Sponsor & Supporter Update 004

It’s done!
On Wednesday July 16, just after 1.30pm, I crested the last of over 1350 sandridges (yes, I counted them) and rolled my way down to my wife Sharon and our dog Kanji at Old Andado homestead. After 24 physically and mentally demanding days and 450 km, some where I hoped that the cart would just fall apart so I would have an excuse to end the madness, others where I prayed it would not so that I could continue west, turn the possible into the probable, I had completed a new route across the Simpson Desert, the first east to west crossing on foot, solo and completely unsupported.
On arriving at Old Andado I learnt that another adventurer who was attempting to cross the desert to Birdsville had only covered 25 km before breaking two axles on his cart and abandoned his quest. Thankfully my cart only suffered from one puncture (on the very first day), one broken spoke (on day 14, which I didn’t fix), thin tyre sidewalls from scraping through the scrub, and one rollover (with me attached). Many thanks to Ross Engineering, Ultimate Ride and Adventure Airsports for the ‘Hellrider’, my beast of burden (or was I the beast of burden supporting the cart? The photographs seem to indicate this).
Again, many thanks to all sponsors and supporters, and those well-wishers who followed my journey vicariously via the website. Special thanks to Endura for their rehydration and energy powders; although I would have liked more water, I felt hydrated throughout the expedition and refuelled at the end of every day. I doubt I would have felt as fresh without their products.
I have emerged on the other side surprisingly fresh, a little thinner, but strong and wiry after 24 days of full- body workouts.
The website will soon be updated with some photos. Check them out soon!

Sponsor & Supporter Update 003

Last weekend I gave the cart (and myself) the biggest test yet – hauling 135kg over 5m high dunes in the northwest Simpson Desert. No punctures despite the thousands of centimetre-long burrs. It was good to feel the strain of ever-so-slowly climbing the sand ridges, the feeling of walking without any weight on the flats, and the almost out-of-control rapid descents. It is certainly thigh and calf bursting terrain and I feel that my legs and shoulders have grown even bigger.
With only days left before departure, I am busy packing and doing all of those last minute things. Thanks so much everyone who has helped to make this expedition a goer – especially Ross Engineering, Ultimate Ride and Adventure Airsports for the cart; Lone Dingo, Desert Dwellers and Sea to Summit for specialist equipment; Endura, Woolworths, Carmans and Vacuseal for food and packaging; Mt Dare Hotel for the sat phone; Hainsnet for the website (which is now ready – check it out!); 783 ABC for media; and several companies and individuals for financial support: Oz Group, Jan & Trevor Howie, Sandra Murphy & Mick Mirovic, Cath Tenni & Alan Dyer, Vicky & Jim Dinas, and Nicole McIntosh.
Thanks to recent sponsors Hagemeyer (polarising sunglasses), Solarsuit (sun-protective clothing), Tourism Central Australia (fuel) and Harvey Norman (discounted camera), and hello and thanks in advance to those well-wishers who will see me off in Bedourie on Monday 23 June. Then 24 days to Mt Dare on 16 July.
The website is finally up and going. Check it out! www.michaelgiacometti.org
Follow my progress via weekly interviews from the desert with 783AM ABC radio at about 4.15pm every Tuesday, and the daily blog and location update on the website.

Yours truly,

Michael Giacometti

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.’

Sponsor & Supporter Update 002

Last Saturday morning, on the last day of May, I picked up a present that I’ve been waiting months for. It was like an early Christmas. Yes! I shouted with glee. The cart was finally complete. Within a week of supplying the wheels (built by Ultimate Ride) and 2.25m long aircraft-grade aluminium-alloy shafts (from Adventure Airsports in Torquay) to Ross Engineering, out came a shiny 23 kg cart.
The first field test with 80 kg on top produced a puncture in one of the unlined tyres. They have since been lined with burr-proof materials, ready for the next challenge. On the first cart walk I noticed how the weight really needs to be well forward of the wheels so that the front of the cart does not rise up. At any rate, hauling the 100 kg weight uphill was okay. Now to test it with an extra 50 kg up sand dunes.
While waiting for the cart to be made I have continued the big hill walking. A couple of weekends back I led a group up Mt Giles, the third highest peak in the Territory.
There are still a few potential sponsors I am waiting to hear back from (PowerWater, Tiger Airways). Their lack of involvement does not hamper preparations one bit, but it does add to the financial burden of running the expedition.
The website will be updated very soon (http://www.michaelgiacometti.com.au/) to include more details of the expedition and the water conservation aims. I will let you know when it has been updated – should be sometime next week.
So, with less than three weeks to go before the expedition departs, things are go go go. The remaining days will be filled with food preparation and packaging, media releases and interviews with radio and print media, checking the website content before it goes ‘live’, finalising equipment and sponsorships, and really testing the cart out.
Come and see me training in the dry Todd River bed. I’ll be the crazy guy pretending to be a mule, hauling a heavily-laden cart to nowhere.

Yours truly,

Michael Giacometti

Sponsor & Supporter Update 001

As I write this, the lightweight, aircraft-grade aluminium poles should be making their way from Torquay (Vic) to Alice Springs. (Finally, I say.) So, in a couple weeks I will be able to test the 25-30kg cart that will haul 150kg of water, food and equipment across the Simpson Desert. This is about a month or more later than I would have liked to start testing the cart, but it should be okay. The main concerns are that the cart can haul the weight successfully, fitting the harness system to maximise drive, and to translate the hill and sand walking with a 30kg pack that I have been doing to hauling a cart.

I have been training hard: three-times a week carrying 30kg on one-hour power-walks into the granite hills around Alice Springs; weekend extended walks into the ranges and sandy creeks of the East MacDonnell Range. This routine will continue in the weeks remaining.

There are still a few potential sponsors I am waiting to hear back from: PowerWater, Tiger Airways, Rotary, CameraHouse. And I will be trying to get a few tanks of fuel from local petrol stations to help cover the 3000km of driving to and from Bedourie and Mt Dare.

The website will be updated very soon to include more details of the expedition and the water conservation aims. I will let you know when it has been updated.

So, with just under seven weeks to go before the expedition departs, things are a little behind schedule, but not enough to jeopardise the expedition. Come and see me training in the dry Todd River bed. I’ll be the crazy guy pretending to be a mule, hauling a heavily-laden cart to nowhere.

Yours truly,

Michael Giacometti

Media Release 001

Michael Giacometti to attempt the first east-to-west foot crossing of the Simpson Desert

In June/July this year, Michael Giacometti will attempt to become the first person to walk across the Simpson Desert from east to west, solo and unsupported, and not using any vehicle tracks.

He plans to walk from Bedourie (Qld) to Mt Dare (SA) through the centre of the desert, covering 485km in 24 days, towing a 30kg aluminium cart with up to 150kg of water, food and equipment. The route has not been attempted before because it climbs the steepest face of every one of the 1000 sand ridges, some of which are up to 20 metres high.

Why is he doing it?

Asked why he is attempting such an expedition, Mr Giacometti replied: ‘I feel compelled to do it, and the more I plan it, the more compelling it becomes. I know that the physical and mental demands will be extreme. It will be the hardest walk I’ve ever done. Yet I must do it.’

The expedition will aim to raise awareness of man’s impact on the earth, the footprint of our lifestyle. It will be a carbon negative expedition by making donations to carbon offset organisations for tree planting and green energy.

Mr Giacometti will also highlight water usage and conservation issues. He will use only 100 litres of water in three weeks, or 4 litres per day. That equates to just over one half-flush of the toilet per day. In three weeks he will use about half of what the average person uses in just one day!

How can I help?

Mr Giacometti is still seeking sponsorship which will assist in financing the expedition. Please refer to the expedition website for more details: www.hainsnet.com/michaelgiacometti/html