Movie stage XI

 

Muloorina Station is known among tourists for its hot springs and amazing bird watching paradise. I decided to use both opportunities, so after the morning shots with my camera, I jumped into the artesian pool - wonderfully hot water. Such a bath after a month's walk from Alice Springs, I was finally able to bend my toes.

 

The Cooper Creek looks like a floodplain, in places it is several kilometers wide. I won't see the places where Burke and Wills died, so I decided to change the route and go directly South-East, I skipped the Tirari Desert and headed towards the southern part of the Strzelecki Desert.

Marree - the first settlement since Alice Springs for nearly 1000 km. In the store I went crazy, ate with my eyes, I was in paradise! Here, as nowhere else before, I aroused quite a sensation, as many as three people financially supported me, two offered beer, another accommodation at home at the next stages. I couldn't leave because I was talking to someone all the time.

On the way I was hosted in Wilapoorina, the first sheep station, because I crossed the longest fence in the world - Dingo Fence, so here the breeding is safe. I was allowed walk through with huge shortcut - saved over a day of hiking.

Despite this, my feet hurt for sometime and my knee reminded me of itself - I noticed that despite the use of antipronation inserts in my running shoes, my feet land on sides with weird angle, which could lead to some unwanted changes in ankle and knee joints. Whether I like it or not, it was safer to put on stiff boots, used so far only in difficult terrain or off-road, but this time there was no choice. A few more days of combination with or without inner soles, until the knee pain was over. On the other hand the base of the big toes hurt as well, after all, the original inner soles and socks cushoning was no longer existing. At the end of each day, and at the beginning of the next one - I could barely walk, the pain was unpleasant, but within couple of hours hiking I used to it.

When the tracks finished it was time to enter off-road trrrain, the Strzelecki Desert was calling. I again received invaluable help from Joe Baldi - he prepared for me the best possible route (avoiding climbing big dunes) on the computer using satellite images. At Marree I quickly learned how to transfer files from phone to GPS without a computer - the technology is amazing!

I walked the Strzelecki Desert a few hundred kilometers north in 2008, when I was testing my desert cart. Based on this year previous desert experience I took more water, food, surprisingly this time I was not afraid - and I rossed it in great pace, instead of six days, in four. The fact that the weather was perfect, the terrain was without spinifex, there were only about twenty dunes to climb, but an average of 35 km per day surprised even me. This is the fourth and final desert on this trip - all traveled unsupported, but this time I used tracks from time to time.

I crossed Dingo Fence twice more - I came across it again at Lake Callabonna, famous for dinosaurs fossils. I will not cross this fence so easily because it is higher than me, and there is no chance of passing under it. I was going to disassembled the cart into its first parts or ... the drone found the gate about 15 minutes' walk from the current place - it was worth making the detour because opening the gate is much easier.

 

The construction of the fence was completed in 1885 to protect pasture farms from attacks by dingos in New South Wales and Victoria and partially in Queensland and South Australia. The total length of the fence is over 5,600 km! The name obliges, so at some point the dingo started to circle around me, not too far away - although this time he was probably afraid of me and did not even bark (compared to his friend from the Little Sandy Desert). Photo session and on the way, the dog disappeared after a few hours. After four days of isolation I reached the fence on the eastern side of the sand dunes and once crossed it, the time on my phone changed by half an hour - finally in my state of New South Wales. The Strzelecki Desert was covered in four days, 140 km, without stress, hunger or thirst, with a minimum number of defects (one flat tire and one broken spoke). Maybe it went so well because Pawel Strzelecki was a Polish explorer of Australian lands, and countrymen used to help each other!

After another four days I arrived at Nundora Station, here after 2608 km, 89 active days and 660 hours of walking with my desert cart, it was time to leave the equipment behind. The owner agreed to keep it for me for up to 3 years, until I could return by car. This cart was part of the most extreme part of the journey, so I'm glad I managed to finish these stages. There were days of fear, physical exhaustion and mental stress, flat tires and broken spokes, the stress of lack of water, hunger and walking in extremely difficult terrain, aggression of dingo and snake, but also peace and beauty of the desert, silence and views, campfires and joy, satisfaction and overcoming weakness. It was worth it!

Extras:
I am very pleased with the freeze-dried food I received. I've always enjoyed Backcountry Cuisine (which is why I asked them for sponsorship), but so far I've only eaten main dinners. Now the company has also provided me with breakfasts, soups, snacks and desserts. I was a little worried that I would get taste fatigue, but luckily nothing like that happened. Especially in times of insufficient energy during desert crossings, eating was a ritual - then I closed my eyes and enjoyed every second. It also didn't bother me when I lost my spoon and had to eat from the trowel for a few weeks - it was important that taste was the same. Thank you Backcountry Cuisine.

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