INTO THE FINKE

An unexpected adventure in the ancient Red Centre

- DAN GREC

Every now and then on my travels, I find myself needing to take a step back - to slow down and really absorb the scene around me. I'll often catch myself wondering how I ended up here, and whether the moment unfolding in front of me is even real.

Leaning back from the fire, I rewind my memory and take stock of where we are. We're deep in Finke Gorge, central Australia, camped on the sandy banks of the world's oldest river. The Jeep's buried to the axles in soft sand - but that's tomorrow's problem. Right now, we've got more pressing matters, like roasting a kangaroo tail over the fire. And no, that's not slang - it's the actual tail of an actual roo, cooking slowly in the coals.

Dingoes yip at the nearly full moon, and now and then their eyes flash in our headlamps. Above us, the Milky Way stretches from one horizon to the other - a blanket of stars so vast it's almost impossible to take in.

Like all the best adventures, we ended up here entirely by accident - and when we set out, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

A CHANCE MEETING

It had been nearly a month since we'd waved goodbye to the new mates we made slogging through the muddy Oodnadatta Track in the rain, and we honestly didn't expect to see them again. Always on the lookout for a quiet wild camp, Katie and I pulled off the highway south of Alice Springs and found the perfect waterhole just 10 minutes in. Straight away, I spotted a familiar old Ford Maverick - and sure enough, up from the murky water came Matt, grinning like always.