After spending the night at the Kulgera Roadhouse the night before and savoring in the local pub fare we set off at about 05:30 the next morning for the 126km drive towards the Lambert Centre. I dropped my brother off near an Indigenous settlement up the road and then drove to the turnoff to the Lambert Centre where I parked the car, grabbed my pack and set off on the 4WD track. I knew there were no taps on the track or at the centre so carried 2.5L of water and endurance fuel in my pack along with some muslie bars which was enough to get me out and back. I probably could have carried a bit more, I was trying to conserve fluids and this might have been the cause of some muscle cramping towards the end.
My brother caught up to me around 7km and ran with me for about a kilometer before trotting off ahead. I reached the centre of Australia, signed the guest book, had a photo under the flagpole and then returned down the same track to make my way back to the start.
The track is a mix of hard dirt and soft sand (I would say about 80% is soft sand) which made for very slow going at times due to the feet sinking in the sand rather than propelling you forward. This combined with the dry air and the altitude made for a tough run which got me towards the end and I needed to walk / jog the last few k's. But the scenery is stunning, the track is pretty easy to navigate and I couldn't have thought of a better place to run in solitude.
Once I returned to the car I drove back up the road where my brother was waiting after finishing his run. I picked him up and we went back to Kulgera for a well earned beer at the pub.