Alice Springs to Bourke

June, 2002

40 days / about 2200 km

The summer before my last semester at CU Boulder (I graduated in December), I returned to Australia for a long ride through the middle of the country… still my longest to date. After doing an organized group tour of Uluru and Kata Tjuta by bus, I started my ride solo, heading a little south then east from Alice Springs along the Ross Highway. Where the pavement ended, I rode over Cattlewater Pass and north on some almost unmarked tracks to reach the Plenty Highway a bit west of Atitjere. (The paper maps I used are still better than what Google maps is showing). I rode the Plenty Highway to Boulia where I had a planned meet-up with my Aussie friend Mick, who rode down from Mt. Isa to join me for the rest of the trip. We traveled south to Birdsville, then east to Windorah, Quilpie, Hungerford, and ending our journey in Bourke. We got a bus to Sydney from there.

This was an arduous but very enriching and memorable ride. The dirt roads were sometimes in bad shape with sand and washboard. Short stretches of pavement were welcome bliss. Water was scarce, forcing us to carry up to 12 liters at times, and pulling off the road to request rainwater from a ranch (station) owner – who also invited us for lunch! The highlights of the trip were the emptiness, pulling off the road almost anywhere to camp (there were no fences), seeing small towns like Birdsville, and simply making it to each destination and to the end.