It’s a short journey to Somerset Dam the next day. Reinforced by 2 x IGA roast chickens, we plan a Sunday lunch by the water. Or, rather, I plan for Guy to cook it and surprisingly it works! We pause at Watt’s Bridge Memorial airfield as there’s an aerobatic practice weekend going on. A Pitts Special takes off and loops, rolls and spins for our pleasure, tiny in the bright blue sky.
The weather, for a change, is glorious, for once living up to Queensland’s catch phrase ‘Beautiful one day, perfect the next.’ But nobody else is remotely interested, so we move on to Somerset Dam spit and the promise of lunch.
Theres’s the usual sign of things that can kill you, and I introduce the topic of lung fish, those horrid slimy overweight air-breathing fish that are both protected and endangered.
But they don’t seem to bite.
We idle the day away, swimming and reading, till it’s time to move down the valley to our final camp. Here, there is space, a river, few people and no flies.
The next morning there’s just over 100 kilometers to go. Our route takes us winding over Mount’s Glorious and Nebo, with their views down valleys to Moreton Bay.
We’re delayed only by a power cut in the Mount Glorious cafe which slows the delivery of breakfast.
But there’s plenty of motorcycles to watch for Guy and I.
Then off for the last hour back to Moggill.
We left Moggill just over six weeks ago, on Saturday 12 April 2025. Forty-five days later, on Monday 27 May 2025, at two in the afternoon we roll back through the same gate.
After lunch we de-kit the vehicles, reducing belongings so vital to our everyday lives an hour ago, to piles of dirty cloth and plastic.
It’s been a great adventure, and now it’s over.
In this six weeks we have driven around 10,150 kilometres, plus a further 200 if you count the practice trip to Bribie Island before we started. That’s the equivalent of the straight-line distance from London to Cape Town with 1000-odd kilometers to spare.
We’ve averaged around 250 kilometres driving a day – the equivalent distance between London and Stoke-on-Trent. On several days we’ve driven over 400 kilometers – like driving from London to Newcastle.
About a third of that has been on unsealed roads. We’ve travelled along four of the Hema Atlas and Guide’s Great Desert Tracks: the Oodnadatta Track, the Hay River Track, the Plenty Highway and the Madigan Line across the Simpson. The Simpson desert is bounded by the Plenty Highway on its northern edge. We travelled 971 kilometres through its gravel and sand-dunes without fuel and water stops. The Oodnadatta track is another 613 kilometres.
We had estimated that we could use up to 20 litres per 100 kilometres across the Simpson and planned for that. In fact, we used closer to 14 litres per 100 kilometres across the desert, giving us a healthy margin in reserve.
Overall, we averaged just over 11 litres per 100 kilometres or 24 miles to the gallon; not too bad for a 3.9 litre 35-year old engine.
But we spent more on food than we did on fuel!
I had estimated that we would need to budget about $5,300 a person for the entire trip. We came in under that, at just over $3,800 or just over £1,800 for the six-week period.
But this trip was ultimately about raising funds, not spending them. And you have very generously contributed to our four charities almost $16,000 – just under £8,000.
The trip is over. There will be more about distribution of the funds in a subsequent post. But there’s still a chance for people to donate, so please continue to help share our story by sharing the link or our gofundme page and encourage others to contribute.
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Well done one and all what a fabulous achievement and congratulations on raising so much too – just bunged a few dollars which I see takes you over your 16000 aud. No mean feat!
Well done everybody, what an adventure! I’ve really enjoyed reading the Blog.
Stretch.
Fantastic achievement Mike, and equally to all your fellow travellers. Great to hear that you have all made it safely home and without encountering any of the legendary potentially lethal fauna for which Australian is fabled.
Your Blog’s have been the source of regular entertainment with each instalment eagerly awaited. The Garmin tracker feed has equally been the subject of regular scrutiny, to catch up on the latest Basha location.
I’m also grateful for the manner in which you have introduced your audience to the concept of “Morno’s”. This is something that should be adopted as a more regular habit amongst those of us who live in the Northern hemisphere. I feel a letter to my local MP on the subject might be well received as a vote winning strategy amidst the current more turgid political discourse.
Look forward to catching up on other matters very soon.
Outstanding effort guys. Looking forward to the book now!
Happy for all of you that Plan B wasn’t necessary. Well done on raising the money and having a life time adventure doing so. Fear Naught! John (and his bride, Carole)
So proud of you all, and in aid of 4 really fabulous charities. Well done. Life will seem very tame for you now here in the UK!🙌🙌🙌