The Plan and the Players: Find the most distant and remote Australian dirt road then ride along it

Last year, with old friends Will and John, I cycled from Canberra to Melbourne by backroads. Not long after we finished this ride, John had the inspired idea to cycle across the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia..

Initially I thought it would be just too far, too challenging and too croc-infested. This region is about as far away as possible to get from my home city Canberra and still be in Australia. Indeed it is very close to Indonesia and over 4200 km by road from Canberra.

However, the more I heard and read about the area, and The Gibb River Road in particular, the more appealing it became. A work colleague of John's gave us a very informative and convincing description of a ride he and his wife did through the area a few years ago. We were sold.

So it looks like we are actually going to do it, and we have started to set dates, gather resources and fine-tune the plan.

Our plan is to ride from Kununurra to Derby in Western Australia. The route will be the well known but remote Gibb River Road.

Mostly unsealed, it is about 700 km with very few services or settlements along the way. Because there is a distinct wet and dry season, timing is important. Too early, it will be too wet and impassable. Too late and will be too dry and hot.

Kununurra to Derby: The directions: Ride 53 km west along The Great Northern Highway until The Gibb River Road junction. Turn onto The Gibb River Road then keep cycling vigorously for 647 km until the Derby Highway. Turn on to it and then ride 5km into Derby.Shouldn't take us too long.

The BIG Picture...where is The Kimberley? Draw a straight line northwest from Canberra. Keep heading toward south east Asia. Stop just before you run out of continent. This is The Kimberley region of Western Australia. We will be cycling across this region in June-July of this year.

THE RIDERS
No words needed. Just look at a photo of this awe inspiring lot.
Crocs, wild buffalo, raging rivers, sandy, corrugated roads and hungry dingoes will not stop them.
The lack of Gibb River microbreweries and bakeries though could be a problem.

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