Is that grouping of points on a map of Australia the basis for an epic adventure ride?
This could be an early springtime ride designed to follow-on from, or incorporate, Desert Raid or the Off-centre Rally.
Let me know.
Cheers,
Raider
Re: The BORDER CORNER ride
Posted: Tue 22 Jul, 2025 10:13 am
by Digger
Myself and a small group plan to visit Surveyor General's Corner after Desert Raid and then continue thru the APY Lands (shhh) to Finke and Old Andado. From there, we head to Kununurra via Alice and the Tanami and return home via the Gibb and Mt Augustus.
I suspect you may need to camouflage your bikes so each looks like the latest Toyota Landcruiser...
The Mann and Musgrave Ranges are striking - up there with the most spectacular desert ranges anywhere in Australia. The Bell Rock Range, most easterly range in WA and located south of Wingellina, has fresh (unweathered) mafic rocks (gabbro) that ring like a bell when struck with a hammer. How do I know? It is evident how Blackstone, located northwest of the Bell Rock Range, got its name too...
Access roads to the Surveyor General's Corner were in great shape - from both directions. At that time, in September 2015, way better than the road from Docker River to the Olgas in the NT.
The Surveyor Generals Corner was quite the tourist spot with the obligatory cairn, a shelter with picnic table & seats and a large rainwater tank. Back then it was all in great nick and had abundant potable water on tap. To complete the tourist experience I had the best Telstra coverage available anywhere in Australia at that time - the same as in the city of Perth.
Cheers,
Raider
Re: The BORDER CORNER Ride
Posted: Thu 24 Jul, 2025 6:03 pm
by Raider
Riders,
Suggest the BORDER CORNER ride kicks off on Sunday 9 August 2026 from Mount Augustus, site of the 2026 OCR.
The route set out by Spacey1 is a suggestion. There are numerous options. For example, if permissions can be gained to head from the Great Central Road east of Warakurna, south to Irrunytju (formerly known as Wingellina), then east to the Surveyor Generals Corner and then across the APY lands, that would be a good start... And if you don't want to traverse the entire Simpson Desert there is an option to head across the Plenty Highway, south to Birdsville and just tackle a short section of the Simpson, including Big Red, to get to Poepell Corner.
Cheers,
Raider
Re: The BORDER CORNER Ride
Posted: Sun 27 Jul, 2025 6:57 pm
by Raider
Howdy Riders,
Who knew? During a coffee-break with His Royal Griceness at Catelano’s yesterday he commented on access to MacCabe Corner. Indeed, that corner has a particular wrinkle - just as each corner has its own wrinkle.
Whist we may be focussed on riding desert tracks to get to four of the border CORNER’s we may need at least one water craft as well… No, not necessarily to access Poepell’s Corner after another series of Queensland cyclonic events inundate the channel country and Lake Eyre - again. Eat your heart out Tim! “Even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and river systems” (Tim Flannery 2007 - 2007 Australian of the Year). But I digress…
The McCabe Corner is most easily accessed, without trespassing on private property, by heading to the Sunset National Park, then to the Higgins Cutting Boat Ramp and paddling a few hundred meters to the corner post.
Details here in .pdf format: https://images.impartmedia.com/discover ... Corner.pdf
Five border corners between the mainland states have been noted. What about Tasmania? How does it fit the state boarder jigsaw? Bass Strait precludes a land border? No! No border corner BUT there is an actual LAND BORDER with Victoria. It is a very interesting BORDER crossing you can walk - all 85m of it! What? You just need a seaworthy boat to get the 50km into Bass Strait and to the tiny Boundary Islet within the Hogan Island Group - between Wilson’s Promontory and Flinders Island. Add that “point” to the Border CORNER list? Why not - a bucket list location.
There is an adventure rider (and paddler) within our immediate circle here in Western Australia who has actually paddled Bass Strait in a kayak. Maybe even paddled right past Boundary Islet. He may be able to give some tips on getting to Boundary Islet and back? Hello Western Australian adventure rider and paddler extraordinaire - please take a few moments and give us a heads-up?
Cheers,
Raider
Re: The BORDER CORNER Ride
Posted: Sat 02 Aug, 2025 2:09 pm
by Eaglebeak
I think Raider maybe referring to me in the above post.
In 1998 I paddled with 5 other kayaks from Tidal River, Wilson’s Prom.to the north east corner of Tasmania. We landed on a beach a little above Little Musselroe Bay.
We camped on Hogan Island.
There used to be to be a short story I wrote, somewhere on the ‘net about that trip but I can’t find it anymore.
(An American online “Outdoor Adventure” site found it and republished it. Disappeared into the ether now)
4 years earlier I paddled a double kayak with a mate from Cape York to New Guinea. That boat was collapsible, a synthetic rubber hull and a cotton/canvas deck, similar to the kayaks used by legendary Z Force Commandos in the raids on occupied Singapore.
Ours was a German make, called a “Klepper”. I am new to this forum and have no idea how to post a pic, but if you are interested a quick Google search on Klepper Kayaks will give you an idea of the boat.
I also wrote a short piece on this trip, but gone now from the net I think.
Both these paddle trips were unsupported, in that we did not have any support boats with us, we carried everything in our kayaks and overnighted on islands in the Bass and Torres Strait’s.
And in case anyone is curious, the Torres Strait was the most difficult, strong tidal flow of up to 6 knots, at right angles to our route, on a 8 hour cycle and all the islands had warning signs for Salt Water Crocs. LOTS of white tip reef sharks.
(We landed on 10 islands from memory, 3 of which had communities.)
