TRAVEL FEATURE - AUSTRALIA
CRAIG BALDWIN
UNABLE TO LEAVE A MATE BEHIND
To say last year , for me , was a tumultuous period in my life is quite an understatement . For me 2021 was a year of many challenges with a few high points but ultimately , I faced many low points , periods of darkness , anxiety , depression , and hardships . I had had a large portion of time off work to get better and seek my own internal peace of mind and happiness of which I am still seeking .
It was within this search that I decided to embark on a journey back to the top , but more on that later . This year I had been fortunate enough to spend some time with my brother on what was to be a three-week journey on our bikes , traversing through Queensland , New South Wales and into the Flinders Ranges of South Australia . For me this ended in tears with my bike , a Yamaha Ténéré XT660Z , otherwise known as Kramer , only making it just over a week into the trip when it decided it didn ’ t want to play the game and saw us stuck in the middle of the Flinders Ranges seeking a way to ship my bike and myself back to Queensland .
After much deliberation I decided to rebuild Kramer after it was shipped back home and continue to seek our path on the journey to the top . I just couldn ’ t leave a mate behind . I wanted Kramer to ride again and seek redemption .
It was while listening to a recent podcast featuring the amazing Colin Brady who was discussing his massive feats of adventure , that he made mention of summiting the peak of Mt Kosciuszko as part of his record-breaking attempt to climb the seven highest mountain summits across the seven continents .
For me this journey would only be ascending one of the peaks . That being Australia ’ s very own Mt Kosciuszko . I had obviously heard
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