to cross but, after seeing all the
local aboriginal kids swimming and
playing in the river we knew it would
be fine to make this crossing.
Meeting the locals on the other
side, they were surprised to see
us come through as they had been
flooded in for weeks and they were
keen to hear that the tracks we took
to get there were now passable but
quickly told us the rivers heading
further west would be the ones that
would put the brakes on getting
across into the Northern Territory.
With still plenty of daylight left and
with very rare phone reception we
checked the weather conditions for
the next few days and decided that
the weather was good enough so we
would keep pushing on across the
Gulf and make our own minds up on
if we would even be able to make the
Gulf crossing at all.
Straight out of the community
were now starting to see not only a
lot of water over the track, but also
a lot of trees down as this was where
Cyclone Ester hit the coast with the
most force only a week or so before.
We made it as far as the Hells Gate
Roadhouse late in the afternoon,
once again greeted with surprised
faces. They said they had not seen
anyone come through for months and
they were shut for the wet season but
were happy to sell us some fuel and
let us pull up and camp for the night
as it was getting dark.
That night, as always, we studied
the maps and GPS for what we had
ahead of us the next day. We made
a plan A, B, and last resort C, which
was to backtrack if it was completely
impassable. The next big challenge
would be how to get across the
next two major rivers, The Calvert
and Robinson, which flow over the
causeways even in the dry season.
We were now experts and easily
broke camp, a week or so on the road
and the pack up of the bikes becomes
almost a ritual. Everything has a
specific place, making everything
pack perfectly.
Chatting with the owners at Hells
Gate, they radioed through to Calvert
Hills cattle station, further down
the track to let them know we were
going to attempt to get through and
to keep a look out for us. We headed
off and straight away we were back
in the thick of it jumping fallen trees
and crossing swollen creek beds. We
made it to the Northern Territory
border without any problem but soon
came over a crest and hit a smaller
crossing at Settlement Creek. This
was not even one we had thought to
worry about. It was only about 50
metres long, but about 0.8 metres
deep and flowing fast.
After at least an hour of testing
water depths and looking for any
signs of crocs, we decided to give it a
crack. It was too deep, and rocky to
ride across. Not wanting to be in the
water for any longer than we had to,
we planned to help each other get the
TRAVERSE 87