“One of the things I love most about Kakadu is that I
get to ride out into some of the wildest country on earth,”
Benji admitted. Most of the time he was riding in the re-
mote wilderness he was alone and wouldn’t have had it
any other way.
The remote tracks often traversed by Benji challenged
his newly found riding skills, he’s the first to admit that
he’s not an expert rider however, the skills quickly de-
veloped. Meanwhile, his life skills were developing at a
much great rate as he was forced to deal with situations as
they happened, there’s no point feeling sorry for yourself
when there’s no one around to join you. Benji just got on
with it.
“I love the looks of shock I get when I roll into these wild
and isolated places all on my lonesome,” Benji laughed re-
counting a remote ride of 350km to the head of the West
Alligator River.
“People say I’m mad riding into the bush looking for
buffalo,” Benji went on explaining that it was about the
adventure and experience, about living life.
“I (once) came up to a billabong that was too deep to
cross, I had to use my hatchet to cut a tunnel through the
thick vines and pandanis plants until I found a bottle neck
and could cross over, that was actually on the West alliga-
tor head ride.”
It’s clear that Kakadu influenced Benji, he speaks of the
region like he’s talking fondly of a dear friend. The tra-
ditional landowners, the aboriginal people; Bininj in the
north and Mungguy in the south, had a profound effect
on Benji as they took him in while working with them.
He learnt of a respect for land, for the animals, for each
other. It stuck with him.
TRAVERSE 19