So there’s no point fluffing about here. You probably want to know how and why I smashed my ankle into a few bits. It’s honestly not even that exciting. I wish I could tell you that I was doing a sick wheelie just after jumping through a ring of fire and dodging drop bears and hoop snakes but it’s much more boring than that… Or at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

With a couple of days to kill before heading into Kakadu, we did it in the best way possible. An impromptu three-day hike through the gorges of Nitmiluk. Featuring 40˚C weather, copious swimming holes and no one else in sight, it was a recipe for good times and skinny dipping. Both were plentiful.

For everyone still following along, thank you. Because this is where it all started to get quite fun and felt like we were getting into the swing of the trip. However, by the time we caught up on the previous posts and were ready to write this one, we’d run into another little SNAFU and the blog fell by the wayside for a little while. We’re back now to finish her up and tell the story of the Desert Rats. So buckle up and buckle in. Strap in and strap on.

Riding through South America and India, military checkpoints were somewhat standard, but I can’t say I ever expected to come across one here in Aus. However, when we got to the border with NSW and Queensland, that’s exactly what we got. There were a few cops and a whole bunch of army blokes blocking the road checking everyone who came through.

Broken Hill was meant to be a quick pitstop, before pushing back into the desert and making our way into Queensland. Somehow though, an afternoon stop for some quick repairs turned into staying for four days, living at a mechanics workshop and joining a local motocross race weekend. Standard.

Sometimes, when I hear people say, ‘you live and you learn’, I wonder if all I’ve been doing for the past 20 years or so is living. Well, on our journey to Mungo there were plenty of lessons that I’m sure we didn’t learn, included but not limited to, desert fog, empty fuel tanks and making friends on the road. But it all started in our one and only megacity.

With online shopping being all the rage in 2020, we thought we’d try our hand at it. However, we failed to get the memo that most people were getting ‘on the net’ to buy their groceries, bulk packets of toilet paper and enough sanitiser to cleanse even Scott of his sins. Instead, in Dumb Things fashion, we bought motorbikes.