The Savannah Way - Ride of a lifetime

The dream begins.

I haven't lived in Australia for over a decade and as the years tick by I find myself becoming more nostaglic about might childhood here and Australia's incredibly unique fauna and flora. The idea to cycle Australia's top end has been an idea growing with momentum in the back of my mind, like the way a cargo ship is simply a blip on the horizon at first and becomes unstoppable and intimidating when it reaches you.

The rough plan is to cycle the ~4000km over 60 days. Breaking it down into 40 days of ~100km and 20 days off. It feels achievable, but, honestly I have no idea how realistic it will be in practise. The wet season, 2023, has been a very wet one and, as of July, there are still parts of the road with water warnings. So the roads could be slow, and the challenge of being so remote without any of moden lifes luxuries may prove too much mentally to even finish.

I have convinced my german friend Daniel to join me, which I hope he won't regret. I am hoping that travelling together will make the long lonely sections more enjoyable. As a seasoned road cyclist from the Black Forest I am nervous he will not find the lack of mountains too boring and the vastness inspring. Secretly though I am glad for the company.

We have spent weeks buying all the neccessary gear and we'll be carrying very similar stuff on very similar bikes.