Christening 'Foxy'

Christening 'Foxy'

With brakes fitted ,attachment points for my harness in place I decided to take 'Foxy' out for her first real test( other than going up and down my driveway many times) it was to be a walk to Berowra Tavern then onto the Apex meeting not to far away.

I loaded 'Foxy' up with 80l of water strapped it all down, and off we went. Now 'Foxy' is a little wider than a foot path and I knew this from the beginning, but what I did forget that night was it was bloody bin night. I only hit two and successfully managed not to knock them over. The bougainvillea bush was another story and I got hung up in it both going to the pub and on the way home.

All in all I was more than happy with how she performed

On the hit list now 'Foxy' will get some nice shinny reflectors as I did spend some time on the road .

Australian Geographic Sponsorship GRANTED!

Australian Geographic Sponsorship GRANTED!

I am very luck to be the recipient of sponsorship for my walk from Australian Geographic Society. Two rounds of sponsorship are offered each year, with a limit on sponsorship being $1500. Due to the large number of entrants in  my round of grants I still received a substantial contribution to my walk  . This money will go towards some of the cost like...

Construction and materials for the cart 'Foxy'

Satphone purchase+ calls

Travel to and from Birdsville

Food both for me and support crews

Clothing and shoes

GPS, first aid gear, epirp, spot messenger, paper maps

So thanks heaps to Australian Geographic.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner .... Thanks Triple M

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

Sydney radio Triple M was running a competition called "Back in Black". All you had to do was send them in a bill that you needed paying and a little blurb about why, who, how. 

One of the big bills so far was for the Fat Wheels and tyres for the cart $820.67 although they were heavily discounted from the supplier /builders Dirtworks.

So on Thursday morning I was very happy to receive a call from the boys on "The Grill Team" to tell me I had won hat mornings competition.

It has also opened up an opportunity get get some more radio exposure during the walk as they are interested to keep in contact.

THANKS HEAPS TRIPLE M

Cart Mark #2 'Foxy' have wheels must travel

Have wheels must travel.......not soo quick tiger.

I spent 3 hours with Pete from Transform engineering and we made some stub axles , drilled some billet that will mount the stubs to the frame of the cart. This was a great experience ,Pete is a perfectionist and I am  more than sure his axles will go the distance.

I some aluminium blocks to mount the brakes these will be tig welded to the frame and 'Foxy' will have brakes.

'Foxy' needed a set of handle bars , something to push against , hold the brake levers , a position for the GPS, and maybe a pocket to hold stuff that I will be using on a regular basis whilst walking. (snacks ,Ipod,more snacks).

So I decided to have a go at bending some 20mm alumiuium tube myself. Below is my first attempt.

With that not going so well I bent up a jig from steel and had another go.

I was more than happy with the end result .

All going well come the first week in Feb it will be all welded together.

Cart Mark#2 "Foxy"

Welcome to the world "Foxy"
As Foxy carried all my gear for "Walking for Talking #1"it is only right that this is what I call my Cart #2. As you can see its still in build mode .Today was a big day and finally have ordered the wheels . Foxy will be wearing a set of Dice Ollie 80mm 26inch running on DT Swiss 350 32Hole Hubs. Tyres are Vee rubber 4.0 x 26.
These are being supplied to me from Dirt works for a really good price, Thanks Wayne.

Now Foxy just looks like a screen door. We have add the mounts for the draw bars which are supplied by Moyes hangliders, The draw bars are T7 aircrat grade alloy super light yet super strong.
Wheels will not arrive now till after Xmas so I cant start on stub axles or mounts yet( just dream about how to connect them to Foxy)
To date the whole cart comes in at just under 9kg.

Planning, Planning, Planning

Cart #1 on over night camp Cowan

Over the last few months its all been coming together.

I organised to meet up with Lucas Trihey at his house in the Blue mountains. Lucas has a great knowledge of desert walking , and has built up a company that looks after event safety and logistics.

We chatted for a couple of hours and decided I need to write up a risk assessment plan. We also discussed all things carts, axels, tyres , bearings, brakes harnesses, water ,food, nightwalking, distillation, blisters and everything in between.

I built cart number 1 from steel box section 25x25, bought some 29inch wheels and tyres on ebay, bought some aluminium scaffold for my draw bars and thought I would give it a crack up and down my drive way loaded with 100kg of water. Well going up was relatively easy , down was a little different , me 75gk cart 100plus kg wow I needed brakes. So my first attempt at brakes came in the form of your old school rim brakes but soon realised I need to go for disks. A little reinventing and I had a set of disk brakes controlled from make shift handle bars and brake levers from my old bike that I bought when I was 15.I borrowed a set of Large Marge rims and fitted tyre to these. For those who don’t know about FAT bikes these are a 100mm tyre they look like motor bike tyres(they look a bit silly really.)

Fat wheel this side and normal MTB farside

This s a great training cart heavy and very strong but not one to take across the desert.

After many sketches and conversations about which size aluminium to use I finally settle on 40mm round 3mm wall thickness T5. I have also decided to go with singles sided axles like those on a car or box trailer. 20mm thick axle.

The draw bars (really that’s the only way to describe them the things that I will hang onto to pull the cart across the desert) are 42mm 0.8mm wall T7 aircraft alloy super light and super strong. I purchased these from Moyes Hang gliders. These guys where great and gave me heaps of help. There work shop was a dream.(maybe next I might hanglide across the desert.)

One thing that has been on my mind constantly whilst planning the cart in my head was tyres and punctures. I had this idea to fill the tyres with a profile of EPDM rubber. So I made contact with a company in Brisbane called Trelleborg. I spoke with a really nice bloke called Victor who is doing every thing he can to find a product that will suffice.

Charging all the equipment along they way is also another small drama , I was unsure how to work out how many amp batteries I would need and only want to carry the minimum as weight is crucial. I drop in a spoke to the guy a Battery World Hornsby , these guys are fantastic and are working out all my power needs. At this stage it looks like it will be 2 solar panels, one on my backpack/harness and the other on the cart. (2 systems  2 batteries so if one breaks down you have the other)

In The Beginning

I remember the day that I decided on the name for the walk, we were on our way to Canberra for Christmas, It was December 2012.

“Walking for Talking” , because I’m going to raise money for beyondbue I told her, Katrina thought I was crazy then and still does I think, but has never given up supporting me on my crazy adventures.

So with much planning, training and support I walked East – West across the Simpson Desert 430km in 10days. We raised over $12000 for beyondblue. It was August 2013. It was a fantastic trip supported by Daryl Fox, boss driver and great mate, who I could not have done it without.

2nd last day Walking 4 Talking doing
 "Walk like an Egyptian"

The trip was not life changing, but has sent me down a path of many more walking adventures.

Me middle of Simpson Waling 4 talking

Foxy all set up on Walking 4 Talking

Early 2014 I came across an organised walk “Burke and Wills Trek” walking from Innamincka to Birdsville retracing a small part of their ill-fated expedition  I met heaps of great people on the walk and we were raising money for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

Camels from Burke and Wills Trek

One of the great people I met on the Burke and Wills Trek was its Saftey Cordinator Lucas Trihey. In 2006 Lucas became the first person to walk the Simpson Desert unsupported. We spoke many times about his walk and he planted the seed in my head that I could do it too. Lucas is such an inspiring mate.

November 2014 , Idea to walk the Simson was firmly buzzing around my head , but not something I had shared with Katrina. When the time came and I did let it slip the support was there again this time with a little apprehension ,”this one is a little more serious you know that , and would our life insurance cover you!” And with that planning began

I came up with a name “Hauling for Calling” which I thought was sensational!!!  Many people could not see my point of view. And so “Walking for Talking 2” was born.

I was at the Pub (Berowra Tavern) with Brendon Last one evening discussing my next adventure. I suggested that Bren should join me. With a bit of persuasion I think I have him across the line. For Bren its not so much the time away from work as it is the leadup training, but a worst case scenario he would come out to Birdsville with a be a part of the safety crew.

Just before we headed of on our family holiday for 3 months to Western Australia , I learned a bloke called Ian Vickers would be aattemping to cross the Simpson Desert this year, so I caught up with him by phone . Ian was more than Happy to help and gave me heaps of ideas for building my cart.

We had a fantastic trip away and we really grew a team spirit within the family. It was so good just being a family with only worries being will the kids finish there School work for the day so we can go fishing again! I did get a lot of time to plan the walk though. Many nights falling asleep dreaming of my walk.