DESERT ROK

VOLKSWAGEN’S NEW AMAROK SETS OUT ON ITS FIRST OUTBACK TEST OF METTLE AGAINST THE ELEMENTS AND THE CLOCK

- DANIEL GARDNER

EPIC fantasy novelist Terry Goodkind once said “If the road is easy, you’re likely going the wrong way” and after a week in the desert with the new Volkswagen Amarok I’m convinced the author was not only referring to our trip, but we were somehow the subject of one of his extraordinary books.

Before the fleet of 2023 Volkswagen Amaroks had even turned a wheel, this outback adventure had already changed course several times. An unseasonable weather pattern had dumped months worth of rain in parts of Australia that, from one year to the next, mightn’t see any at all, and over the weeks leading up to departure, it had been a game of chess with the elements.

The original plan had been to set out from Coober Pedy, head north to Dalhousie Springs before crossing the Simpson Desert from west to east via the Erabena Track and then on to Birdsville. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and, with extensive flooding across three states, plans A through E were abandoned in quick succession. As we departed Broken Hill in early July, Plan F was still very much a work in progress and relied on conditions to change for the better as we went. What could possibly go wrong? Further changes to the plan therefore were expected, but what was absolutely non-negotiable was our destination – 3000km away, the 10th Big Red Bash was waiting to provide the perfect reward of rock music and cold beer to a convoy of weary travellers.