Date: December 9th 2011

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Westprint Friday Five December 9th, 2011  

Included this week:

• Mongolia
• Loo litter
• Caravan Weights

 

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Link for archives  

Friday Five

1. Wild Horses Don’t Swim. Michael Keenan is a NSW farmer with a passionate interest in the environment. With help from local Bunuda people, fierce opponents of the dam which threatened their homeland and sacred sites, Mike organised a horseback trek in the west Kimberley to discover what might be lost forever. $24.95 Add to Cart 

2. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia 8th edition. Graham Pizzey's field guide combines a depth and breadth of knowledge with beautiful, full-colour illustrations by Frank Knight. Containing essential information on 820 species of birds, with 250 full-colour plates, including more than 2500 individual portraits specially painted for this book, and 750 distribution maps. $45.00 Add to Cart

3. Thylacine. The tragic tale of the Tasmanian Tiger. An enchanting book that reveals all we know about this little-known animal. Anyone interested in the conservation of the diversity of life should read this story. Hardcover. 228pp. $35.00 Add to Cart

4. Sophie Dog Overboard. When Jan and Dave Griffith’s beloved cattle dog, Sophie, fell overboard from the family yacht during rough weather, they feared the worst. But Sophie, a true Aussie battler, wasn't going to give up that easily. She swam six miles through shark-infested waters to a remote Whitsunday island where she survived for five months before being miraculously reunited with her amazed owners. Sophie, a highly domesticated dog, had been living ferally - and surviving. Yet one glimpse of her owners when they were reunited was enough for the old Sophie to re-emerge. This is an amazing, inspirational story of survival, loyalty and what binds animals and humans together. $33.00 Add to Cart 

5. The Wisdom of Dog. Murray Ball’s "Dog" - the central character in the Footrot Flats cartoon strips - has a book devoted entirely to him and the "wisdom" that his made him such a lovable character. THE WISDOM OF DOG features over 300 single, stand-alone cartoons, all with Dog as the main focus. $28.00 Add to Cart

 

Products are allocated on a first-come first serve basis. To reserve your copy of any of the following books please email info@westprint.com.au with the title you are interested in. All emails will be answered during the following week, either with details of how to pay, or a ‘sorry, the item has already sold’ email. Where possible, postage on multiple items will be recalculated to offer you the best price.  

Postage Rates. These items will usually not be found on our website. Orders will be supplied on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis. Westprint normal postage rates are now $8.50 for one book, $11.00 for two books, $13.00 for 3 or more books. Free post applies to orders of more than $150.00. Postage rates apply to Australia only. Airmail postage rates apply to overseas orders.

 

Friday Forum

Jo’s comments are in blue.  

Notes from the Office

Bev and John have returned from the map conference in Thailand and are already saving for their next trip. John has come back to work full of good ideas so stay tuned for those over the next few months.

Harvest is in full swing around here and with rain forecast for the weekend many farmers are working very long hours. Grain harvesting is dictated by the weather and everything must be dry so the evening thunderstorms we have been having, while spectacular are not appreciated by everyone. If there is not much humidity it is not uncommon to see headers still working at midnight.

Bev also wins the prize for the first good snake story of the summer. She went to step out of her back door the other day and almost stood on a very large and very long brown snake. Said snake slithered off and is now believed to be enjoying the relative coolness and shade of their garage/shed. She wasn’t mollified by our suggestion that snake poo deters mice!

 

Caravan weights  

• For some years I operated a large tyre outlet with adjoining trailer parts business. Daily I was asked advice on tyre pressures for vans, and my answer often was "could you please weigh the van first?"

This was due to the weight problems already explained, but often compounded by van owners adding all sorts of extra equipment. I've seen picks, mattocks and crowbars under beds for a month in the gem fields, plus extra water tanks, batteries, etc etc.

Many van owners do not realise LT (Light truck) tyres are designed to run from 40-65psi, and often due to the above need to be run on bitumen at highway speeds near 60psi cold. Many van owners do not realise van suspensions particularly the rubber Alko type are designed to run at a specific load, and rapid deterioration occurs if overloaded. This overloading, or sometimes unbalanced loading can cause serious stability problems in a sudden crosswind, cornering, braking or insufficient braking. All of this as said could have the van illegal, thus immediate insurance disqualification.

Any van owner who is unsure should put their van over a weighbridge and for more detailed information I also suggest Google Collyn Rivers.

 

• In last week’s article Peter made mention of increasing the GVM of a vehicle. Can he expand on it a bit more? Has he had it done? What state was he in? What did it involve and approx cost? I tried in Victoria to do this; I contacted people listed on Vic Roads web page. Three were very rude and the 4th explained that it involved major structural changes to the vehicle and that heavier springs and tyres was not enough and he was fairly abrupt as well and allowed me to ask no questions. Colin.

Peter is in South Australia. I have asked him to provide more details.  

Satphones

• Judy raises some very important and valid criticisms of the Isatphone which people need to be aware of. Even though I am a long time, very satisfied Iridium user, I have been interested in the Isatphone as a cheaper alternative. My reading suggests that there are other issues with this system that potential users need to evaluate. Because I most commonly use my Iridium phone in deep gorges in the New England Tablelands, I am aware how easily satellite visibility can be lost. However, because the Iridium system has many low orbit, moving satellites there are almost always, as a minimum, windows of visibility when communication is possible. I suspect that this will not be the case with the few, geo-stationary Inmarsat satellites even though they are in a high orbit, so that communication may simply not be possible in deep gorges. My suggestion is that anyone planning to buy a satellite phone should very carefully research the communication capabilities of each brand under the most difficult conditions they plan to use it in. Unfortunately, in my experience that sort of information is rarely to be found in the brochures produced by the manufacturers, and the Isatphone is certainly no exception in that regard. Bob 

• I was concerned about the lack of emergency numbers on IsatPhone because I have one and I was unaware of the problem. Thank you for bringing it up. I contacted the suppliers and received the answer below. Ron

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately you are unable to use the IsatPhone Pro to dial emergency 000 or 1300 & 1800 numbers. We have compiled a list of emergency contacts and I have attached it to this email for your reference. We do recommend that you store these numbers on the IsatPhone Pro for easy access when needed. We have relayed this issue back to Inmarsat and they are working on trying to get the 000 issue rectified, but this could take some time as there isn’t a definite date when it will be completed. Helen Product Manager.  

• Re 000 1300 etc. we always explain it to potential clients. In hind sight I should have put this in my initial info to you. Having tried to use 000 twice in remote area emergencies there was total confusion as to location and service required. As we did not have RFDS numbers at the time we had to phone home to get them. We give all clients a list of all RFDS, Police, Nat Parks, CFS, NRMA etc for them to program into their phone. As with all products the plus or minus of features has to be part of the deciding factors at time of purchase. If this feature is required then a more expensive phone may need to be purchased. Peter

 

Outback hospitality

I have been following the recent posts on outback hospitality and after 6 weeks in outback QLD & NSW we came across none of it. Two things I would like to mention are:

We stayed in Windorah Council Park, nice park & shower block $5/night unpowered for 2 people. Showers only, gold coin donation to RFDS. While we were there a couple and 3 kids/teenagers came in showered and headed off again. No donation.

While talking to the nice lady that came later to collect our fee we mentioned this in passing, replied "that happens quite a lot" If anybody has reason to be standoffish with tourists surely this type of action would go a long way to peeve some people. Someone has to clean the shower and then find no coins in the box. (Keep these types of things in mind if you do find someone unwilling to talk) All tourists do not act like we nice ones do!

Next point, we stayed at Eromanga park (fairly basic and "worker" style showers, but they were clean and water was hot) Same price as above and in the first hour no less than 3 people from the business came over at different times and invited us to a free BBQ. So we went. It consisted of sausages, spare ribs, bacon, scalloped potato and fresh salad. Not a bad outcome for $2.50 ea. This I consider very friendly outback hospitality.

The only down side was a dull drone all night from the refinery 300m away. Colin & Kathy

 

Barmah

We were there a couple of weeks ago with 18 other kayakers. We were a bit dismayed at the toilet situation when we arrived but understood that you cannot over rule mother nature and her recent floods. We hadn’t been there long and hadn’t set up camp when a ranger came and we explained that we all had a fair amount of bush walking experience and we wouldn’t make a mess of the place. Soon after we went on an explore on our bikes and 1.4km from our camp towards the Visitor Centre there are three flushing toilets, M, F and a disabled. So an early morning car shuffle fixed most of the major toilet problems. We were much happier with this option as the ground around the camping area is not really suitable for disposing of your own waste. These are a good option until the composting toilets are installed. John

Birdsville Track Query

In mid 2012 we (two vehicles) plan to include the Birdsville Track as part of our travel itinerary. I have a copy of your most informative Map and am confident that this will be of great assistance. However, would it be possible to further enlighten our small group re below small concerns please? We drive a 3 litre, Nissan Patrol, 2004 and our R.V. is a 13 foot "Supreme" Getaway Pop-top. Peter

1.Does the track conditions present any major concerns?

2. Suggestions for tyre pressure for towing vehicle and R.V.

3.Any clues for stone protection for R.V.?

4. Suggested travel speed.

5. Wuold it be advisable to strengthen suspension of towing vehicle?

6. Would you recommend a side trip to Kalamurina? Why? Can you camp there?

7. What are the main track/side track highlights we should be looking for along the way to Birdsville?  

Can anyone help Peter?

 

SkyTrek

I’ve just got word that the famous SkyTrek self drive track in the Flinders Ranges is closed and may never re-open! Don't know if you have ever drove it, but it is, amongst all the tracks you can do in the Flinders (and there are a heap) this is the most iconic one. It is extremely popular and a real tourist attraction of the Flinders. They launched the Toyota FJ out there just recently, although I'm not sure if they went to the Mt Carnarvon.

It's a long convoluted story but essentially the country that contains Mt Carnarvon (the highest vehicle access point in the ranges) was sold to the yellow-footed rock wallaby preservation association (YFRWPA) by Willow Springs about 10 years ago. It seemed to be a good idea at the time - the mountain country is pretty unproductive grazing country, there was a drought going on and the owner wanted to see the wallabies protected. It was done on a friendly hand shake sort of thing over a beer or two.

Now the YFRWPA is an offshoot of the Sporting Shooters (SSAA) who have been doing culls on goats and cats in the ranges for years - helping protect the wallabies in the process.

But now it's all to do with money, the lawyers have got involved and the YFRWPA want a very large sum for Willow Springs to access Mt Carnarvon with the lease costs per year having tripled. The YFRWPA do very little to promote SkyTrek while the owners of Willow Springs have poured a lot of effort into it. They also police the access, (which the assoc doesn't as they don't have anybody on the ground there, only going up there a couple of times a year), maintain the road and basically manage the area and keep an eye on the wallabies. Ron

 

From last week - Caravan Covers

• We have the same problem and I purchased one of the proprietary brands of cover. The problem we have (and that you will have) is that store-bought covers never fit snugly and therefore billow in the wind. If you tie them down with ropes or straps, they tend to chafe. In fact, in the sorts of winds and rain that we get here in Kyneton, I’ve had to remove the cover at the very time that we are looking to protect the van. Such covers might be some use to keep the dust and swallow shit off a van stored in a shed, but they aren’t the answer for outdoors unless you are lucky enough to find a cover that exactly fits the van. We had a camper trailer for a number of years and we had a heavy duty cover made to measure for it. It cost about $500 but it has lasted for years, whereas I’m already patching the caravan cover we bought last year. So my suggestion is to have one made to measure out of heavy duty tarpaulin material (the vinyl covered stuff they use for tent floors) by a tent maker. It’ll cost you, but it will be a lot cheaper than a carport. Tony 

• Three years ago we bought a Prestige cover and over time it deteriorated.  We didn’t want to go down that path again, and discovered that Camec was in the process of importing a new type of cover from China to hopefully withstand Australian conditions.  The new cover is now on our van, and it seems to be made of a more robust material, so here’s hoping. Cheryl

• We originally bought a K-Mart cover, which lasted a year or so before it disintegrated. We took all the measurements of the cover and got a local canvas person to make a cover to the same design. When the joints connecting the struts started to disintegrate we got a local steel person to copy them in steel. In other words we found a good design in cheap materials and copied it as the cheap materials wore out. We now have a fantastic cover for our camper van. Betty

Ants in the camp  

I have used flour around the tent or tarp, when I have had trouble with the little blighters; it seemed to have worked, much to the surprise of the folk on the tour. Alan 

Stock Routes  

I am looking for famous old stock routes in Aust, also old Cobb and co routes on maps so that I can follow them where we can by 4x4. Any thoughts were to start? Max  

Loo litter

I came across lots of dunny paper in the Aussie bush in the past, and it really annoyed me. I always burn toilet paper (carefully, of course) or carry it out and dispose of it in a correct manner if I travel in areas where it is forbidden to light any open flames. In Germany, you can buy a very simple and inexpensive camp toilet, made of cardboard:

http://www.globetrotter.de/de/shop/detail.php?mod_nr=102107

If you travel the wilderness of National Parks and State Parks in the United States, you are obliged to carry such a camp toilet, and the rangers will check if you have one with you. If you haven't and are "caught in the act", you will be confronted with a very hefty fine. In my eyes, this sort of toilet would also make sense in certain national parks in Oz (e.g. where there is a permanent fire ban and toilet paper cannot be burned). The same company, Globetrotter, offer special, easy-degradable toilet paper: I know that this sort of toilet paper is also sold by companies specialising in boat accessories. There certainly are other vendors for this sort of degradable toilet paper. Cheers from bl..dy boring Dortmund/Germany, Juergen  

http://www.globetrotter.de/de/shop/detail.php?mod_nr=122875&k_id=1102&GTID=7c0f57353d06a8e6dadaea96f814b575a33  

·  Re: blaming the minority of females for decorating the pristine bush and occasional carparks. I’m pretty sure the male species uses ‘Dunny Paper’ too, so don’t go just blaming the females. I’d rather call those sorts of people ‘mindless idiots’. They don’t deserve a place in our bush and if travellers come across ‘mindless idiots’ that are blatantly leaving their ‘Dunny Paper’ and any rubbish for that matter scattered carelessly in campgrounds or carparks then don’t get involved just take a few sneaky pics, write down some details like dates, area and vehicle rego’s and DOB THEM IN to the land managers of where ever you are. Prosecutions can happen after the fact. It’s no good just complaining to your mates. Get the baddies out of our bush! Alison – female species  

·  The answer is to carry a kit consisting of: shovel, matches or igniter, toilet paper. Dig a hole, use the hole, use the paper, burn the paper- yes it does burn, bury the lot. David

G'Day David, What happens on a total fire ban day? Jo

What you carry in you carry out. So if a total fire ban, that is your option. Try hiking in the Alps in Europe, many places make you carry it out, as do rafting operations on USA rivers. On my tours in the desert regions, it is clear burying is not enough, it must be burned or the dingoes dig it up. I see toilet paper everywhere. David  

·  With reference to the recurring comments about unsightly toilet paper in the bush, including last week's suggestion for quickly-degradable 'camping paper', may I suggest a solution used by two-thirds of the world's population, if not more? Water! Yes, a bottle of water and your left hand (keep the right hand 'clean' for interaction with other people). It might seem icky at first but you soon get used to it and it's far more hygienic than rubbing with paper and not getting the nether regions entirely clean. My former Dutch mother-in-law, who grew up in Indonesia and suffered through a Japanese internment camp during WWII along with 300,000 other Dutch settlers, swore by water and we made sure there was a water-filled Coke bottle in the toilet whenever she came to visit. I've never warmed to the method when sitting on a Western toilet, but squatting out in the bush, or on a toilet in Asia, Africa or the Middle East, it's definitely the way to go. Rob

G'Day Rob, Your comments have a certain amount of merit/logic/environmental friendliness. My only concern is that I am left-handed, which leads me to wonder about things I might do without thinking - like pick my nose… Jo

Hi Jo, I'm left-handed too (like most of the, ahem, truly talented people), and usually carry a pack of disinfectant hand wash when out bush where sink and soap may not be readily available. Apply after rinsing your hand with water and you can pick to your heart's content! Rob

 

Outback Adventure - Mongolia and Russia

Part one – getting there.  

Recently my wife and went to Mongolia and the eastern part of Siberia in our Discovery 3 (shipped over there). This is not really an Australian adventure, but I thought some of your readers may be interested in the report. This report was also sent to the Range Rover Club of Victoria, of which I am a member too. Peter

Adventure in Mongolia and Russia, 11th September- 8th Oct 2011

Betty & I were privileged to be invited to join a group of Land Rover enthusiasts (two Land Rover Defenders and my Discovery) and their friends driving Toyota Hilux and a hired Toyota Landcrusier) to tour Mongolia and Russia. Our original plan was to ship our Four Wheel Drives to China and start our adventure there and then onto Mongolia and Russia. However due to the stringent requirements by the Chinese Customs for importing cars (even on a temporary basis), we had to abandon the idea of touring China.  Our four cars were put into two 44 ft. containers bound for Tianjin , China and then transited via the Trans-Siberian railway to Ulaan Baataar (UB), the capitol of Mongolia .  The cars arrived there on 22 August.

We flew to Beijing on 12 Sept and met up with the rest of the group (except the father and daughter pair who were hiring the Landcruiser). We had dinner at the Hong Kong Jockey Club complex. It was a very impressive building and the service was excellent. The group had a very early breakfast and was transported to the Beijing Railway station to catch the Trans-Siberian train bound for UB at 0730hrs. The train was the older style train and similar to our Indian Pacific. It appeared that the train was operated by the Mongolian Gov’t and the train staff did not speak English or Chinese.  We had a cabin with bunk beds and shared the bathroom with the passengers in the adjoining cabin.  Needless to say, it created a bit of noise and inconvenience when other people were using the facilities. The train journey lasted for about 30 hours.

The train moved in a north-easterly direction and the scenery changed from mountainous out of Beijing to flat steppe country as we travelled near the Mongolia border.  The train was climbing to an elevation of about 1300m as we travelled north.

We reached the Chinese border town of Erlian at 2037hrs.  All passengers were required to leave the train and waited at the immigration hall for the train to change its wheels as Mongolia ran on a different gauge train track. We boarded the train again at about 2339hrs with our passports stamped and cleared to leave China.

While we were just about to go back to bed, the train stopped again at Zamin Uud, the Mongolian border control town at 0025hrs. The officers collected our passports again and we did not receive them back till 0140hrs. We went back to sleep undisturbed till the morning and we arrived UB at 13:30 hrs. From what I could see, this part of Mongolia was very flat and very suited for grazing and no spectacular scenery seen.

The group was met at the railway station by our local guide who took us to our hotel and later took us to the depot to pick up our cars. It was good to see our cars again and we had no trouble starting them. We spent the next day sorting our cars out and buying provisions etc. before our trip.

Next week. Mongolia.

Friday Funnies  

My name is Marie, and I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his diploma on the wall, which bore his full name. Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 30-odd years ago. Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on, way back then? Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought. This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High School.

'Yes. Yes, I did.' he gleamed with pride.

'When did you graduate?' I asked.

He answered, 'in 1975. Why do you ask?'

'You were in my class!’ I exclaimed.

He looked at me closely. Then, that ugly, old, balding, wrinkled faced, fat-as**d, grey-haired, decrepit s.o.a.b. asked, "What did you teach?"

 

"Doctor, I think I am a moth."

"That's unusual, but I think you need a psychiatrist rather than a GP. There's one a little further along the street."

"I know. I was on my way there but your light was on."

 

A customer called our service line demanding help with her TV set, which wouldn't come on. "I'm sorry, but we can't send a technician out today due to the blizzard," I told her.

Unsatisfied, she barked, "I need my TV fixed today! What else am I supposed to do while the power is out?!"

 

In a small army camp town, a soldier was having trouble cashing a cheque. The cashier was sympathetic but firm: "You will have to have ID from some of your friends from the camp."

At this the soldier answered frantically "I don't have any friends - I’m the bugler."

 

Two snakes were crawling along when one snake asked the other, "Are we poisonous snakes?"

The other replied, "You're darn right we're poisonous! We're rattlesnakes. Why do you ask?"

To which the first replied, "Because I just bit my tongue."

 

Disclaimer.

Please note that the opinions and articles included in the Friday Five are not necessarily those of the Westprint mob. Nor do we endorse any products (other than our own), or tours listed in contributed articles.

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