Rain, walking and mice - oh my!

A Rover Advisor’s story of a road trip when he was young inspired a Rover Scout to take on the adventure of a lifetime to the Northern Territory – but he did not know it would include mice!

2nd Gordon Rover Scouts James and Max undertook the 21-day journey in August, driving to the NT from Sydney and back, along with completing the 230km Larapinta Trail.

The trip would not have been possible without the support of the Dick and Pip Smith Leadership Through Adventure Fund.

“The funds covered the cost of car hire, the cost of some of the diesel, some of the food costs, and the cost of transfer and food drops. We raised the other half to cover the cost of hiking the trail. The NT National parks system takes a fee of approximately $200 per person to walk to the trail and another $150 per person for the campsite bookings,” James said.

“I made the decision at least two years ago to do a road trip to Central Australia, inspired by a road trip that my Rover Advisor took when he was in Rovers. Combined with a road trip was a desire to do a multi-day hike of more than five to six days, which was my previous longest hike length.

“The Larapinta came up as a hike to do in Central Australia, which took me by surprise as I previously had no idea it existed. So I made a point of organising to drive there in order to hike it.”

James and Max initially set out on their trip with fellow Rover Scout Josh, from The Golden West, who unfortunately had to leave the trail on day three after complaining of back pain. That didn’t stop the pair from continuing on with their hike.

“I expected it to be difficult; it was. I expected it to be full of fascinating plants and animals that we’d never seen before; it was. I expected it to take an extreme amount of physical strength; it did,” James said.

“The sheer mental strength it also takes to be alone in the outback with only one other person was something I expected to be difficult as I’d never done it before, and it certainly was.

“After walking 230km, 55km of that being on the last two days, there was nothing more enjoyable than putting down my pack and not having to pick it back up again the next day. Plus being able to eat hot food again.”

Luckily, as Rover Scouts, both James and Max were prepared for the challenge, having previously undertaken multi-day hikes and researching what was needed to ensure their trip succeeded. Not to mention making sure they saw all the incredible scenery.

The pair knew that a hike is about more than grabbing a water bottle, putting on your shoes and heading out on the trail. It is careful planning – ensuring all the permits are paid, coordinating the food, ensuring the safety of your fellow hikers.

For many travelling the Larapinta, a tour group helps with organising everything, however for James, he, Max and Josh challenged themselves by choosing to do it unassisted.

James said the sense of accomplishment that comes with that was unparallelled by any other activity.

“I learnt that any significant project requires an extraordinary amount of planning if you are going to do all the planning yourself,” he said.

“Having other people do parts of the organisation can assist you enormously and reduces the workload for everyone involved. It also ensures that nothing gets missed or forgotten about. I also learnt how much mental fitness is required to walk two weeks, not just physical fitness, which I would argue ironically not many people think about.”

The hike was not just physically and mentally challenging but also had some additional challenges from the weather and the wildlife, suffering from three days of incessant rain and a plague of mice!

“It rained almost all day on day five, 10 and 14. This was part of the forecast for the national park, and we had sufficient gear to protect things from getting wet,” James said.

“However, hiking in the rain is never pleasant. It seemed as it would rain a small amount, then clear up for a minute, you would take off your raincoat, then it would start raining again. That was infuriating!

“A plague of mice at Simpson’s Gap prevented us from sleeping much. They were no issue during the day, but as soon as you try to go to sleep, they start crawling over and under your tent, trying to find food.

“The noise of small creatures rustling and squeaking is incessant and incredibly irritating when trying to sleep. And if any part of your body is touching the walls of the tent, you’ll feel them run past too.”

So after 21 days away and a 230km journey, what is next for James?

“No multi-day hikes for a long time!”