PW_3_2019

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Australia Through a Fly Net Dave Sismey , Derbyshire Branch To say I stank after 16 days without a wash, or change of clothes, was an understatement. Water was a precious commodity, which we had for drinking, cooking and teeth cleaning. We did swim in the occasional water hole with

Ghan railway Alice Springs

our clothes on, doing the laundry at the same time. I had spent 16 days hiking the Larapinta Trail , which runs for 150 miles; west from Alice Springs in the Northern Territories to Mount Sonder. It was very tough and demanding. Extreme heat, difficult terrain and lack of water were the main challenges, carrying up to 10 litres of water in our backpacks. I was advised to walk the trail in the Australian winter. Even so, temperatures were in the 30’s, in the summer it reaches the 40’s. This is one of the remotest places in the world which suited my thirst for visiting wild places. As Crocodile Dundee would say, I was going ‘walkabouts’. I was the only Brit among our band of Australians: Geoff, a 68 year old doctor, with a hip replacement; Geoff’s wife Pip; Sam, a nurse, whose skills we hoped not to need, Georgie, and Tom, an estate agent. Our two guides were called Deckland and Lish. We were issued with our ‘swagbags’ as we would be sleeping under the stars. With no light pollution, the night sky was stunning. I woke up one night thinking someone was shining a torch in my face; so bright was the moon. On the odd night I heard a dingo howling in the distance, and Deckland hurling rocks if it came into camp. The other threat were the big black crows, flying around or watching from the trees, looking for an opportunity to pounce. They had no fear of humans and were skilled in unpicking zips on bags, opening packets and causing mayhem when searching for food. We learned to cover things up. I knew that in the wilderness there were wild cows, camels, donkeys and horses, but we only saw their tracks. We did see some 2ft long

difficult to see the trail and charred branches, on which I tripped and cut my shin. It was not serious, but it bled and was covered with flies in seconds. We then followed a lush green, dry creek bed for several km, scrambling over boulders, and climbing a ‘waterfall’, which was probably a waterfall when it rained, but was dry as a bone. On our long 30 km section, we set off at 5am and walked until 5pm, with temperatures reaching 37º C. There was no water, so it all had to be carried. I stopped every half hour to drink tepid water from my bottles. Halfway through the day was a steep climb to Saint Giles Lookout. Our last three hours were over ground laid bare by a bush fire. The land was charred black; someone described it as Armageddon. There was no shade or relief from the relentless sun. By the end I had only one mouthful of water left. We started the hike hoping the skills of our medics would not be required. At Camp 12, our guide Lish was poked in the eye by a thorn. Luckily Dr Geoff was an Ophthalmologist. Lish spent an uncomfortable night, and next day she was taken to hospital in a 4x4. I am told she made a full recovery. The bush she walked into has long needle-like thorns and is known as the ‘Death Bush’, because during a drought, it is the last bush to die. We reached the summit of Mt Sonder, on day 15. This was a long day, starting at 3am, to reach the top by sunrise. It took three hours to reach the top. The shadow cast by the mountain at sunrise formed a perfect triangle

Europa Ridge

Swag Bag

lizards and lots of kangaroos in the distance. A fly net around your hat was essential; the millions of flies drove you insane. Every day we walked between 15 and 30 km, depending on the terrain. Most days we started walking by 6am, to avoid the afternoon heat. On some long days, we were off by 3 am, when a head torch was essential. Of course this was not a race and we wanted to enjoy the hike, the object was to complete the trail. The record is 61 hours, but we had no intention of being anywhere close to that. Day one was a baptism by fire, as I was suffering from jet lag, and was dehydrated when we started walking along the 790 m high Euro Ridge. With no shade, the 35º heat reflected back from the rocks. I could not drink enough water, which set the standard for the rest of the trail. As a result, every morning I drank as much as I could before we set off. By day four, we reached Standley Chasm and walked through miles of fire damaged land. Ash covered the ground like grey talcum powder, making it

on the low lying land below. I looked at the peaks that surrounded us, and thought that no human had set foot on the majority of them. The drive back to Alice Springs took three hours and brought home just how far we had walked. Once I cleaned myself up, I had a couple of days to kill in Alice Springs. At the railway station I saw a ‘Ghan’ train. The train runs 1850 miles from Adelaide to Darwin, stopping only in Alice Springs and Katherine. It takes 54 hours to complete the journey but, with stops, takes three days. The train’s 44 coaches carry 348 passengers and 55 crew. It is called the Ghan in honour of Afghan camel drivers who ran the camel caravans before the railway was built. Flying out of Alice you realise how big and remote this place is; all I could see from the aeroplane was desert and dry river beds. It was like flying over the surface of Mars.

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POLICE WORLD Vol 64 No.3, 2019