about your guide

Yup, I’m the guy who shuffled this all together. A bloke who realised that he had to do it rather than just dream about it.

I came up with the idea of a website for off-road, almost-epic trail bike tourers while sitting on my bike somewhere remote in Outback Australia and wondering why I didn’t have much idea where I’d find the next water refill station. A number of individual blogs talk about some of the more travelled tracks, (if you can find them), but no one had yet put together information that is specific to travelling on many of these remote Australian trails. (OK, so the Mawson and Mundi Biddi are quite well covered.) Most are patchy on the more practical information. We know the rider survived but not where the supplies or water came from.

It’s now time to share the knowledge and the joy/pain. But it ain’t a glossy brochure version.

There’s a ginormous archive of daily blog entries which document the random thoughts that crossed my mind, or Little Adventures, or the patchwork of humanity that I stumbled across. Hopefully you find it somewhat humorous and entertaining.

A map of my own bike westwards tour of Australia looks as if it was designed by a wandering ant: Mawson Trail, Arkaroola, Oodnadatta, Finke, Mereenie Loop and West Macdonnells, Tanami Track, Purnululu, Buntine Highway, Gregory National Park, Kakadu, Gibb River Road, Karijini National Park, Wiluna, south coast of Western Australia, Munda Biddi Trail.

I then engaged in heading back east, via the scenic, if somewhat remote, route, Cape Leeuwin, Cape York, Wilsons Prom on the same trusty hard-tailed mountain bike. I was keen for more Little Adventures on the obscure unsealed roads of Central Australia and meeting more random characters along the way.

No one who embarks on this style of riding wants a specific itinerary or needs a detailed description of the road conditions, in any case it’s forever changing out on the dirt roads. Where some people sail on through others get bogged after the rain. When the grader has last been, or not, or the wind direction has more bearing on daily progress. The important stuff is where the food and water is along the way there’s no need to create any complete picture, that’s up to you.

Maybe this might just inspire you to get out there yourself. There’s a whole lot of country to explore.

And a heap of fun on your own Little Adventure.

GJ Coop — now resident in Nelson, New Zealand, September 2020