is 200mm lower than the surround-
ing lake bed, and this is where the
team originally planned to begin the
expedition. However, the lake is a sa-
cred place to the Arabana people who
asked us not to venture out onto the
surface. We did not want to cause of-
fence or begin this ‘white-fella walk-
about’ on a bad note so readily agreed.
We would begin at Peake Jones Point at
the southern end of Lake Eyre North.
I was supposed to be riding the tan-
dem w ith Duncan but, being in great
pain, was relieved by Conrad for the
first two and a half days. Dan was rid-
ing his funky hand-trike and Walter
rode a fat bike. The ‘washboard hell’
road made it tough going from the out-
set, so the L2H team made only 20km
that first day. The second day Daniel
opted out as his sternum was bruised:
the hand-trike requires steering with
the chest and the heavily corrugated
road was paining him greatly. Walter
led the team on his ‘Fatty’ and pulled
into Moolarina Homestead in the ear-
TRAVERSE 90