After 11 years of perseverance, a Queensland man has crossed the Simpson Desert driving a wind-powered buggy.
"The Simpson was my most challenging expedition so far," he said."It just is this ever-present sort of evil in your life when you're trying to cross it — along with the flies and the thorns."Despite having described the track as "fun", Dr Wilson battled some of the desert's deadliest.
"There are some certain dangers out there with the taipans and the dingo trying to call [the dogs] out of camp," he said. "We had a support vehicle in front and [a] support vehicle behind to make sure I didn't get squished … by passing cars or motorbikes."Days of unusual desert rain made the 95kg buggy "quite a lot heavier" and Dr Wilson said it seemed the outback was trying to kill him."[Up to] seven times a day you're up in a tree trying to save the kite."Loading Instagram content"If things didn't change, I knew we'd run out of food and energy," he said.
"Often the wind was either very light in the wrong direction or just non-existent and that made using the wind power very difficult and fickle."He pulled it over more than 350 sand dunes."Part of my messaging is these wilderness areas need to be protected and respected," he said. "I want to raise awareness about the damaging effect of our carbon emissions on our sacred wilderness and show how we can make changes for the better."After his two earlier attempts over more than 10 years, Dr Wilson said he felt "very emotional" at completing the crossing."We were both emotional because it was something we started together," Dr Wilson said.
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