Don’t eat freshly purchased BBQ Chicken while in the car park of the Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta. I dare you to try it, suffice to say you may lose a finger to a ‘chicken’ hawk in the process.
If taking a 4×4 Ute across the desert, ensure heavy items are carried over or in front of the rear axle, and completely deflate any support airbags. To not heed this lesson could mean you will also end up with a bent chassis.
Carry spare bolts for things that you think might break, but not so many that you weigh your vehicle down. Use common sense, think about what might fail given the excessive conditions.
Expect your plans to change and make allowances for it in your schedule. Rain and floods wait for no one.
If at first you don’t succeed, try something different. Take a different line, let some more air out. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Not sure how official that is but it sounds good.
Don’t rush.
Give yourself an extra day in the desert.
It will always take you longer to set up and pack down camp than you think.
Take a satellite phone or other emergency comms.
Always look behind you. Some of the best photos and scenery was experienced by simply turing around to see where we’d come from.
