A new day begins on the cattle drive

To really taste the outback, you have to eat the dirt. And I have eaten Australia's red earth - a mouthful of the stuff courtesy of the horse that threw me into the parched plains of the world's largest cattle station, Anna Creek.

Oh, the ignominy! Just minutes earlier I had been introduced to my ride, a "gentle girl" named Take Two. Take Two is right. Take Two minutes to throw me off her back.

Having picked myself up from among the saltbush and sand, and having ascertained that no bones were broken, I had to concede that the fault might not lie entirely with the horse.

When Take Two broke into a run, I lost my cool entirely, flailing around in a manner which only encouraged more of a canter. I had enough loose rein to lasso an emu and, therefore, little hope of hanging on. This was patiently explained to me by rangy Aussie stockman Adam Lichfield, a man born to ride, looking down from his high horse on a man clearly born to slide.

The Doc puffed up beside us. "Son, you look a bit shook up. Maybe you should jump in the ute and call it a day."

Adam spat in the dirt, looked me in the eye, and said: "You gotta climb back in that saddle. It's the only way."

Actually, he never spat in the dirt, I just thought that would look better in the movie. Because the cameras were rolling - the Discovery Channel having also travelled into the baking heart of this vast continent to capture The Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive experience on film.

My shame was made complete by sorry stares from 30 other mostly novice riders. From grandads to office juniors, some from parts of the world where they can't even spell "horse", let alone be expected to ride one, they all sat safely in their saddles.

The Outback Cattle Drive is a rare experience, a unique adventure in which almost anyone of moderate fitness and confidence can participate. Riders and horses are carefully matched to ensure, as well as possible, that you'll enjoy the thrill of helping drive 500 head of cattle along South Australia's historic Oodnadatta Track.

The fact that no amount of planning can cover every possibility involving untrained man and beast in the outback is what makes the Cattle Drive the adventure it is. But spills are rare, and there's a medic on duty and the Royal Flying Doctor Service on call.

Of course, I climbed back in the saddle, and after being led around for a bit by a drover with a "Jesus rope" (presumably so named because it saves), Take Two and I worked out our differences. The next day they gave me Missy, so docile I felt I should offer her a ride.

The road to The Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive begins at Coober Pedy, opal capital of the world, 846km north of Adelaide, 685km south of Alice Springs, and a place so searing hot that people live in caves. From a winter low of -7C, the mercury soars in summer to as high as 53C.

We arrive at Coober Pedy by plane from Adelaide and leave by bus over 178km of dirt road that joins the Oodnadatta Track at William Creek, population 16. En route you pass through the Dog Fence, a 5400km barrier stretching from the Great Australian Bight to the foothills of Queensland's Bunya Mountains to keep dingos out of the southern sheep runs. North of the Dog Fence is cattle country.

When it comes to cattle country, nothing beats Anna Creek Station - 26,000sq km of outback South Australia. It's bigger than Belgium, home to 15,000 cattle and 150 horses, 1000km from the nearest city and more than six hours driving on dirt tracks from one boundary to the other. In summer, the temperatures can get hot enough to burst your tyres. This is no place for the faint-hearted.

In the old days, cattle were mustered by drovers on horseback on stations like this all over the Queensland and South Australian outback.

Great mobs were driven for hundreds of kilometres along routes, including the famous Birdsville and Oodnadatta tracks, to railheads. Today, spotter planes and motorbikes do the job, but horses are still used by station hands, and it was a desire to see the tradition of the cattle drive survive that led to a handful of cattlemen dreaming up the Great Australian Outback Cattle Drive for the 2002 Year of the Outback.

People paid to climb into a saddle and drive cattle down the Birdsville Track. They made friends with hard-bitten drovers around campfires at night, mixed with the locals, saw for themselves the vast, haunting beauty of the outback and experienced another Australia, a million miles from the shopping malls of Sydney.

The Cattle Drive was repeated in 2005 and is on again in 2007, this time on the Oodnadatta, an 850km route along the path of the old Ghan Railway, passing the southern border of the Lake Eyre National Park.

Halfway between Oodnadatta and Marree, the end points of the track, is William Creek, home to 16 people and one pub, sited at the former junction of the long-gone Overland Telegraph Line and the disbanded Ghan. William Creek is surrounded by Anna Creek Station, and the only way to truly appreciate the immensity of this landscape is from the air - scenic flights can be booked through Wrights Air (www.wrightsair.com.au). To see the expanse of Lake Eyre and the beauty of the nearby Painted Desert from above is an experience you won't soon forget.

The Cattle Drive follows 390km of desert country, with groups of riders joining the drovers for five-day journeys. After some riding instructions and a rundown on safety in the outback ("don't pick up any long slithery things, they're called snakes"), there's a short familiarisation ride near camp, which I suspect is so the stockmen can work out if any darn fool is going to fall off his horse.

Once the drive is under way, you'll slowly work the flanks of the mob until the cattle and horses are progressing at an easy walk. Now there's time to marvel at the clay pans, gibber plains and ironstone which make up much of this beautiful, arid, ochre and dun-coloured county. The horizon shimmers like a hot skillet even though these are the cooler months of May and June. If it was summer, you'd be fried alive. Look out for majestic wedgetail eagles, the occasional kangaroo or emu and, on the ridges, clumps of mulga, cane grass and eucalyptus. Anna Creek has been in the teeth of a drought for more than six months, but when the rain returns, the outback greenery will burst into life within hours.

At the end of the day, the cattle will be corralled near a water supply, usually a spring fed by the Great Artesian Basin. On the old drives, the aim was to get the cattle to the railhead in better condition than when they started, so good pasture and water was a priority. The horses will be penned nearby while the riders return to the camp and ease off their boots.

Sunset is a blaze of orange and red across the outback, and when night falls, the sky is full of stars. No street lights or police sirens out here. It gets cold quickly, and beds in comfortable tents beckon, but there is always a roaring campfire on the Cattle Drive and the food dished up is sensational.

Around the campfire you can yarn with locals such as Eric Oldfield, the 78-year-old patriarch of the Cattle Drive and its first head drover. He lives 200km up the road at Marree, seldom leaves the outback and has certainly never stepped foot outside Australia. "I don't need to go see the world," he rasps. "The world comes to me."

Too much wine and song around the campfire with characters like Eric is an easy trap to fall into. And while you might curse your folly when the cowbell clangs at sunrise, take solace that this is a once in a lifetime experience. Quite possibly, the most fun you can have on four legs.

NEED TO KNOW

Getting there: Qantas flies Auckland-Adelaide direct. The Cattle Drive can organise transfers to join the drive.

Cattle Drive tours: There are seven tours available between May 5 to June 10. Each costs AU$2250 (NZ$2773) per person. Meals and accommodation are included, flights and transfers are not.

Riding experience: People of any riding ability can take part. Horses are only ridden at a walking pace.

Outback festivities: Outback communities organise events alongside the Cattle Drive. The 117th Oodnadatta Races, William Creek Gymkhana and Marree Final Event all coincide with the drive.

More information: The website www.cattledrive.com.au has full details on the Cattle Drive experience.

Booking: Email info@satc.co.nz or go to www.cattledrive.com.au or contact United Travel or Holiday Shoppe.