Ten years after the Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition, I conceived and organised the Great Australian Cycle Expedition (GRACE), a 25 000-kilometre journey through my own country, 7000 kilometres of which were ‘off road’ on isolated tracks in remote regions. The five main tracks included the Cape York Peninsula Development Road, the Gulf Track, the Tanami Track, the Gunbarrel Highway and the Canning Stock Route.
The purpose of the expedition was to promote the importance of, and contribute towards, education for sustainable development. Starting on 10th May 2004 from Parliament House in Canberra and finishing as planned on the same steps on 28th February 2005, the expedition was the first Australian project, and one of the world’s first, to be selected as a Demonstration Activity for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-14). Greg Yeoman, who accompanied me across Russia, also joined me for the first four four months (to the end of the Gunbarrel Highway). He returned for the last week of the expedition.
Travelling by bicycle gives an unrivelled sense of place, of how the world fits together and for me this was the ultimate way to experience and understand my own country. A highlight of my journey was traversing the 1800km-long Canning Stock Route (CSR) and in doing so becoming the first woman to cycle it. The CSR, the world’s longest, most arduous stock route, bisects four deserts and approximately one thousand sand dunes. It was by far the toughest, but also the most spiritual part of the expedition for me. For much of the time I was following in the footsteps of my great, great uncle, William Snell, who reconditioned two thirds of the route in 1929.
Cycling without the aid of a support vehicle (for all but the CSR), and alone for the second half of the expedition, I developed a close connection with and respect for the Australian people and landscapes. I was in awe of the feats of many of the early explorers, pioneers and colourful characters who shaped the outback. I was also able to visit several Indigenous communities and gained glimpses of life on cattle stations and in remote outposts and country towns.
Take a large measure of guts, strength, will and heart; add a bike and a young woman and spend 25,000 kilometres alone across Australia. Truth can be so much better than fiction. A brilliant story.
Bryce Courtenay
*All images by Kate Leeming and Greg Yeoman
Photo Gallery
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- After a class session at the Kimberley School of the Air, Derby, WA
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- Telegraph Road, Cape York Peninsula, Qld
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- Spencer Snell works with his cattle, Wongawol Station near Wiluna
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- Crossing Savory Creek, CSR
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- A long way back to Alice Springs from Wiluna
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- Constant corrugations on the Tanami Track
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- Cycling in to the evening, Tanami Track
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- The Battle Camp Road, Qld
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- The finish with Senator Bob McMullen, Greg, Jane (sister), Lorna (mother) and Mick Gentleman, MLA
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- Crash beside the Snowy River, 3rd last day
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- Heading for the Snowy Mountains up the Barry Way, Victoria
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- The most southerly road in the country at Cockle Creek
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- Self portrait, Lune River Station, on the way to Cockle Creek, southern Tasmania
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- Bay of Islands near Peterborough, Great Ocean Road
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- Speaking to the students at Subiaco Primary School, Perth
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- The ‘Roaring Forties’ trade winds shapes the trees around Greenough, near Geraldton, WA
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- Kimberley hospitality – station owners leaving iced water in their letter boxes for me
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- Dusty day, Cape York Peninsula Development Road
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- A Gould’s goanna near the Calvert Range, CSR
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- Looking back to Thring Rock, CSR
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- The Great Sandy Desert, nr Well 26, CSR
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- High dunes near Well 26
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- Crossing Savory Creek just before it enters Lake Disappointment, CSR
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- Aboriginal paintings, Durba Hills
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- Being chased by a storm near Well 14, Day 5, CSR
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- Near Cunyu Station and Well 3a, Day 2, CSR
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- Typical track near Well 2a, ‘The Granites’, Canning Stock Route, WA
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- Wiluna Hotel, the end of Greg’s journey.
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- Fixing a puncture near a blazed bloodwood tree, Gunbarrel Highway, WA
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- Searching for the Irving Creek bore
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- Finding water at the Irving Creek bore
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- A lone camel, Kaltukatjara (Docker River) Road, NT
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- Kata Juta, NT
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- Mt Connor, NT
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- A blue tongued skink on the Tanami Track
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- Giant termite mounds, Tanami Track, NT
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- A jump up on the track between Lajamanu and Suplejack Downs Station
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- Crossing the Victoria River upstream, Pigeon Hole Station
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- Buchanan Highway on the way to Victoria River Downs Station
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- Burning off beside the Stuart Highway, NT
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- Near Jabiluka, Kakadu, NT
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- Shocking surface, Gulf Track, NT
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- Talking to the kids at Ryan’s Bend, Indigenous community, Gulf Track, Qld
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- Students at Ryan’s Bend school, Qld
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- Crossing one of the many rivers in croc country on the Gulf Track
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- Station country, Gulf Track, Qld
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- Wedgetailed eagle, Gulf Track, Qld
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- Leichhardt’s Lagoon, Gulf, Qld
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- Arriving in Roma, Qld
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- Climbing a 17% gradient from the Abercrombie River, Blue Mountains, NSW
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- Pushing along the Victoria Highway, NT
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- Taking a well-earned break on the way to Barcaldine, outback Queensland
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- Sundown on the Canning Stock Route
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- Durba Spring, CSR
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- Canning’s Cairn, Canning Stock Route
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- Deep sand near Thryptomene Hill on the Gunbarrel Highway
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- Replenishing the water supplies on Pigeon Hole Station, Northern Territory
The Route
