Kalumburu Remote Community Bike Camp

If you fly to Perth, jump in the car and drive 35 hours 3000km to the northern part of Western Australia, you will eventually arrive at Kalumburu Remote Community School. In fact, Kalumburu is the most remote settlement in WA, home to the Kwini people, with about 470 residents as of 2022.

On the banks of the King Edward River, 565 kilometers from the nearest township of Kununurra, Kalumburu Remote Community is an ideal starting point for mountain biking.

But Kalumburu Remote Community School, has facilitated a week-long 'Bike Camp' for a few selected students each year since 2015. Principal Simon Duncan has now managed 3 camps, the 2024 iteration took place a few weeks ago.

Covering about 135km over three days, their journey tests the children's limits in a remote and difficult environment, building relationships and resilience while exploring their unique environment on their journey from Kalumburu to Mitchell Plateau; home of the Wunambal Gaambera people.

The school uses a range of Norco fat bikes, which are suitable for the rocky, sandy and sometimes rocky terrain of the camp.

We spoke to Simon about the 'bike camp' scheme, and what it means for the community.

It's for kids who we think can really benefit from building their resilience. We open it from year 4 to 12', explains Duncan. 'This year, out of 8, only two had been to the previous camp, so 6 were starting the journey.'

'In order to enter the camp, we run the training that leads us. We're going into term three and we're starting our training in the middle of term two and we're keeping a record of who's coming, and that's an influencing factor as to who's going to come.'

'We also judge “can you do it?” as it is far, and the third factor is who can really benefit from such a camp ', emphasizing the intensity that results from spending a week on bikes.'

'Sometimes children want to give up on that first leg, the first 5km journey. We all have to step in and work together as a team, it's about supporting them with that.'

'Once they get past that first trip and know they can do it, there's a real sense of accomplishment each day and a real sense of accomplishment when they get to Mitchell River.'

'We took 8 children and four workers, which sounds like a lot of workers but we need two vehicles to support us. We have two employees with cars and we have two employees with children; one will lead the ride and the other behind. We communicate with walkie talkies. We ride for a while and take turns (front and rear crew rider).'