Double trouble

Since childhood, brothers Paul and Phil Gedye have been lifelong motorcycle enthusiasts.

Yet one item had remained on the bucket list – taking on the infamous tracks of Australia’s rugged interior.

“I’d been aiming to do the Simpson Desert crossing for a few years. We’d been training for a while, had health checks and had our bikes ready for 18 months." Paul said. 

In May 2024, the duo set off, towing their bikes from Melbourne to Leigh Creek, a town at the northern end of the Flinders Ranges.

From there, they swapped to bikes and began the first leg of their journey, 800 kilometres on dirt to Mount Dare – on the cusp of the SA-NT border.

“They were probably the worst roads I’ve ever imagined – they were wide, flat, corrugated with wheel ruts from all the road trains,” Paul said.

After a couple of days of successfully navigating the rough roads, the outback’s unpredictability finally caught up with the brothers.

“We were just out of Mount Dare, I must’ve been a bit fatigued or picked the wrong line and I hit a patch of bulldust, or gibber as they call it, and there was no warning,” Phil said.

“The bike came flying over, piledrove my legs into the ground and I saw stars.

“I couldn’t move because the bike was on my legs.”

They managed to remove the bike and gently move Phil into the shade as he caught his breath.

In search for help, they made it to Mount Dare Hotel, one of the country’s most remote pubs, where staff contacted the Flying Doctor.

“When we got to Mount Dare – Phil wasn’t making sensible conversation and didn’t look good,” Paul said.

An RFDS team with a specialist from the Medical Retrieval Consultation Centre (MRaCC) was dispatched from the RFDS Alice Springs Base.

After hearing had made it to Alice Springs Hospital, Paul laid low for a couple of nights before starting the trek back home.

On the way back to Leigh Creek to collect his car, Paul was staying overnight in William Creek when he developed some strange symptoms.

Fortunately for Paul, William Creek had an RFDS Virtual Emergency Centre that provides 24/7 help. 

“This autonomous clinic at William Creek is the most innovative thing I’ve ever seen… You have a real-life doctor on a video screen – the care in their eyes and the knowledge, it’s so unique." Paul said.

 Watch the video above for the full story.