That’s right, there is now only 5 months to go until we embark on one of Australia’s most iconic and epic 4WD trips. I thought I’d take this opportunity to to recap on a few important items that need to be locked in prior to hitting the road.
As we all know, heading off into the middle of Australia requires a fair bit of planning and while many stops along he way will have accommodation and food available, there will be a 4 to 5 night stretch in the desert where there will be no food, water or toilet facilities so we have to be totally self sufficient.
We’ve been putting a few things in place for this and we have some others on the go.
Normally on a trip like this we would have our chemical toilet however due to the lack of water in the desert we have taken a different approach and purchased a Popup Pooper (google it). This toilet uses biodegradable bags that have a gel that can absorb up to 2 litres of liquid.
We’ve been investigating drinking water storage solutions and we’re currently deciding between A) a custom made drinking water bladder which will hold 50 litres of water and costs $236 delivered, and B) 5 x 10 litre water casks (pureau brand) which would cost approx $45. We’re thinking the casks might be the way to go for simplicity and cost reasons. We plan to buy a few soon to test them out for size and position. We also have our 35 litre water tank which is mainly for washing etc but is also a backup for drinking if required.
We’ve recently purchased our MaxTrax recovery boards/traction aids and while we haven’t had a chance to try them out yet at least we’ve got the ticked off the list.
Today I looked at purchasing our desert parks pass to have it in advance of our trip. You can purchase in advance but not have it ‘activate’ until you need it, however this only extends 60 days into the future meaning I could only set the start date as the 24/3, which is 3 months too early. I’ve set a reminder for March so I can get ours well before we leave, but with an activation date just before we get to Innamincka.
This weekend were also looking at our desert food options, which will include items that don’t require a lot of water to prepare, such as pre cooked rice, couscous, tinned meals etc. keeping in the back of our mind that we have to take all our waste out with us.
Clothing is another point of discussion for today. As you should be aware, temperatures in the desert can get very low over night, to below zero, so we need to be prepared for extremes in temperature. Being summer, the popular hiking/camping stores will be looking to off load last seasons cold weather gear so we’re heading to Mountain Designs and Anaconda to see if we can pick up a bargain on thermal under garments that can be layered with our other clothing as required.
Shoes are also an important topic and while thongs might be to go during the day, at night a decent set of boots should be on the list to make sure there are no scorpion related evacuations!!
5 months to go!! Getting excited!!
Cheers,
Kent