After 11 years of trial and error, hundreds of sand dunes and a backside full of thorns, Geoff Wilson has become the first man to cross the Simpson Desert on a wind-powered buggy.
It took the Queenslander 12 days to conquer the 600-kilometre trip across the desert, dragged along in a buggy attached to a kite.
"I was quite convinced … it would be an impossible desert to cross using wind power," he said.
"It's just brutal."
It was Dr Wilson's third attempt to cross the stretch after running out of water in 2011 and cancelling his 2021 crack due to COVID restrictions.
After starting in Birdsville in outback Queensland, the Gold Coaster crossed the threshold near Alice Springs on Wednesday with his sail up and the wind on his back.
For the first time in his journey, his final day delivered a shock gale-force wind forecast of "breakneck speed".
Despite the 52-year-old being made of tough stuff, he was sure the desert would be the death of him.
Dr Wilson, a veterinarian from Currumbin, took his two dogs and a two-man support crew on his adventure.
He also had a weather forecaster from Belgium updating him with wind reports.
Serial adventurer tested
Dr Wilson is believed to be the first Australian to set foot on Antarctica's Pole of Inaccessibility, and he has broken records walking south to north across Greenland and crossing the Sahara Desert using wind power.
"The Simpson was my most challenging expedition so far," he said.
"The sand gets in every orifice. It gets in every moving part.
"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.
"You're pulling centimetre-long thorns out of your backside," he said.
"[Up to] seven times a day you're up in a tree trying to save the kite."
Knocking the wind out of his sails
For three days straight, the desert air was painfully still.
No wind meant Dr Wilson had to hook himself to the buggy and trek up to 20km a day by foot.
"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."
About 20 per cent of the journey was spent dragging the buggy attached by a rope around his waist.
He pulled it over more than 350 sand dunes.
When asked why he wanted to attempt the journey, Dr Wilson said it was simply a personal goal.
"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."
An 'emotional' family achievement
After his two earlier attempts over more than 10 years, Dr Wilson said he felt "very emotional" at completing the crossing.
He dedicated the journey to his son Kitale who started the dream with him when he was a child.
"We were both emotional because it was something we started together," Dr Wilson said.
He said he thanked the Wangkangurru Yarluyandi people, from whom he sought permission before commencing the journey.
"We paid respect to the land before we entered it," he said.
"It was almost as if the desert said, 'Okay, now you've finally done this the right way I can let you cross.'"
