The moto gods can be cruel. For some time now, the overlords have flexed their sadistic bent upon tour companies, sending everything from pandemics to fires to floods their way. And it was yet another freak weather event that birthed this ride.
I was enjoying a quiet week off in Bright, Victoria, with my wife when Daryl Beattie rang and asked, “Do you want to join my upcoming Simpson crossing tour and we’ll do it on a couple of new Transalps?”
A Transalp in the sands of the Simpson Desert sounded a little crazy. I was immediately keen and signed up for back-to-back tours — Birdsville to Ooraminna and then back again a few days later via the Madigan Line. I was supposed to be enjoying the bucolic surroundings of the Victorian High Country but now all I could think about was red dirt and endless sand dunes.
But just days before departure, a huge storm cell swept over the Simpson Desert and its surrounds that caused flooding, closed roads, stranded explorers in tiny towns and severely dampened the Birdsville Bash. The desert had to be closed. The crossing and yet
