Remote travel dilemma’s

As I'm growing older I tend to steer further away from mainstream thinking, viewing things differently.
The beauty about being human is we do make mistakes will continue to make mistakes it's how one learns which is also a form of education
So if it was not for the past and recent incidents perhaps there would be more fatalities.

Education is good, when I purchased my 4X4 first thing I did was a 4X4 drivers education course.

Second thing is no your limitations, if your not comfortable doing something don't do it! If possible watch others that know what their doing and if they for instance do a water crossing ok then ask for advice. Don't blindly follow a think because they made it you will too as you don't know what equipment they may have that has enabled them to get them through. Most are happy to help you out if your not sure.

Navigation, we did not go bush until we knew how to use our navigation gear, we also carry four systems for redundancy, one in car unit, main navigation system. A tablet with ozi, and phone with ozi and a hand held GPS. We come across people at times who don't know what track their on or what direction they are heading!

I'll prepared vehicles, and the occasional very well prepared vehicle but the people driving it have absolutely no mechanical knowledge. On a trip down the Anne Beadell a few years back there was a car with a broken leaf spring and the owner had no idea how to get the car going again. Most don't even know how to remove an air filter to clean it.

On a recent trip we were asked to pass a message onto a car that had broken down up the track, that a recovery had been arranged and to sit put. When we got there we found two 4X4 with heaps of advertising over them and the broken down Nissan sitting on the side of the road, car looked fine didn't ask what was wrong with it but it looked towable. My thoughts were though got all the slick gear, adds all over the car but no sat phone?

On the 7th of December 1998 tourist Caroline Grossmueller perished near Lake Eyre. As a result of that death, all hire 4WD campers are now required to have PLBs.
I suggest that has prevented several deaths since that time.
It is a simple and low cost solution to preventing these type of deaths, irrespective of what the root cause was and irrespective of education or stupidity.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

"Education is my answer to reducing problems. (Not regulation) But Whatever, nothing is going to stop all incidents unfortunately."

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Shane r1.

There is so much marketing of 4WDs and "Off Road" campers and vans and "touring the Outback" that I think the average suburban Jo-blow is tempted to think he can just buy all the gear, load the wife and kids and head off into the wild red yonder.

How do you counteract that and convince people that "they don't know what they don't know" and to seek advice.

May be from time to time, and especially before holiday and travel seasons, there should be community service announcements in the media - radio, TV and print - paid for by the various governments, state and federal and advising would-be Outback travellers of things to consider and why.

Perhaps there could be a one-page pamphlet included in every annual rego renewal for car, van and trailer.

Perhaps a similar pamphlet or brochure should be part of the advertising and/or sale of every 4WD, camper and van.

Such measures may end up cheaper in the long-run for the authorities than multiple searches and if they save some lives then they will have been worth the expense.

Hi Shane

We can all try our best, but there is one item that no one else has mentioned yet.

Yes we carry a PLB, Satellite Phone, HF Radio, signal mirror signal beacon for use at night, which all require either Fiona or I to activate or use.

All the above are a very good piece of mind, but what happens if we are involved in a vehicle accident?

For this and other uses, we also use a SPOT.

Some people complain about their yearly cost, but again it is a small price to pay for our safety.

My SPOTWALLA details are given to family and friends, where they track our travels within 5 minutes of real time travel. In the event of an accident, the SPOT will show our exact position and also showed that we have not moved. This would then be enough for my family to call authorities and give them our exact location, without guessing where we could be..

The sad part of life is that we will not stop fool hearted and unprepared people from getting into life threatening situation and possible loss of life.

This will not be the last time that we hear of such situations here on the EO forum.


Cheers



Stephen

I've been a full time traveller fir more than 9 years now and have had my SPOT tracker on every day during this time.i travel alone and a lot of it is remote travel.
Having travelled more than 350,000 kilometers in that time.
I have my SPOT tracking page details showing as part of my signature, in all my posts ( including here), my emails and any other web spaces.
Over the 9 years over 36,000 people have viewed my page.
I also have UHF, HF, 3 PLB's, satt phone, 4g phone and an emergency "grab bag" with numerous safety equipment inside.
Hopefully none if these will ever be used in "anger" but if such a situation arises then I know i will be glad I've got them.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=2d464de362759825a

I very much agree with Stephen. He and I do exactly the same thing and send tracking details to each other as well as our family and friends. Having an experienced outback traveller following your travels adds to your safety as they have a better idea of what maybe abnormal.

A SPOT device is the ultimate in your personal safety if you travel as a single vehicle. A SPOT device is portable and for your own safety you should carry it should you leave the vehicle. Great for bushwalking and exploring. A SPOT device is sending via satellite your position every 5 minutes. Should you have an emergency and you are able push the SOS button, help will be on its way to your exact location within a matter of minutes. If you are unable to push the SOS button, help will be on the way when those monitoring your travels notice you have not moved and raise the alarm. Help will come in the quickest possible time as it is known exactly where you are.

I do not know about others, but the cost of a SPOT device and its annual monitoring subscription is insignificant compared with the value I place on my life. Additionally, should a rescue take place, your position is exactly known so no search party is required. This is a great saving to the community and it also does not put at risk the life of any potential rescuer.

EOTrackMe is good at tracking but it depends on you device as to how good it is. If you link it to a SPOT device (as I do) it is updated every 5 minutes. However if it is linked to a computer or telephone which relies on mobile phone reception, then it is of little use in the more remote parts of Australia where there is no reception.

Mobile phones and PLB's are good but they rely on you physically being able to activate them. If your emergency situation renders you unable to activate a PLB or use a sat phone then no one knows you have had an emergency situation or where you are.

In the case of snakebite, heart attack, and stroke your best chance of recovery is to be immobilised immediately. I would argue that a SPOT device in these situations is your best chance of surviving.

Shane does make one point that is very true. That is by having a SPOT device you may venture to places that you otherwise might not go to for safety reasons. I know I do this, but it just means it may take a little bit longer to reach me in an emergency. I decide what risks I take, but should the worst come to the worst I have not caused a search and rescue mission to find me which possibly endangers the lives of others.

Finally, it can give peace of mind to loved ones at home knowing they can see exactly where you are at anytime of the day. Because I travel for 4 to 5 months every year, some of which is very remote, and some of which could be by myself, I know my family find it quite reassuring. Additional it is quite educational for my grandkids as they follow my travels and google many of the places I go to. It is great to ring them when ever I get mobile coverage and they can usually tell me where I am and maybe even something about where I am.

A SPOT device is a lot like Maxtraks, you hope you very use them, but if you do you say it is the best money ever spent.

Much needs to be done to ensure all visitors to remote and outback areas in Australia, whether they are foreign tourists or seasoned outback travellers, are well appraised of the risks associated with remote area travel and take steps to mitigate those risks to an acceptable level.

And it is worth noting, remote doesn’t necessarily mean in the centre of Australia, hundred’s of kilometres from the nearest help – it could be within 50-kilometres of one of our major cities.

Many, hopefully all, who visit the ExplorOz pages, whether via the forum, trek notes, articles or combination of all, are tapping into the information provided and take a considered approach to remote area and outback travel.

Of course, there is a plethora of information available to those who “Google” the topic and much of this is provided by various government agencies and motoring organisations. And there are many private blogs and articles on the topic of remote area and outback travel.

The issue becomes one of how to ensure people are asking the right questions before they travel in these areas.

Those with an interest in travelling remotely and in the outback may already be tapped into a local four-wheel drive club giving exposure to more seasoned and experienced travellers. Adding, this is a very good way to gain valuable experience in many facets of touring in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

Government workers and those associated with the mining and exploration industries will normally (should be) tapped into the nuances of remote and outback travel via Occupational Work and Health Safety Policies of the organisations they work for.

There remains a very large group of people, who might be temporary visitors coming to Australia to experience the Australian Outback or your next door neighbour (I use the term figuratively) who decides they want to experience the “Australian Interior”.

The question is how to ensure these people get the information that in many cases they don’t know they need and what questions to ask?

Foreign tourists hiring four-wheel drive vehicles are usually provided with information at the point of hire, although perhaps it is a bit late at this time and hopefully they have done research prior to coming through the airport gate.

And of course, your next door neighbour who might be someone who has spent most of their life in a major east-coast city or regional centre and does not have an appreciation of the services, or lack thereof, in remoter parts of Australia.

Most Australian’s are used to using a mobile phone wherever they are, or finding a tap dispensing clean drinking water, so it would come as no surprise there might be an expectation that is the case anywhere they travel – how do we ensure they get the required information?

Shane, in his post, highlights a risk that many think all they need to travel this great country of ours is a four-wheel drive vehicle, that are usually advertised on media showing them travelling anywhere you want to go as long as you’ve got a GPS to point you in the right direction. Potentially, a dangerous trap to those who simply head out the front gate without giving much more thought to the risks they unfortunately might be blissfully unaware of.

Even the naming of some of our iconic tracks is a trap for the uninformed.

The Anne Beadell Highway is anything but a “Highway”. The Great Central Road is far from being a “road” most people are accustomed to in less remote parts of Australia.

And highways always have a Caltex Servo with McDonald’s serving burgers morning noon and night for the adventurous traveller, right?

Wrong…

But for those who see these terms, whether foreigners who have little concept of the size of Australia and distance between towns or locals who may have had little or no exposure to remote and outback Australia this is another potential trap luring them into a false sense of security.

Those of us who travel regularly and safely in remote areas and the outback will usually have a checklist, whether mental or otherwise of what we need to consider. Importantly, a plan of where we are going, the objective, and the milestones that should be met as the travel or expedition unfolds, along with an action plan of how to respond to issues or incidents as they arise.

The key is to get others to gain that mindset before venturing beyond the city limits.

I’m not sure how this can be done more effectively to reach the target audience, ultimately a simple “Google” is all that it takes to ask about remote area travel or travel in outback Australia.

But what we can do is promote on ExplorOz an environment that encourages people who venture this way to ask questions and that responses are made in a congenial way…

Personally, my approach is to always have a plan of what I want to achieve and importantly, within that plan I have a set of milestone’s I expect to meet as the trip unfolds and a response as to what to do if it isn’t working out as anticipated. This might include abandoning the trip and retracing my steps.

Many people come unstuck by not recognising when things are not working out as planned and layered on top of that is often a reluctance to act even when it is obvious that something is going wrong until it is too late. It is at this point things often spiral out of control…

And for this reason, I think the first chapter of any book on remote area and outback travel should cover “Survival” techniques.

I suggest this for two reasons…

If you don’t read from chapter two onwards, at least you are likely to be better informed on how to survive when it all goes pear-shaped.

And secondly, if you at least read chapter one on survival, hopefully it should become more obvious to the reader what is needed for successful remote area and outback travel if this is what you need to do to survive – in the least it might spur further reading…

Good luck out there, and take care in your travels…

Cheers, Baz – The Landy

I was talking to a guy at a fuel pump at Wanaaring, he was in a hire 4wd and told by the hire company that he must keep his tyre pressures at 45psi or he'd lose his bond. There's a misleading recipe for a bogging event right there for an inexperienced 4wder. I think mandatory plb's for hirers is the only sensible answer. Education is not possible.

Thanks everyone for the replies/ discussion
And don’t stop yet if you’ve got some input.

Adding to my original post/comments, I have seen at times when someone has asked a question, some people have said “use the search function “ and not given any other information/comments.
It is true there’s a lot of info on exploroz, but to be sort of fobbed off like that ,potentially stops someone asking ! And asking and getting answers is educating the person looking for info/advice.
As I said let’s try to be helpful.
Cheers

We use the Garmen InReach Explorer. Sat communication via text with app for phone plus emergency button for PLB. Cheaper per month than Spot and on the plan can pause membership when not travelling. Can up plan to track per time or km and with map tracking if needed. Similar with family able to follow and also sends preset text to family for free when leaving and stopping so they can see when you have stopped for night. Also uses iridium sat system in intrasat like spot so has coverage 100% of the world not tropic to tropic.
Always have UHF and with Garmin, may also get a PLB as backup.

When I signed for my plan I had 2 options. One a part time which I had 4 options, from $25/ mth to $55/mth. The one I am on I can pause and reactivate as needed. Check your coverage with the spot also.

I have read most of these posts and the recommendations of what you should carry, and the suggestion that it may be mandatory. For the vast majority of travellers carrying anything more than a UHF(if that) is like not crossing the road in case some lunatic hits you.You don't need any bells and whistles to travel the Oodnadatta, Strezlecki, GCR etc etc. I would really like to know how many people have been rescued because they set off an epirb in the bush. ie they would have died without it. The people who carry an epirb etc are generally more aware of how to keep themselves safe anyway negating the need for it. As an ex prime minister said (and he got bagged for it} shit happens. You can't save people from themselves.

Greg J1 refered to the book by the previous Birdsville OIC Shane and his ideas on how to survive in the outback.

Friday Five published by Westprint Maps by email every Friday has an article from the current OIC, Birdsville Stephan Pursell on this subject.

You can read it here
https://www.westprint.com.au/newsletter-2018-11-30

Chris

A number of posters have supported the education idea and this is really the major way to reduce travel trauma - but not the only one!
Legislation is often needed to protect people from themselves as well as others. It's the price to pay for bad behaviour and lack of education from others.
Despite having some good bush knowledge, I joined a 4X4 club because I hadn't had any real experience with off road driving. Brilliant move! Apart from the wealth of information and guidance, I have joined a like-minded group who enjoy the bush challenges and care for it while having a lot of fun. The social life is the added bonus. I have done a 4X4 course, First Aid, chain saw course and a host more through them. I now feel more prepared and can recognise potential hazards a lot better. It's good to what to know what to DO, but better to know what NOT to do!!
We need more travellers to join self help groups like clubs, and to tap into local knowledge more. Enhances the whole concept of getting out.
Good thread. :)

It looks like an essential bit of equipment is an axe.

https://www.facebook.com/benngunnfans/videos/318870045618855/UzpfSTEwMDAwMDIxNzkzNDk2NDoyNDMwOTYzNDc2OTQ2MzA2/

A couple of the brothers might help as well.

RAOTFL Chris

I was just thinking today (on our first 38 deg day, with the air-con fan on setting 3 out of 4) - how modern, comfortable, fully-air-conditioned vehicles really must lull people into a lack of situational awareness, when it comes to outside, real-world conditions.

I'll wager a lot of these people who get stuck, are unaware just how severe the real weather conditions are, outside their very comfortable temperature, highly mobile, insulated steel cage, called their car.

It led me to remember how when the brother, SIL and I were living on our gold mine in the mid-1980's, at Higginsville, 60kms North of Norseman - and we decided to have a break in Esperance, on a long weekend during Summer.

We took the brothers near-new HJ61, and spent the long weekend in Esperance, where it was about 25 deg each day - and we had a great time.

We took off back to Higginsville in the early morning - without studying any weather reports - and the brother floored the 'Cruiser to his normal "quite a few kms above the speed limit", on the beautiful long smooth straights of the Coolgardie-Esperance Rd.

We had the superb Toyota factory air-conditioning cranked up - but after a couple of hours, the Toyota temperature gauge started to rise appreciably.

We were trying to figure out why the engine temperature would rise so much on a 25 deg day - even though we were humming along, it was normal cruise speed for the brother and the near-new 'Cruiser - and it never overheated.

We started to discuss if the outside air temperature had risen more than we had realised - so we wound down the windows, only to be greeted with an outside temperature running about 42 degrees!!

We were stunned by the fact that the great Toyota air-conditioning had masked the fact that, despite it being only 25 deg in Esperance - we were running into a heat trough centred over the Goldfields, and also straight into a stinking hot Northerly wind, that was like a blast furnace!

The brother backed off the speed, and the engine temperature came down, even though it was still higher than normal.

It was a sobering reminder that weather and ambient conditions can change very rapidly, when travelling long distances over a few hours - particularly when leaving the coast, and heading due inland, in the middle of Summer.

Cheers, Ron.