The track got worse the closer we
got to civilisation yet the surround-
ings more than made up for it. Every
time we’d stop we’d find something
new and interesting. Oliver and I
would laugh about the experience,
he about his four-wheel drive bounc-
ing sideways across the corrugations,
me about the bike doing the same.
Megan would just give us a look sug-
gesting we were making too much of
nothing. We’d laugh again.
As the day drew on we continued
battling with the sand, bulldust and
now rocks. It was still enjoyable and
as we approached Yuendumu com-
munity we knew the end of the dirt
was nigh, for almost 300 kilometres
of the 1053 kilometres of Tanami
Track is now bitumen. Another
iconic crossing will soon be a tourist
road. Ironically, this region of Aus-
tralia was the last to be fully explored
by westerners, in fact as late as the
mid-twentieth century.
The bitumen appeared as strange-
ly as a hard-black line drawn across
the red desert earth, and almost im-
mediately a feeling of melancholy fell
across the three of us.
As I dribbled the remnants of our
remaining fuel reserves into my GS
and we all reinflated our tyres to a
level suited to bitumen, we fell silent
as we knew that the adventure was
over.
We rode silently to Tilmouth Road-
house where we were the only camp-
ers. Oliver handed us both an icy cold
beer, a XXXX Gold, a terrible tasting
beer yet the best beer all three of us
had ever had. We’d completed the
toughest part of what is regarded as
one of Australia’s toughest roads.
TRAVERSE 78
Over a few more beers, we all
laughed. I’d suggested that the Tan-
ami wasn’t that tough after all, both
Megan and Oliver fired a glance in my
direction that quickly sent me quiet.
We all laughed.
The one thing we all agreed upon
was that a track is only as tough as
your present state of mind. The Tan-
ami was only tough one day out five,
and after all … “It is a bloody desert!”
LW