12 OUTBACK FAQS
Long-distance adventure rides require a certain amount of preparation and discipline. You don’t want to die out on the Anne Beadell Highway or, even worse, be barred from the bar in a one-pub town. Surviving the outback is much more than selecting the right tyre and checking your chain and sprockets. There’s a certain outback etiquette involved in not losing the plot between sunrise and sunset before you take on the locals at the bar.
1. HOW FAR’S TOO FAR?
Q My mates and I regularly spend weekends in the Great Dividing Range, usually riding about 250-300km each day. Next winter we’re thinking of riding out to Alice Springs to see the Finke Desert Race. How much distance should we plan on covering each day?
A Once you get west of the Great Dividing Range, if you ride via Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Wannaaring, Tibooburra and Moomba it’s no more than a three-day ride to Birdsville. Then you’re faced with the Simpson Desert and there are 1100 sand dunes between you and the pub at Mount Dare. The best way to beat the Simpson is to take the Plenty Highway across the top or the Strzelecki and Oodnadatta Tracks around the south.
If you allow for
