Media Release 002

Alice Springs adventurer to attempt the first east-to-west foot crossing of the Simpson Desert

The winter school holidays are a time for Territorians to go bush: camp, relax and fish. But not for Alice Springs adventurer Michael Giacometti. On June 23 he will commence a 485km solo and unsupported walk across the Simpson Desert from Bedourie (Qld) to Mt Dare Hotel (SA). The walk is expected to take 24 days. ‘I wouldn’t call it a holiday,’ Mr Giacometti said, ‘it is going to be recurring Hell.’
Mr Giacometti, 42, will tow a 23kg custom-designed aluminium cart loaded with up to 140kg of food, water and equipment behind him. The cart was built in Alice Springs by Ross Engineering, with over-size mountain bike wheels from Ultimate Ride, and aircraft-grade aluminium hauling shafts (sourced from broken hang gliders) supplied by Adventure Airsports in Torquay, Victoria.
‘The biggest unknown about this adventure is whether it is possible,’ said Mr Giacometti. ‘No one has previously tried to cross the Simpson Desert from east to west because the steepest face of every one of 1000 sand ridges has to be climbed.’ So why is he going to try?
‘I like the way Jon Muir (Australia’s greatest living adventurer) puts it: that the ‘question mark’ – the unknown – propels us forward, and if we aren’t challenging ourselves, pushing the envelope of our existence and being further, then we are like the living dead.’