3rd Australian visa granted!

This is my 3rd time in Australia. I’ve been lucky to have been granted a third visa without any problem. After a month sailing between New Zealand and Australia it’s now time to be back on the roads and cycle through this huge country. I’m really excited as every single km will be a discover. Indeed, I’ve been living a year on the east coast and never really been in the outback. Neither Ayers Rock or Northern Territory.  It will be all new and a Australian’s facet that I absolutely don’t know yet.

A long and dry way

I just planned the route from Brisbane to Darwin and as you can see it on the picture below, it’s gonna be long. I gave me two months to cycle those 4513km as I want to have enough time once in Darwin to find a sailing boat to sail to Indonesia.

220h cycling, 4513km, and the Simpson desert to cross.

Water water water!

On my way there is a few critical areas without any city or even town for a few days. The most critical one will be the Simpson desert. There is no road anymore, no town, for more than 5 days. It’s actually the world’s largest sand dune desert. Luckily it’s as well the largest inland drainage area in the world. This means I’ll be able to find numerous source of water here and there even if the amount of water has been decreased by the multiplication of exploitation.

To drink water from the ground and avoid being sick I bought a life straw go.

This is a straw that can filter up to 1000 liters of contaminated into safe drinking water:

• Removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella
• Removes 99.9% waterborne protozoa, including Giardia and Cryptosporidium

In addition, if needed I will use plastic sheets and plastic bags to get water from the dew and from the condensation during the day or overnight.

There is as well eucalyptus roots that contains enough water to stay hydrated. When you find an eucalyptus tree, dig the ground at about 2 to 3 meters from the tree to find roots, then cut them and leave them in a container to drain the drinkable liquid.

In addition to those tricks, I will travel with 10 liters of water dispatched into different bottles. It might be enough to cover my 5 days into the desert.

So plenty of options to not find myself thirsty.

Simpson Desert

Simpson desert. Photographer unknown.

As said before, this is the largest sand dune desert in the world, there is no road accross it, and this desert hosts numerous races such as the Simpson desert bike challenge known as one of the world’s most hardcore endurance race. I will follow the track they use for the race. I’ll have to cycle over more than 700 sand dunes and salt lakes.It’s gonna be a big challenge as I won’t have any assistance on this part in contrary of the racers who have water stops approximately every 20 km in the morning and at 15 km, 30 km and 40 km in the afternoon. In addition it is mandatory to stop and collect water at every Water Stop.

So yes it will be a really tough part of the crossing but I’m very confident about it because it’s the winter here and the temperature is around 20°C. Way better then the usual 50°C of the summer.

Ayers Rock

I always wanted to visit this place. I heard a lot about friends coming back from there and everyone said there is a great energy and it’s kind of magical to see the sunrise / sunset at Ayers Rock.

I’m looking forward to be there!

Ayers Rock. Photographer unknown

I’m starting this trip on Thursday the 28th of June 2016. I use Telstra and should be covered almost everywhere. Enough to give updates regularly.

My ending point is Darwin where I will find a sailing boat to go to Indonesia if possible.

Any advice is welcome!!