The World Off Road Pt 6G’dayMates!
Greek overlanders cross theOutback all the way from
Perth to Sydney adding
16,000km on their Discovery.
Read anAustralian epic from aforeigner’s point of view…

Words by Akis Temperidis
Photos by Vula Netu and Akis Temperidis

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We are completely on
our own in a hostileenvironment. The soil iseroded by salt, heat is
unbearable and flies areannoyingly aggressive.
Even if we wear full facenets they still manageto infiltrate our ears,
eyes and mouth – I’ve already eaten a dozen of them! Vzzz,vzzz, vzzz, this is the soundtrack of our trip for the last daysin the Outback. We are in Dalhousie Springs on the westernside of mighty Simpson Desert. We dive naked into the warm
water lake and, yes, the tiny monsters don’t dare to comenear us. We face a great dilemma where we are. To cross theSimpson Desert or not to cross? At Mount Dear roadhouse,
the only one in hundreds of kilometeres, we were told that thenotorious French line path is closed. We call the ranger fromour Iridium phone and the man advises us to avoid the trip:“Nobody has entered the desert for six months, the flooding
extends for about 30km. The desert will be closed for two
more months at least!”

elties” arrm: “Sa ute.
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The World Off Road Pt 6Greeks spoiling

Australia...

Vula would like to work at William Creek
roadhouse – in another life maybe…

Uluru is very touristic but
still overwhelming.

Quarantine
Matters!

sia we knew
Before leaving Malay
Quarantine
nalia
str
how strict Au(AQIS) rules& Inspection Servicein a thoroughare, so we proceeded
ich kept us
wh,cartheofcleaning
inking Greek,
Ths!
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we contacted AQ
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production andmatters for the bovine
ive Australiansit
sentheofthe healthecosystem.

Welcome to Fraser Island, as far
as dingoes are concerned they
are not so bad but don’t feed themplease!

You will never see any
Aborigines around Uluru,
only sacred places of theirancestors.

We felt defeated but chose to do the right thing knowingthat getting stuck into the desert would mean several daysof delays plus 1000 AUD per wheel, for a possible recovery,
according to an unwritten Outback law. We would reach
Birdsville from the famous Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks,a 1200km loop through South Australia. “No worries mate!”,Vula said to comfort me, “Next time”!

Cultural shock the other way

You should first call Birdsville Hotelbefore attempting Simpson desert.

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We decided to head to Birdsville through thefamous Oodnadatta tracks.

When we arrived in Australia, three weeks before, the sky
seemed crispy clear and the prices exorbitantly high incomparison to our former life in SE Asia. We wanted to crossthe Outback but which way? Whatever route we chose, wewould miss something else. We preferred to do it the longway, driving up to Broome. We would decide what to do next
from there…

It was incredible… 50km north of cosmopolitan Perththere was nothing – nothing! – till Geraldton. It was anendless stretch of tarmac with no cell phone or radio signal,
no fuel or food for every 400 to 500km, until the next town
or the next roadhouse. We were traveling for hours and ourdot seemed still on the map screen of our GPS. North ofGeraldton we diverted to Shark Bay and Monkey Mia until
we got back to the main road, we had 650km added on ourodometer. What a huge piece of land! On our route to Broome
we passed Carnarvon and Port Headland, of course, but thebest part was Karijini National Park. It was like a naturalistic
amusement park but so hot, mate! After we drove a bit on
the 80-mile beach, we arrived in Broome. We knew it was
the most interesting little town in WA but it seemed sodepressingly empty that day. At noon you the only people wassaw were at the Coles supermarket. In Broome we met ansaw
time wethe only g together.
asw
itinnaytoIn Gerald d aborigine kids plwhite anOVERLANDER APRIl.1047

The World Off Road Pt 6

TRIP dID
Rover Discovery3 TDV6
Vehicle: Lana Netou
Crew: Akis Temperidis, VulDays: 85 (69 driving)
Total distance: 16.412
Refuellings: 24
Litres: 1872
Lt/100 km.: 11,4

We saluted
the Indian
Ocean which
we hadfollowedfromCapetown!

You need to deflate seriously to drive on
the sandy path towards Steep point, thewesternmost one of Australia.

Stockman’s Hall of Fame atLongreach (Queensland) isan eye opening experience
for anybody interested in
Outback’s culture.

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Australian celebrity, Mr. Malcolm Douglas, an adventurer andcinematographer who runs a serious business with crocodiles.
Malcolm still makes adventure documentaries like the ones
that made him an Australian institution in the 60’s. Like a realstar, he was not really interested in meeting with us until wetold him we had travelled all the way from Greece to meet him.
Finally, he spent all day with us and he told us juicy stories
from his life in the Outback and delivered some crocs in frontof our eyes. We loved this guy!
From Broome we saluted the Indian Ocean which we had
followed from Capetown! And now what? Cross the Kimberley
and arrive to Darwin or cross the Tanami desert, the mostremote part of the country? As the going gets tough, thetough get going, so – you guessed it – we were probably thefirst to tackle the muddy track at the southern-most part ofKimberley (from Derby to Fitzroy crossing through Windjana

The World Off Road Pt 6National Park) after the rain season, when state signs stillprohibited it. After an oil change at Halls Creek we entered
the Tanami and crossed it all the way to Alice Springs in twodays time. It was an epic driving in an arid environment where
we met only two cars and more than forty carcasses in themiddle of nowhere. On the way, we visited two Aboriginalvillages without a permit. It was worth the risk to see what
the flip side of a model country looks like: Well, it looks likedelapidated houses, street fires with unemployed youngsters
surrounding an old man, rusty cars parked everywhere andlost souls drinking beer all day. We tried to talk with some ofthem but they were hostile with us. It was the first time on ourtrip we couldn’t establish communication with local people.
We don’t blame them. Aborigines have experienced the rudest
cultural shock and human rights violations than any other
tribe in history, by the advanced white man of course. Sorry
mates but truth is hard to digest…

Roadhouse Country

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We were happy to arrive in Alice Springs safe and soundwith only some scratches on the tyres. We were confident
to consume more of the Outback, and we were actually
addicted to the rusty color of the soil and the unique paletteof the sky before sunset. The roundtrip to Uluru via Finke
Gorge and Kings Canyon was a piece of cake. Back to Alice,
we were prepared psychologically for the Simpson Desert.
We followed the route to Finke, the same run by the famous
Finke Desert Race, along the Ghan, the old train rail that wasmade by Afghan cameleers. At parts we were driving on theIt was the first time on ourtrip that we couldn’t establish
communication with the localpeople.

Walking aroundKings canyon wasa breathtaking
experience.

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The World Off Road Pt 6Discovery Newsin
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freeparallel 4WD track, used for the rally, just for fun! For thenext four days we met only a handful of people, exclusively at
the famous roadhouses on Oadnadatta and Birdsville tracks;
Mount Dare, Pink House, William Creek, Mungerania andfinally the famous Birdsville Hotel. In the Outback we realizedthat the roadhouse is the absolute Australian institution, itrepresents the country better than anything else. Remote
but unbelievably organized! We couldn’t believe we could finddiesel, a mini market, restaurant, bar, pool, memorabilia, evenan ATM, all in one and so far away from anything else. We
were wondering how the families that run these places canmake it. We found out that their kids attend the school of theAir, via radio on a daily basis. Incredible Australia. You canexpect anything from a country where cattle has been guided
by helicopters for the last 40 years…

We couldn’t believe we
could find diesel, a mini
market, restaurant, bar, pool,
memorabili and even an ATM
all in one area, so far awayfrom everything.
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The World Off Road Pt 6

Back to the Real World

Shark Bay: Thewesternmost
point ofAustralia feels
like the endof the world,which is not
so far fromtruth. Great for
camping, fishingand off roaddriving.

23 days after we had departed from Perth, we arrived toLongreach, where our Outback epic ended. Two days later,
at Rockhampton, we felt as if our trip had ended, exactly
were Australia starts for 90 percent of Aussies. We lived
more adventures after that, like the off-road driving at Fraser
Island, a skydive on the beach south of Sydney and a climb of
the iconic Harbor Bridge, but we were missing the Outback
which represents the original Australia for us. From Brisbane
to Sydney, to Melbourne and back to Sydney, from where we
finally shipped our car to the USA, we felt like home thanks
to the hospitality of different fellow Greeks and Australians
as well. We put on some kilos thanks to greek moussaka, feta
cheese and Australian barbecue. Funniest part was when wewere asked where we were come from;“We come from Greece”..
“You shipped your car here? Why didn’t you rent one here”?
“We are on a world tour – we crossed Iran, Pakistan, India,
SE Asia. We drove from Perth…”“YOU CROSSED THE OUTBACK? How many kangaroos
did you hit? Did any crocodiles attack you? It is full of dingoes
there… Many people died there after they ran out of fuel… orwater… ”
Crazy Australians… The Outback is a far away country
more than any other for them. A place reached by few wholike to amplify its myth. The beauty is there, same as on
photoshopped pictures, but the dangers are hyped. The
Outback needs respect but you have nothing to fear there, its
always Australia, the most organized country in the world. By
the way, we never hit or nearly missed a kangaroo mates!

Overlooking Simpson Desert from an iconic reddune, near Birdsville.

We kisclimbingsed Australia
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un theHarbor dbye in a cla
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