G’day

Dads on Dirt was started by two long term mates, Mat and Josh, that in a cruel twist of fate in early 2025, lost an 18-year-old son and 17-year-old son within 3 weeks of each other. After a motorbike trip to the Finke Desert Race and Simpson desert in June 2025, they decided that the opportunity to experience joy, challenge, camaraderie and shared grief could be experienced by other parents negotiating the extreme grief of losing a child.

⁃ We are friendly, relaxed and caring.

⁃ We did this trip on motorbikes in 2025 and decided that we want others to share the anticipation, excitement and joy with us.

— We are building a network to bring dads out into the desert/country to enjoy an adventure with like minded people who can all understand each other.

⁃ This is not exclusive. We feel that this experience will help any others suffering grief.

⁃ We believe the camaraderie, purpose, and challenge are incredibly influential on our wellbeing and will have a positive affect on our dads.

2026 ITINERARY

⁃ A motorbike ride from Marree to the Finke Desert Race and then across the Simpson Desert,

Finke Race 6th-8th June 2026

Wed 3rd June- Meet in Marree

Thur 4th- Marree to Oodnadatta (420km)

Fri 5th- Oodnadatta to Finke (Aputula) trackside (via Mt Dare) (300km)

Sat 6th- Visit Alice or Chambers Pillar or prologue.

Sun 7th- watch Day 1

Mon 8th- watch Day 2 / Dalhousie via Mt Dare (173km)

Tues 9th- Dalhousie to Desert

Wed 10th- Desert to Desert

Thur 11th- Desert to Birdsville

Fri 12th- Birdsville to Marree (519km)

BIKE or 4WD

⁃ Road registered.

⁃ Capable of Simpson Desert crossing with good fuel capacity 400-700cc single cylinder motorbike or well equipped, capable 4wd.

⁃ Own spares.

COST

⁃ The purpose of the fundraising is to try and cover as many costs as possible.

Our aim is to try and cover fuel, food and accommodation costs to make it more accessible for as many people as possible.

⁃ We’ll have a support vehicle and trailer that can transport any bike break downs, camping gear etc..

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2026 will be our first year of dads on dirt and we are hoping to buy some equipment and get ourselves set up.

Rather than being a charity, we want to do something directly for dads who are suffering grief and don’t always know how to work through it, so getting out and having an adventure is our way to directly help dads.

Thank-you for your time.

Mat and Josh