ADAPT, IMPROVISE & OVERCOME
A F rontline S afari
L
aughter! Hysterical laughter!
It fills the small dining room
as the storyteller regales of a
sexual encounter.
The storyteller twists his
moustache, straight faced,
while explaining he was physically vi-
olated. With a devious twinkle in his
eye he says he’s going back for more.
Laughter erupts again.
How the hell did we end up here?
The Transcontinental Hotel in
Oodnadatta, deepest outback South
Australia, a few hundred kilometres
from the Simpson Desert.
Things hadn’t gone to plan. We’d
crossed the desert, the world’s largest
parallel dune desert, and were now
sat in a pub listening to some bloke
tell stories about himself. We were
supposed to have turned around and
headed back to the starting point in
Birdsville, Queensland. Things hadn’t
gone to plan.
For most, it mattered little, for this
was what this ride was about. Yes!
TRAVERSE 17
The Simpson Crossing was important,
but this was what was more impor-
tant. Listening, laughing, sharing,
understanding. We were on the
Frontline Safari, a ‘double crossing’ of
the Simpson Desert.
Willy, our storyteller sipped from
his beer, continuing his story, he’d
now taken a twist, the laughter had
diminished he was now telling a
much more personal account of his
present condition and what the future
held.
I looked around the room and
found that most had tears in their
eyes. These were tough men, most
military, all had just crossed the de-
sert. Willy’s story had touched them.
Here was a young man, already a
veteran of the Afghan conflict, telling
us of his uncertain future.
I’d just spent the last three days
with Willy, we’d laughed more than
I’d laughed for a long time, I’d had
no idea that he was battling a brain
tumour that had the possibility of tak-