Breaking the Cycle Across Australia #6: Following the Ghan Railways (Old and New)
Dates: 28th June – 3rd JulyMarree – Port Augusta – Woomera: 575kmTotal distance: 1961km DAY 18 – Marree to Lyndhurst – 83km It rained solidly the whole time we were in Marree and with no chance of the Oodnadatta Track opening for at least a week, possibly two weeks, I had to resort to Plan […]
Breaking the Cycle Across Australia #5: The Birdsville Track
Dates – 22nd – 26th June | Total distance 1386 km The Birdsville Track – Birdsville to Marree – 527km The Birdsville Track was opened in the 1860s to walk cattle from northern Queensland and the Northern Territory to the nearest railhead in Port Augusta, which was later moved to Marree. Percy Burt was the pioneering drover credited with establishing the […]
Breaking the Cycle Across Australia 2023 #4: Birdsville, Don Rowlands, and the Wangkangurru culture
Dates – 20th-21st June | Total distance – 859km BIRDSVILLE In Birdsville I arranged to meet Don Rowlands OAM, Wangkangurru elder and Munga-Thirri (Simpson Desert, Queensland) Park Ranger, to learn about his lifelong commitment to re-connect and preserve the culture of his people. I learned so much over the two days, and I am still […]
Breaking the Cycle Across Australia 2023 #3: The Long Way to Birdsville
Dates – 14th-19th June | Distance – 519km | Total distance – 859km DAY 4 | INNAMINCKA TO THE DIG TREE | 58KM On reaching Innamincka, the first thing we needed to find out was whether I could cycle to Birdsville from there. The planned route along the Cordillo Road was closed due to flooding and […]
Breaking the Cycle Across Australia 2023 #2: Adapting from the Start
Start (Toona Gate Road, 90km from Tibooburra) – Innamincka Dates – 11th – 13th June Distance – 340.1km Our drive up to Tibooburra ended up being quite eventful. We collected Gelareh from the airport and headed north but the main road was totally blocked due to flash flooding. After Martin winched a couple of vehicles […]
Breaking the Cycle Across Australia 2023 #1
BACK OUT THERE Welcome to the first blog for Breaking the Cycle Across Australia 2023. Many of you will remember that in 2021 I began this 7500km journey from Cape Byron, Australia’s most easterly point with the aim of finishing at Steep Point, the continent’s most westerly tip. I started on 1st May from the […]
Breaking the Cycle Antarctica – the longest day: to the finish
Day 5 12th February | Distance – 54km | Total distance – 201km Again the forecast was for good weather. Gale-force winds are a regular occurrence around Schirmacher Oasis/Novo so we were lucky to have the forces of nature on our side. As I was planning to do a longer day today to reach the […]
Breaking the Cycle Antarctica – A Beautiful Day?
Day 4 11th February | Distance – 40km | Total distance – 147km Finally a beautiful day – sunny, clear and cold. It was still -17C when I set off and no doubt with the wind chill, it would have been much lower. The first 20km was the roughest part of the journey as the route […]
