony the track was until the light of day the following morning when we could clearly see what we had been trying unsuccessfully ride the evening before. As we got closer to the Queensland border we noticed how beautiful the colour green is when you haven’t seen it for two weeks! Long green grass became more abundant and Wedge Tail eagles circled over our heads while plagues of locusts decided to end their lives by throwing themselves in our tracks. We rolled in to Birdsville, crossing small rivers and creeks, three days after leaving Mungerannie and certainly the most challenging yet rewarding biking I had ever done. We had been fantasising for days about ordering two beers each
as soon as we got to the Birdsville Hotel, and that’s exactly what we did! THE GULF OF CARPENTERIA We received some unwelcome news in Birdsville, the major track north was flooded and closed off. We had to take an 80 km detour which would add another day to our trip taking us over beautiful red sand dunes and around the dried up lake basin of Lake Machattie. When we rejoined the main track
along the banks of the Diamantina River we marvelled at the hundreds of pelicans, kites and Wedge Tail Eagles circling over head, we felt we were riding in a wildlife documentary. It was so green all around us, the creeks were full and this served as a reminder that the floods have brought crocodiles further south. As we rode, the Simpson Desert came and went, the track surface became smoother and we were soon on Bitumen roads cycling at 30-35 kph. We set up our camp on the side of the road wherever possible
The long way up
and watched the sun set with a rum and coke each night, pure magic!The End Is In Sight With a days rest in the mining town of Mt Isa we popped in to the ABC Rural Queensland Radio station to talk about the trip and the money we hoped to raise for our chosen charity, World Vision Australia. Tim and I had a new found appreciation for just how precious water really is in this part of the world and World Vision Australia’s Water Health Life program aims address the problem of dirty water and poor sanitation among the worlds poorest communities. Leaving Normanton for the final 70 km to Karumba felt great.
We woke up excited and were all smiles as we did our morning stretches at 5 am for the last time, this was to be our final day riding 22 days since leaving South Australia’s Spencer Gulf. The head torch batteries were running out but it just made the ride even better, relying on the full moon to show us the way north for the last time. As we rode across a bloated creek at sunrise, we saw our first crocodiles laying in wait like two half submerged logs.
We even saw a Taipan snake sunning on the side of the road 50 km from Karumba not far from four giant Goannas roaming the side of the road. I half expected a BBC documentary film crew to come jumping out of the bushes! We were escorted in to Karumba by two Wedge Tail Eagles flying over head as if guiding us in personally. And then all of a sudden, presented in front of us was a sign...Welcome to Karumba.
It was 09:30 am and the pub in Karumba wasn’t open just yet.
The bar staff outside were curious of our bikes and asked what we were doing there - we told them with big smiles on our faces that we had just cycled from Gulf2Gulf.