Wednesday 21 May 2014

Who is driving to the Pub??

What if I break my leg and cant drive? What if I am bitten by a snake? What if I have problems with my eyes and I cant see? What if I need someone else to drive to the nearest town for more beer?

These are not normally the kinds of questions I have with my wife but they were important seeing we are about to head off on our trip to the outback.

While Kathy is a very capable driver (I had to say this as she is probably reading this post) and drives the 4WD every day to and from work, I realised that the speed humps in the local shopping centre were probably not a good enough test of what we may experience over the coming months. So with this in mind we went and did the 4WD training course which is run by the Toyota Landcruiser Club which we are a member.

This involved 2 days of learning:

The difference between winches to snatches (I though this related to previous people I knew);
dead man anchors (lets hope I never need to do that);
why high lift jack are designed for macho men to stick on their car roof and serve no other real purpose;
how to repair a tyre with a piece of chewing gum, string and kitchen fork (well something like that);
successful water crossings without being eaten by crocodiles (it turns out children are the perfect size for walking the rivers to see how deep they are);
how to climb steep hills and then come down them again without rolling over;
how to avoid large rocks jumping out and damaging the car (oops – I don’t think I leant that this weekend)

It was a great chance to really experience where the car is capable of going. It also turned out that the women drivers mastered the course better than many of the men on the course…..except me obviously.

A special thanks to the volunteer teachers from the Toyota Landcruiser Club who did a great job. I can highly recommend it.

1 comments:

Wednesday 14 May 2014

How I survived 71 Days lost in a desert hell!

As a major part of my job has been building a new Library I thought I would do the right thing and actually go and borrow some books. I thought this would be a great opportunity to do some reading to get me excited about the big trip ahead. The question was – what to look for?? So trusting technology I went to the library book search and typed in “outback”. I hope this is not a bad omen but the first two books that came up in the search were:

‘Left for Dead in the Outback’

and ‘Surviving Australia – A survivors guide to travelling through the Australian Wilderness’!!!!

Now I know I was after some ‘exciting’ reading but I am not sure if this is what I had in mind. Luckily for me the next book on the list was not as bad (‘The Grey Nomad’s Guidebook’).

While I must say the grey hair is starting to come through (not helping by the above books) I don't think I qualify as a grey nomad so I settled on a couple of other books hopefully more relevant.

Lets just hope I don't need a camel to rescue me!

2 comments:

Saturday 10 May 2014

Getting Organised

Trip preparation is one of those activities that is just as exciting as the trip itself. There are lots of extremely helpful blogs from travellers that have decided to share their experiences of travelling the outback. I have even collected a few that I have enjoyed reading the most here - http://jaysea007-4wd.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/some-great-4wd-adventures.html

As you spend a little time reading the numerous travellers that have gone before you it does not take long to realise that there are 2 kinds of people:

Those that spend their entire time consumed by the latest 4WD gadget, loading up the car and camper with every imaginable accessory, tool and spare part. Some are an ARB brochures wet- dream with vehicles with the latest bull bar, LED lights, suspension, drawers, radio, mud tyres, 5 inch lift, chipped engine, hot water, cold water, fridge, freezer and kitchen sink. Not to mention every electronic device invented including ipad, GPS, sat phone, UHF, HF, CB, DVD, NFI…. The list goes on. Then there is the spare oil, spare wheel, spare axel, and spare spare . With this much weight I would imagine that they would be lucky to get out of the driveway before something broke. Their journey is planned to precision with camp sites booked, toilet stops confirmed and a precise travel time more accurate than a Qantas flight (although that would not be hard).
Then there is the traveller on a whim. Those that head out with whatever vehicle they can afford (usually with a dog on the back), a swag and can opener. The most that is organised is whether they are heading north or south.

Part of me wishes I could be in the second category. However with three kids and the wife on board I figure some level of responsibility is called for. Therefore I have tried to limit the planning to some of the most obvious requirements. It is also extremely helpful that I am completely non-mechanically minded therefore there is little point in taking a mig welder, spare injector unit or anything requiring more than a hammer and screwdriver to fix. So – with this in mind the last month will focus on getting the basics under control.

To Darwin by Dirt