Prelude: This Is Why You Should Walk

The final week felt strange, a mix of anticipation, trepidation and being just busy getting the last bits together. I built my resupply boxes on Monday, it took the entire day but came together well. The most time consuming part was making huge bowls of porridge and nut mix; weighing and portioning them out.

After the previous weekend of tent disaster I researched tent pegs and watched many videos on how to optimise the Tarptent Notch Li in high wind. I ended up getting full length MSR Groundhog pegs. They're heavier, but long and seemingly bulletproof, a worthwhile trade-off for peace of mind.

Amidst all this I had a job opportunity come up that was too good not to pursue, which required numerous formal and informal interviews and developing a presentation and series of complex architecture diagrams to deliver to a panel. It added considerable stress but was worthwhile, I received an offer Friday! It's exciting to know that it's waiting when I finish.

My final packing was much quicker than I expected, showing the value of all the prep work. I exported my lighterpack to a spreadsheet and marked everything off as I packed it. It was great having certainty everything was there and not second guessing myself.

Saturday came and we were off in a blink. The girls were very cuddly and sad to see me go, with a teary Evelyn making a final request that I don't die. Eventually I won't be able to fulfil that promise!

Our first stop was Burra to drop off resupply #4 and grab a coffee. What a lovely town, I look forward to our visit on trail. The time passed quickly with some great conversation. Dave Senior is a passionate outdoorsman who has travelled much of Australia and was an outdoor educator. Learning about his experiences and the equipment that was available back then made me feel fortunate with my high tech and by comparison extremely lightweight loadout. Many things weren't available commercially in his time and he'd made a lot of his own gear.

Next stop Crystal Brook to drop off resupply #3. My phone booking hadn't made it into the diary but they had rooms so no problem. We ate a tasty lunch and got back on the road.

Then something terrible happened.

If you have any trauma or are triggered by car accidents you might want to skip this bit.

We were in a major car accident that resulted in both cars being written off. Our car was hit on the front corner at very high speed.

It happened so fast. I was in the passenger seat and have memories in frames.

Realising something was wrong and calling out. Calling again more forcefully, and hearing Dave do the same from the behind. Thinking there was still room to avoid this, and then seeing it become inevitable. The tremendous noise of impact. Disorientation, ears ringing. Thinking airbags are much bigger than I imagined. Coming to a stop, wondering if we're all ok. Smoke coming through the vents in the dashboard. Breathing shallow due to the toxic stink of a chemical fire. Trying to get out, the door is locked. Urgency.

Everyone in both cars were ok through a combination of luck and modern car safety systems. The 4 in our car were immediately out and walking although shaken. The passenger in the other vehicle was physically ok but in serious shock. I tried to help calm her while waiting for emergency services and my medkit got its first use to help treat some minor cuts.

All the first responder staff were great, calm and helpful. I expect an event like this would sometimes be far more tragic. For my part, I had some reasonable chest pain near my sternum and hints of a sore jaw and neck from the impact. The ambo suggested I go to hospital to be checked out due to the proximity of the pain to my heart.

I didn't think anything was seriously wrong but took the advice and was taken to Crystal Brook Hospital. I wasn't sure if we would be able to continue and thought discussing with a doctor would help with decision making. I had an ECG, blood and urine tests and a careful physical. Shoutout to Dr Casey and the team, everyone was lovely and professional.

The doc had no serious concerns from the impact and said if I felt up to it he thought I was ok to walk. Meanwhile Dave's wife Ali en route from Adelaide to help us out, what a legend. The police had given Dave a lift to the hospital to join me. Ali arrived and we resumed the drive, a little shaken and mostly grateful.

The rest of the drive was thankfully uneventful, we dropped off remaining resupply boxes. We met our first trail legend Kingsley who was completing his final section of the Heysen and was loving his stay at Elizabeth House in Quorn. The Hawker Hotel had a great vibe and served a fantastic meal, I'm really looking forward to out stay at the end of section 1!

We arrived at Wilpena Resort around 9pm. I had a bath, settled in to sleep, wondering how sore I would be in the morning and whether either of us would be in a state to commence to schedule.

Next entry - Section 1: The Wild West