In May the Imposters hit the road for our second road trip. This time we ventured to the centre of Australia where we went on the Frontline Safari, a week long trip across the Simpson Desert. The trip is facilitated by military veterans and is a yearly fundraiser for veteran charities. This year was Salt Water Veterans. Frontline Safari is open to anyone to attend either on their dirt bike or as a tag along 4x4 with the aid of experienced support staff and safety sweep riders and is a very affordable way to cross the Simpson on a tour. We hit the desert In Burso's iconic Mitsubishi Delica. The Delica becoming somewhat of a legend by the end after all of it's doubters at the start of the trip.

We experienced an incredible lap of the centre of Australia. From our start at the iconic Marree Hotel (podcast with the amazing publicans out next week!), to driving up the Oodnadatta Track, onto the Mt Dare Hotel and swimming in Dalhousie Springs 37 degree (C) water (complete with tiny nibbling fish).

From there we crossed the 1100 sand dunes of the Simpson Desert, and what an experience it was. With some decent rain fall this year we're told there was much more foliage than normal, and as an Aussie, there was something remarkable about seeing vibrant green foliage atop deep red sand.

The views, sunsets and sunrises were incredible, and I realised that I'd never been to an area before where you could see the entire horizon whilst the sun set - amazing! Being hundreds of kilometres from any towns, it was also one of the darkest sky experiences I've ever seen, and that was even with a full moon whilst we were there. If you have never been to a place remote enough to truly see how many stars make up the Milky Way, do yourself a favour!

The Simpson Experience

The two nights camped in the Simpson were an incredible experience with two highlights being eating steaks by a raging campfire (thanks Ted and Chris - desert chefs), and seeing a dingo close up.

Burso and I also recorded two podcasts under the stars, powered by a Toyota Landcruiser with Frontline Safari founder Clay Marks and author Rod Henderson.

On the third night we crested the infamous sand dune 'Big Red' at approximately 8:30PM with a full moon high in the sky and even the Delica made it up. It was an incredible way to finish the crossing and we lingered on the top for quite a while. We then cruised into Birdsville to the iconic pub and celebrated the crossing with the whole group, with all riders and cars making it through.

I have to say, I can't believe I've waited so long to see such an immense place as the Simpson Desert and it has inspired me to see more of remote and outback Australia. On a tour like Frontline Safari, anyone with some riding experience, or a fairly standard 4x4 or dual cab can have this amazing experience with a support crew like Frontline. Case in point we had a team of 3 complete the entire crossing in a standard Ford Everest with road tyres. They did a great job, and saw a place most people might assume they don't have access to.

Clay Marks; Founder of Frontline Safari

During the trip we sat down for a pod with the founder of Frontline Safari - Clay Marks under the stars, in the middle of the Simpson Desert.

Have you listened yet?

Clay used to work with Burso as aircrew in Black Hawk helicopters (what a job) and is now in training to be a commercial helicopter pilot himself.

After leaving the Army, Clay used his experience in helicopters and worked for Care Flight, a company providing aeromedical intervention in and around Sydney, landing on roads and in urban areas to get specialist care to patients as efficiently as possible. Clay detailed the reality of seeing trauma daily in any job and particularly how hard it is for first responders attending incidents with children and the toll it takes.

We had a laugh about the duality of police roles and highway patrol in particular, with the tremendous efforts Clay observed by those member rushing to the scene and often being the first there despite only having relatively basic first aid training. We often feel the need to say that whilst some people may have negative interactions with police throughout their life, it is also important to remember that the cop who issued you a ticket for using your phone for example, may be the same one rushing to your aid the very next day during a burglary or car crash. It highlights that in all aspects of life, our experience of anyone is only a snapshot of that person.

We talked about how veterans in particular, after leaving service jobs make their new organisation their identity and how he often bemused his civilian colleagues by wearing company branded clothing even when he was not working. It reinforces the point that anyone that has served will likely be a very loyal employee in whatever field they choose post service.

After working in a corporate role, Clay has now pivoted and is pursuing his dream of being a helicopter pilot. He explained how anyone can become a pilot through the VET system and a flight school in their state. If you’re interested check out the links below: 

VIC 
NSW
QLD

This career is accessible to anyone that applies themselves. This was an awesome conversation that I think would be great for any aspiring pilots, and combined with next week's pod with the chief pilot of Arid Air in central Australia, it will give you a great perspective of an outback pilot life and how to get your hours up to get into bigger aircraft.

How Clay started Frontline Safari

Clay founded Frontline Safari in 2018 with the help and advice of some great friends and colleagues after he had crossed Simpson Desert himself solo and had a passion for riding in sand. Concurrently, Clay saw how some of the veteran charities, Soldier On in this case, could help veterans struggling after service and wanted to give back to this system. So starting with a big goal, and planning with the end in mind, he founded Frontline Safari, a once a year expedition across the Simpson Desert, facilitated by military veterans for paid customers from all walks of life. Frontline Safari runs the tour at low cost and all additional proceeds each year go to a veterans charity. This year was Salt Water Veterans.

This tour gives anyone with some experience on a dirt bike or very little in a four wheel drive the opportunity to see one of Australia's most remarkable landscapes without the stress or expertise required to cross the Simpson solo. 

Succeeding as a pilot and tour operator.

Clay told us one of the main factors in him deciding to become a pilot and taking a massive leap of faith founding Frontline Safari was that he had spent years surrounded by high achievers, from military and civilian pilots, to doctors on Care Flight aircraft, to executives in his corporate role. Clay's experience epitomises the quote, "You are the product of the five people you spend the most time with". Clay didn't have to be a pilot or doctor to be surrounded by these role models, he used the experience and qualifications he had to pursue roles that included these people. Critical to Frontline Safari's success is also the fact that Clay is not afraid to fail, and self professed that he has many times and is also open to, and in fact asks the tour group for feedback on a daily basis.

Clay said that you sometimes have to be wary of seeking feedback from people you know, and that 'tall poppy syndrome' can be a factor when people see you reaching for something new. It's often best to seek out people that have done what you want to do, you might be surprised how willing they are to help or mentor you.

Imposter takeaways

• Start with a big goal and take small steps planning with the end in mind

• Work to surround yourself with people you can learn from or seek advice

• Seek advice from people that have done what you want to do and beware of the critics.

Whether you're a dirt bike rider, have a 4x4 or dual cab ute, or can get a group together in one. Life is about building experiences and collecting sorties and this trip will be strong in our memories. We both plan to do it again next year and so should you! Check out Frontline Safari here

Rod Henderson; former soldier and author

We also sat down with another of Burso's former colleagues in the Simpson Desert, Rod Henderson who served in the Australian Army for 22 years as an infantry soldier and also as aircrew in Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters. Rod is now a published author with his book, "Stop Screaming, I'm scared too" (great title), being released this August 2024.

Whilst Rod has had a very interesting career by anyone's standards, he stressed that he is putting this book out to the world because it is an account of an everyday soldier, and day to day life in the Army. Whilst there are many great books written by Special Forces soldiers, Generals and Victoria Cross recipients, Rod wanted to tell a more common soldiers story.

Have you listened yet

He believes everyone has a story to tell and that there are three reasons people write:

1. To get a story our of your head
2. To record your story for history and to inspire others to do the same
3. For your family.

Initially, he documented his story as a manuscript to help get these stories out of his head and this is where Rod experienced an imposter moment, doubting if he had a story worthy of a book… Later after writing some articles with his colleagues and being encouraged that he indeed could and should write, he started to develop his manuscript into a book.

It highlighted a common imposter trend, that Rod didn't take any giant leaps to publishing a book, but instead worked on some articles with the Australian War Memorial, and also wrote an account of the 2023 Frontline Safari in Traverse Magazine, who's editor Leigh is a staple member. Rod simply took incremental steps to improve and be coached on his writing whilst he concurrently developed his book.

We talked at length about how he never wanted to tell the "I" in his story but only the "we", and how soldiers are conditioned this way, to always ensure their contribution is to the team and not for themselves, and so he wrestled with how to present this book, editing it many times over. He spent considerable time contacting all the people that were involved in each part of his book to ensure he had their recollection of events accurately and could give the truest version of events, which is the only way he felt comfortable publishing it.

Simply writing to get stories out of your head, is something that Rod encourages everyone to do. It is well documented that this can act as a form of therapy, and help to reconcile your experiences on the page (or screen). Rod told us what worked for him was to just start writing out events and stories from his career chronologically and you can build them out yourself after that. If you get your story onto the page, then it can potentially be edited and polished later. He told us that if you have a good story, a publisher will work with you in the editing phase as many of us are not great at structuring or punctuating stories and may not have applied ourselves in high school English. A more common trait of successful people than you might think.

Rod also spoke about the reality of sending your writing off to publishers and waiting by your emails for replies. This is no doubt a tough step for any writer and thankfully through Rod's network and people that had seen his writing, he was put together with Big Sky publishing, who were a great fit. It reinforces the point that if you seek out the right people in your life, particularly those that have done what you want to, they are often willing to lift you up and help you.

We also gained a novel perspective we had never heard before for anyone that has been in a high stakes/ high pressure career: We often receive exceptional training during our careers to condition us to control our fight, flight or freeze responses, particularly in an Army career like Rod’s, however we never receive any Un-training on the departure from those careers to temper traits like hyper-vigilance, default scepticism or over analytical brains. Rod submitted that if organisations can condition us to optimise these traits when they serve our profession, that they also should, and in fact have a duty of care to de-condition us when we leave these professions, which is something we agree is very much needed to see people succeed and integrate in other areas of their life.

Imposter takeaways

• Successful people take small steps on the way to achieving something big

• To reduce intimidation of releasing a story publicly, tell the team story and not just your own account

• If you seek out the right people they are more likely to lift you up and help

Due to his current job at the Australian War Memorial, Rod had a key role throughout the Frontline Safari trip reading stories of a different Australian Soldier on each night of the trip. This was very memorable, and gave a deeper experience to the attendees of the trip.

The find Rod, or to pre-order his book, you can find him here.

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Next week will be part two of our central Australian trip where we sit down for a pod with Phil and Maria, publicans of the Marree hotel and proprietors of Arid Air scenic flights. Phil and Maria have had a very interesting life in business even before their desert change.

Imposter Al.