Long-time Shake It Up supporters, the Monkey Mia boys, have made plans for another big trip and fundraiser this year.
After three years of incredibly successful fundraisers totalling in excess of $125,000 raised for Shake It Up (Monkey Mia to Byron Bay and Monkey Mia boys go bush again & Monkey Mia boys do Covid 19 desert trip.), the boys are getting ready to head off again into the Simpson Desert.
We spoke to Andrew from the team to hear more about this upcoming trip.
Monkey Mia boys do Simpson
Eight people in three utes and three motorbikes plan three weeks travelling through central Australia following recent widespread rain. The trip will be mostly on the more remote and generally inaccessible desert and station tracks.
Phil Davies, Andrew Urquhart, Tom Ellis, Tom Manifold, David Cato, Harry Chisholm, Noel Passalaqua and Jim Salter will wax the driving, riding, tour guiding, cooking and domestic duties.
From the Albury “marshalling area” we plan to leave on 31st May and travel quickly to the Queensland corner country with the bikes on the trailer. Our route will be direct via Bourke, Eulo, Betoota and Birdsville.
From Birdsville, the bikes are off and we will head west into the Simpson Desert to Poeppel’s Corner – the intersection of Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia. From there we head north on the Hay River Track which runs parallel to the dunes all the way out of the desert to the station country on the Plenty Highway. Then it is westward to Alice Springs for a night, a restock and running repairs.
Leaving Alice we will head east and south through the stations back into the Simpson Desert. We will then find the line that Cecil Madigan took on his west / east crossing by camel in 1939. Following the Madigan Line will bring us eastwards across the desert dunes to meet the Hay River Track again in the east. Then southwards to Poeppel’s Corner again. We will continue south on the K1 Line and the Warburton Track, crossing the Warburton River near Clifton Hills Station on the Birdsville Track. We will then take the Walker’s Crossing Track south and east to Innamincka.
From Innamincka we will head south on the Bore Track to Bollard’s Lagoon and Cameron’s Corner. From there we will continue south on station tracks inside the South Australian border with NSW and outside the dog fence, crossing the Barrier Highway west of Cockburn. We will cross into NSW near Mutooroo and run east towards the Menindee Lakes and follow the Darling River south to Pooncarie. From there we will head east and south across Lake Mungo and onto Maude in the western Riverina. Then it is homeward through Hay back to Albury.
