Team Essence - The Rogues of Desert Trekking

2 months ago

HERE IT IS! After big sleeps and big eats here are the final 3 days of our adventure.

I can't thank you all enough for the support that we didn't even know we were getting throughout the 8 weeks.

We are so close to our target of 30, 000 and the donation page is still up and running.

mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/mathewbennett1

Day 55
37km Covered
I tried desperately all day, hunting through my mind for new day dream material but it seems at this point I've exhausted all my resources. I ended up with a soft fluffy bed rolling through my thoughts inspired by the bruises on my hips and shoulders. My swag has been flattened to beyond an inch of its life and now that my skeletal system is poking through I wake up more sore than I go to sleep.
With the busier roads we are getting stopped more and more and personally I'm pretty over the conversations that go nowhere and say nothing. I'm polite and friendly but quickly wave goodbye. So when Matty stopped up ahead at a van, we figured they must speak English because he was held up longer than the usual "hello, ok goodbye." From a distance it looked like a large Caucasian female in shorts shorts with a crop top and 3 other guys. As we approached we got the warning call, "They have vodka!" And I immediately slowed down my steps, delaying the inevitable.
Bloody hell. I don't know why this still catches me off guard after all this time. It was 2pm, hot as hell, I hadn't eaten much because of he heat and we still had 15km to go and now I was going to get hit with a shot of voddy. The female in shorts which was actually a really pasty huge Mongolian man who had hitched up his shorts and knotted his shirt, handed me a mug. One of the 4 guys spoke a very small amount of English and while I deliberated whether or not to just throw the shot over my shoulder while they weren't looking they pulled out a bottle of ice cold water. I could forgive the forced vodka for icy water.
It didn't take long for the alcohol to hit me. I'm a light weight at the best of times and now in my desert state a single shot had me swerving and stumbling through the corrugations repeating in my head, "I'm sorry body, I promise I will take care of you soon."
The end is near, our bodies and minds know it now and it's getting harder to keep them pushing forward, especially when there's vodka involved.

Day 56
38km Covered
Matty woke up like a kid at christmas. Today his girlfriend, the woman that we now knew everything (probably more than she’d like) about touched down in Ulaanbataar. We kicked off the day an hour early so Harrie would reach us in time for a civilised celebratory dinner of eggs and salami on bread.
I have been walking for the last week without music or podcasts, just thoughts skipping along, from beat to random beat. Partly because I’m over my playlists, partly because my ear phones now produce a small high pitched squeal and partly as another little personal mind challenge.
A rumble from the clouds suggested rain, but I didn’t think much of it, most storms we’ve seen were all show no go. But this one had happened to have a goodbye present for us and the clouds opened up and the scramble was on to protect the swag that could now fit in our nearly empty food duffels. The storm brought a better present with it though, minutes later Harries car came cruising over the hills that held our final destination.
This beautiful barbie doll bounded out of the car and wrapped herself around Matty. She looked shiny and new compared to us, the dishevelled travellers and the reunion reminded me of when Luke landed from his row. Doing things like this is one thing when you don’t have someone special waiting for you, but as Matty knows now, missing someone adds a whole new element to the world of adventure. She hugged us all then jumped back in the car to meet us 4km down he road. I wanted to nuzzle my face in her hair for an awkward amount of time, it smelt like a dandelions and butterflies and made me instantly crave a shower. One more sleep Elise.
As we reached our final ever camp the rain cleared so we could have our feast and of course, a toast, Mongolian style. Before we ate I gave Mum a quick call on the Sat phone to announce we are were just kilometres from the finish line. I was excited, but her tone didn’t match mine and after I finished my rambling she told me Grandma had been taken to hospital. Nothing can make you feel further away from your family than bad news on a bad line. Home soon Elise.
It was time for my last vodka shots in the desert. The bottle went around the circle and Tumuro made a little speech which, true to form Orgil translated terribly and we still have no idea what his father actually said, but I’m sure it was something along the lines of “If any other crazy bastards want to do this don’t give them my number!”
I never thought alcohol would play such a large role in my first adventure but here it was, Chinggis Gold, the feature. Down the hatch Elise.
And now, in a warm drunken haze all that was left was one more sleep. One more night in a nylon cocoon of my husbands gas. One more day of buckling up a harness, squeezing my blistered toes into boots and baby wiping my bits. One more night on my first ever adventure. On this final night the sky hung out a moon so bright that it felt like a spotlight was on us. Like we were on stage and this was our moment.
Take it in Elise.

Day 57 - The final day!
16km covered
The moons light and the anticipation of the finish line kept me awake and by 3am I was ready to get up and get to the end. We would finish on Lukes birthday, the goal we had set for ourselves in week 3.
At 4am with a fruit cake from London and candles Matty entered the tent, “Happy Birthday to you…”
“Oh yeah it’s my birthday!” Im no longer offended if he doesn’t remember mine when he doesn’t remember his own.
We entered the town through the ruins of an abandoned Soviet military base, I didn’t have high hopes for our little finishing town of Sainshand. And those low hope were affirmed when the ruins finished and the town dump began. The last few kilometres of our 1822km walk were old boots, tyres and animal carcasses and just to be cute, the Gobi through in uphill corrugations with a head wind.
But as we reached the top of our final hill we saw the town and the words I’d been wanting to say for so long slipped out of my mouth, “We did it.”
With the Australian, British and Mongolian flags waving behind us we descended into the town and finally after 8 weeks crossed the invisible finish line. There were no people cheering, no flashing cameras or loud music. Just us and the knowledge of what we had a achieved. An old man approached us just as we moved off, “Sain uu” I said politely and on cue he ignored me and turned to the wall to take a piss. I had to laugh at the absolute non event for everyone except the 3 of us. Even if we could explained what we just did, I don’t think they would believe me anyway.
After a shower and an ice-cream we were in the car. In just 6 hours we covered the 500km back to Ulaanbataar, a distance that had just taken us 2 weeks to walk. The perspective was somewhat devastating but equally incredible. This place looked so harsh through the car window and we had just survived it.
We clambered into the hostel, exhausted but still beaming at that memories of the last 2 months.
The owner greeted us, “You’re back, where did you go in Mongolia?”
“Well we actually just walked from Altay to Sainshand, the entire Gobi Desert.. with carts!” Luke replied energetically and eager to elaborate further.
“Oh how nice, I will need your passports and 400,000 for the room.”
Aaah, back to reality.
But, even if nobody wants to hear them, we will always have in our back pocket the story of the time we crossed the Gobi Desert.

...Until the next adventure! ... See MoreSee Less