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Riding from Alice Springs to Darwin

By Oscar Warren

I’m fundraising to help Camp Quality

In just under two weeks now, I’ll be riding my bike unassisted from Alice Springs to Darwin (around 1600kms). I am dedicating the ride towards fundraising to help Camp Quality support kids facing cancer. Because every day, two Aussie families are given the heartbreaking news that their child has cancer.

Camp Quality gives kids facing cancer the chance to be kids again. Their services and programs are made specifically to help children 0 -15 who are dealing with their own diagnosis, or the diagnosis of someone they love, like a brother, sister, mum or dad.

It would be awesome if you could help too, by donating to help me reach my target.

As they say at Camp Quality “laughter is the best medicine” - so please give generously, so we can spread those smiles far and wide.

I’ll try and post updates of my ride on this page as much as I can, whenever I’ve got phone service :)

Thanks!

- Oscar

Day 1 Complete

Hi all!

I have touched down in Alice Springs and have ridden into town, a short 15ks from the airport today. Going to enjoy a nice 135kms tomorrow.

Thankyou all again for your generous donations!

Oscar

Day 2

Hi all,

Day 2 is complete - left Alice Springs at about 7:00am for a 135kms ride. Got pretty hot (36 degrees) but managed to finish up at about 3pm. Only 60ks tomorrow (yay)! Had a great dinner and staying at the Aileron roadhouse tonight.

- Oscar


Day 3

Hi all,

An easy day today - only 60kms from the Aileron roadhouse to a small town called Ti Tree. Easter spirits are high and the pub is nice!
Another short one tomorrow, 90kms to Barrow Creek, looking at probably a 5am departure time to avoid the 36-38 degree heat (not including the road temperature!)

- Oscar

Day 4

Hi all,

Today was a quick 90kms into Barrow Creek - left at 5am to beat the sun. Wind picked up last 40kms and slowed us down a bit.

Thanks very much to the lovely owners of the roadhouse here - they cooked us dinner even though they weren’t meant to be serving it tonight.

~110kms tomorrow into Devil’s Marbles. Leaving at 4am to beat the heat and sun, not looking forward to that 3:30am wake-up ???.

Thanks to Les from the Barrow Creek roadhouse for the $20 donation today!

-Oscar

Days 5, 6 and 7

Hi all,

Apologies for the delayed post - a result of the combination of spotty phone service and forgetfulness. But one week is complete!

Day 5 was a ride from Barrow Creek to Devil’s Marbles. Was 110kms and we passed through an abandoned UFO museum/campground was very creepy.

Day 6 we rode from Devil’s Marbles to Tennant Creek - the ride was a windy 115kms. Later that afternoon, after we had rested up in a day room, we rode out at 5am for another 25kms to Threeways (an intersection of highways). We stayed there for the night.

This morning (Day 7) we rode from Threeways to Renner Springs (137kms) - this was the hardest ride for me so far and we had to suffer through the heat for a fair distance. Got up to 40 degrees in the afternoon.

Thanks for all the generous donations, I am again amazed by how much I’ve beaten my goal.

Cheers
- Oscar

Days 8 and 9

Hi all,

Yesterday (Day 8) was absolutely massive. We left Renner Springs and rode 90kms into a strong headwind all morning, eventually getting caught out in the heat. After arriving at Elliott, we realised there was nowhere inside or comfortable to sit so we sat outside from 10am to 5:30pm on our air mattresses in 38 degrees heat (with 90% humidity ??). The original plan was to ride another 30km from Elliott and camp, but we decided to really push and ended up riding another 100kms (!!) to the next roadhouse, Dunmarra (which we only discovered existed that morning).

At 6:00 this morning we left Dunmarra for a quick 50kms ride to Daly Waters, where there’s a nice pub and accommodation. We are going to use our spare day that we had incase anything went wrong to have a break here for a day, as the three of us all are facing some significant injuries to manage.

So resting on day 10, and 90kms on day 11!

Cheers
- Oscar

Days 10 and 11

Hi all,

Firstly, thankyou all so much for your generous donations - we’re now over $2000 raised! Far more than my original goal of $500.

Day 10 we rested in Daly Waters - there was a lovely little pub with a pool, museum and animals. Was a well deserved rest as we had a pretty massive couple of days before.

Today (day 11) we rode from Daly Waters to Larrimah (92kms). Great little place here in Larrimah and we head off to Materanka tomorrow.

Cheers
- Oscar

Days 12 and 13

Hi all,

Yesterday (day 12) we rode from Larrimah to where we are now, Materanka. We are having a rest day today (day 13) - under 500ks to go now!

Materanka has these lovely hot springs and is a great spot to relax. Thankyou all for your generous donations - I’m blown away by the amount of support I’ve gotten.

Cheers
- Oscar

Days 14, 15, 16 and 17

Hi all!

Sorry for another delayed update. 

Day 14 we rode from Materanka to Katherine - a fairly major town in comparison to the rest of the ride. Unfortunately tensions were high there due to recent crime so we had a subdued night in the room and slept early.

Day 15 we rode from Katherine to Pine Creek - a lovely little historic mining town. The temperature has been a bit lower the past few days or so, meaning we can leave at 5am instead of the usual 3:30/4:00am, which is nice.

Today (day 16) we rode from Pine Creek to Adelaide River - has a nice pub here and we met another rider from Poland! His instagram/youtube is @4yearsonabike. He has ridden a very long way!!

Anyway, last day (Day 17) tomorrow! We should arrive in Darwin around lunchtime and will be finishing up at the pier - meaning I’ve had my bike on the pier and Glenelg last year and now Darwin too!

I can’t stress enough how blown away and grateful I am for all of your donations. I genuinely thought I’d be lucky to raise $250 when I first started this fundraiser and here we are at $3000! The money is going to an amazing cause and I’m sure camp quality is extremely thankful for your support as well. I wish there was a way I could upload some photos but if you’d like photographic evidence of the ride send me an email and I can provide some :)

I’m so excited to finish (to recover from some nasty saddle sores) but also as it’s a big achievement for me, given I couldn’t make it all the way to Alice Springs from Adelaide last years - I proved to myself that I can actually make it. Although I can’t promise I’ll be doing any more of these horrific routes through the outback any time soon. Maybe south of France with an electric bike riding 30ks per day from winery to winery?

I’ll make this the last blog post but again send me an email if you’d like any more info and I’d be happy to chat. I’ll probably leave the donation page open for another couple of weeks or so.

Thanks a million!
- Oscar

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

Raised

$3,797

My Goal

$1,250

Select amount to donate

$55
$120
$240
$360
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Donate

Thank you to my Sponsors

$113.94

Corinne, Hallie And Baylee Fernandez-markov

Brilliant work. Sorry we are late with support! You are fabulous for doing this. Love the Fernies

$59.40

Emma Schultz

Amazing work for an incredible organisation, Oscar!!

$120

Anne & Miko Witheford-montelibano

You are such an inspiration, Oscar!

$43.20

Jennifer Hornby

Well done x

$129.60

Pär, Malin, Hampus & Jakob

Fantastic achievement Oscar! Wish we could be there to cheer on you!

$21.60

Sheree

So proud of you Oscar🥰 We are looking forward to seeing you again soon. It’s been such a long time, but I can see you have grown into a fine young man. Congratulations on your amazing achievement. Sheree and Craig xx

$59.40

Carolyn Stewart

Well done Oscar!

$64.80

Family Hills

☆ It will be an unforgettable experience! Thank you for taking us with you.. and cycling for such an important cause! ♡♡♡♡

$120

Anita And Bruce Soar

$108

Sam Soar

$32.40

Paris Mcmahon

Awesome work Oscar!

$500

Janine Andrew Paddy

3 days to go Oski - it’ll be a massive achievement!!! Very very proud. The long hours and saddle sores will be worth it.

$55

Margie Ulbrick

Huge congratulations Oscar! Very inspiring

$19.44

Karla

Well Done Oscar.

$59.40

Tanya

Well done Oscar! Great determination and commitment plus a great cause.

$55

Sharon Phillips

Extraordinary achievement Oscar! Very proud of you challenging yourself for a great cause.

$32.40

Cindy Cunningham

Just awesome mate 👍🏽

$200

Tony Magers

Well done Oscar and good luck up North.

$216

Angie Magers

$54

Christopher Harn

$100

Dimitri & Katerina Lourandos

$59.40

Neil Stevenson

Oscar keep going you are a machine, I wish you’d set up camp for me.

$54

Russel C

$21.60

Les At Barrow Creek Hotel

Discount from Les at Barrow Creek Hotel

$21.60

Maathu

Proud of you cuzzy! Ride hard x

$666

Andy Liang

The true Chong King

$21.60

Libby Cunningham

$270

All-stars Sports

Awesome work Oscar!

$27

Alexander Wang

$380

Andy Liang

Less go

$20

Anya Lorenzen

$32.40

Christina Le

$59.40

G Ho

You got it