Find your pace in Alice Springs

The quad bike engine roars to life underneath my leather-clad body and I speed off across the red-dirt outback road, the wind in my hair.

Thud!

My Mad Max moment is lost in a cloud of dust and the instructor walks into my wonky view.

“A little less attitude,” he says.

I’m stuck on an embankment, struggling to stay upright on the bike.

Sunscreen is dripping into my eyes and I’m flushed with embarrassment. Thankfully, no one can see my face through the helmet’s visor.

Somewhere up ahead on the farm, my friend Sally is grinning like a maniac. She loves the speed of the bike, the heat of the sun, the rugged terrain.

I wish I was still riding a camel during last night’s tour, watching the colours of a dying sunset dance across Alice Spring’s cool, starlit sky.

But today we’re on Undoolya Station, the oldest working cattle station in the Northern Territory and 20 minutes from town, mostly on a bumpy dirt road.

Bike instructor Frosty tells us about the generations of farmers who have mustered cattle on this unforgiving land, replacing horses with quad bikes and helicopters in recent times.

“If I never have to get on another nag I’ll be happy,” he says.

I’ve discovered that quad bikes are a far cry from my tiny hatchback back home.

I’m struggling to steer the revving beast and feel especially jealous of Sally, who takes to the machine like a duck to water.

But I’m determined to make my Scottish dairy farming ancestors proud and politely decline the offer to ride shotgun with the other instructor.

I’m already far behind the group and end up driving down the wrong track.

Frosty is very patient with me. I can tell I look like an accident waiting to happen but he lets me be stubborn and stay on my own bike.

“You’re in the Northern Territory – time to toughen up,” he shouts to the group.

I take it to heart, thinking of people like Frosty, farmers who defied the odds to survive and thrive on this arid range.

It takes almost two hours, but by the end I get the hang of quad biking, picking up speed and even conquering some rocky hills.

Sally, who is covered in red dirt and already planning her next Alice Springs quad biking experience, says I get points for participation.

We’ve had our own favourite outback experiences, but that’s why I love it here.

Whether you seek the thrill of the speed or the silence of the stars, Alice Springs is the place to find your own pace.

IF YOU GO

* To make a quad bike booking, visit oqa.com.au. For reservations, phone +61 8 8953 0697.

* To book a sunset camel tour, visit cameltracks.com. For reservations, phone 61 0 416 170 164.

* The writer travelled as a guest of NT Tourism

Advertise with us

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

alice springs