The Trip

The trip itinerary is finally nailed. I spent the weekend with my friend and collaborator, Support-Driver-Andy, to work out the route and the stops. One of the nice things about the trip is that we have 2, 3 and 4 week options for people who can’t be there for the whole thing. We have at least one person flying in to Alice Springs at the end of week one, and we might have one or more fly back to Melbourne from Mt Isa at the end of week three.

Take a look at the updated Crazy Idea page for details.

I’ve been looking at this trip report on ADVrider by atgreg, who rode his Africa Twin from Sydney to Lorella Springs for the OCR (Off Centre Rally). The route he’s taken could be adapted take us from Lake Evella back to Melbourne… though it might just be crazy. I’ve roughed up a map of the route, though it’s in reverse.

Something to think about, anyway. Support-Driver-Andy has been saying he’d like to look at an alternative route home, so we’re not just riding on blacktop for thousands of kays, and I think that would be a great idea.

It’s amazing the difference in perspective you get when you have a guide. I spent a couple of weeks in the Solomon Islands with a group of friends last month, and I was surprised at how someone with local knowledge (and language skills) could open the place up in new ways. It was great to meet people, rather than just see places. And once you start to hear people’s stories you get a new perspective not only of the place you’re visiting but also of the place you come from.

Last night I listened to some friends talk about the successes and challenges of the education system amongst the indigenous people of Northern Territory. It was great to hear about tribal elders making significant plans and decisions that would help protect their communities and educate their children and grandchildren… exciting stuff.

But it also got me thinking about The Trip, and how easily it could turn out to be a view of the world from the saddle of a bike as it zoomed past… and how desperately I don’t want it to be that. I’ll be following up the stories my friends told, and seeking out the stories of other friends who live and work up north. I hope that by the time we set off we’ll have a long list of contacts and stories – people we can meet along the way, who can open up the places we see and help us to understand what life is like for them.

On a completely different topic, I ordered my crash bars today.

I’m pretty happy with the route for days 1 to 10, though I’ll wait for some feedback from friends who know some of the roads better than me (or at all), and adjust them as I go.

But Day 11 is where it will start to get tricky. It’s 250km to Barunga on what becomes the Central Arnhem Road, and the bitumen runs out about 20km after that. It’s not a full day’s ride to Barunga, obviously, but it’s also hard to tell how far we’d make it past that.

One option would be to make Barunga the destination for the day anyway. That would give us an easier day’s ride, give us time to check out Alice Springs a little, and possibly give us a chance to prepare the bikes for the long dirt ride to Lake Evella and Nhulunbuy. It’s about 500km from Barunga to Lake Evella, but I’m guessing that will take more than a day to do. If that’s the case, it puts us Lake Evella sometime on Day 13 – over half our likely distance in less than our total time. Here’s a map of the 3 days.

Hopefully we can get a few days in Lake Evella to meet the locals and catch up with old friends. How long we get will depend on the route we take home. Or perhaps it’s the other way around – the route back will depend on how long we choose to stay.

There’s still lots to work out. We’ll need permits to enter some areas, even up to this point. If we can’t refuel in Lake Evella, then the nearest listed fuel is Nhulunbuy, 220km further north and east. Can we make it from Lake Evella to Darwin, or do we have to head back down the Central Arnhem Road? Do we skip Darwin altogether, and concede that we can fly there another time?

My gut feel is that we’ll head back to the Stuart Hwy roughly the way we came, and follow it all the way south, through Coober Pedy and Woomera, then head home over Port Augusta. Once back on the tarmac we could get home in around a week, though that would be a hard ride. Here’s a rough map of the return trip, though the actual daily destinations are just place-holders for now.

But if that meant we had a week (or near enough to it) in and around Lake Evella, it just might be worth it. I’ll update the main route page when I get this settled in my head.

Roughed out the first 10 days of the route tonight. Had some trouble embedding the Google Maps, so you’ll have to be brave and live with links for now. Take a look.

I also updated the Bike Page. There’s a few extra mods I want to make, and I’ve also added links to a few extra resources.