Trip planning is more art than science (coming from someone with a PhD in applied statistics). The genesis of this trip was riding the Birdsville Track in summer. I've only found one other group that has done this. I am sure I am not the first person to do this solo in summer.

I've quickly realised that it's often as much time, effort and hassle to get to the start of somewhere like the Birdsville Track via car as it is to ride. Adelaide is the obvious starting point. I'll be leaving from there in November and wanted to ride somewhere different. I settled on Port Augusta, not realising there are no flights. It’s a bus to the start.

Port Augusta is an interesting town. The two north-south routes through Australia both originate from Port Augusta. Port August is arguably one of the more remote liveable places in Australia.

There are four sections to the ride: 

Part I: Port Augusta to Marree ~ 675km (six seven+ hard days)

The first part of the ride is an odd combination of the some of the easiest (fastest) and hardest riding I'll experience on the trip. Smooth, flat and fast highways and remote unnamed tracks between stations possibly crossing 6m high sand dunes.

Marree the southern end of the Birdsville Track is almost directly north of Port Augusta. You can either head west or east around Lake Torrens. I decide to go west and approach Marree via the Oodnadatta Track. The easy option is Stuart Highway, Olympic Dam Highway, Borefield Road and Oodnadatta Track.

I've made a few deviations. 10km from Port Augusta, I am heading west before rejoining the Stuart Highway at 130km. This section is to test the bike in rougher conditions whilst I am still close to a major town and can come back and make changes. There are various access roads that run parallel to the Stuart Highway, it's hard to make a judgement about using these or not. I'll have a look when I am out there. At 225km, I am heading east, turning onto T294 (Street View) take a 40km side track into Woomera. This allows me to see the conditions of the area and be off the highway for a short section.

One of the early iterations of the route was to head north from Andamooka, going around the top of Lake Torrens, and turning onto Mulgaria Road (where there is a station). I contacted Andamooka about this as is so often the case, I did not receive a response. Google Maps estimates the distance at 80km with a riding time of four hours. The Geoscience Australia 1:250 000 H5312 - Andamooka topographic map tells a different story. This route crosses directly through sections of sand ridges that vary from 4m up to 6m. I could easily spend the best part of 80km pushing my bike and trailer. At 2-3km/hr that's not going to be achievable.

There are two other approaches. The more direct is to head east at Purple Downs (this is very sandy). The route I’ve settled on is to leave Woomera and head for Arcoona on Bosworth Road (Street View) ~ 20km. Aracoona to Andamooka is ~80km from the H5312 Andamooka topographic map a relatively straightforward ride to Andamooka Station. North of Andamooka Station the track skirts the edges of sand dunes and crosses one small section (5km ish). That section alone could take hours if I have to disconnect the trailer and make multiple trips across the sand ridges. Or it might be fine with a bit of pushing.

Extract from SH53 (1st Edition) Tarcoola 1:1 000 000 topographic map Geoscience Australia. Download page for Tarcoola. There are 49 maps at 1:1 000 000 that cover the entire continent. The index for 1:1 000 000 maps is here. The website for all topographic maps is here.

At Andamooka, I'm on a sealed road to Roxby Downs (my first and only supermarket stop until Longreach), then I'm on Borefield Road, which according to my research, is generally pretty good. This area had a lot of rain in the past few months, which generally degrades conditions.

Roxby Downs to Marree is just under 200km. That's a long way to go without a refill point. I have two options. My original plan was to head west off Borefield Road and go to Stuart Creek Station (whom I emailed but did not reply). This track looks rugged and possibly sandy, ~ 20km. If I take this route, that's 125km from Roxby Downs, then roughly another 125km to Marree. The detour adds 50km of private property riding.

The alternative is to stay on Borefield Road and ride to Callanna, which is 140km from Roxby Downs. Overall I'd guess this is a similar ride time. I'll decide based on how the earlier off-road sections have gone, how I feel, and how much time pressure I feel. 

I also have to ask myself how many times do I want to try and cross six-metre-high dunes on a 29+ bike with a heavy trailer. A year ago, the answer to the question would have been zero. Now it’s greater than that. How our lives change.

Extract from SH53-08 (2nd Edition) Curdimurka 1:250 000 topographic map Geoscience Australia. Download page for Curdimurka. There are 513 maps at 1:250 000 that cover the entire continent. The index for 1:250 000 maps is here. The website for all topographic maps is here.

I'll spend a day in Marree repacking my gear, updating the world on the trip and looking at the weather for the next section. This section has taken more time to plan and refine than I could have imagined. The area is remote, there is little if any useful information online and I don’t have someone to ask about the area. These difficulties make this exciting. My guess is I will have spent as much time planning this section as I’ll spend riding.