2014 CSR Walkers Unsupported/Unassisted walk is over

Submitted: Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 02:18
ThreadID: 108758 Views:2979 Replies:6 FollowUps:7
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They were travelling Northbound

Started @ intersection to Well 1, 3.5km from Wiluna Date: 01 July
Ended as an Unsupported/Unassisted walk @ Well 3, 100kms into their 1850 trek when they ditched their trolleys and accepted full support from their (not) support vehicles and luxuries from passing travellers. Date: 4 or 5 July

Proceeded as supported walk to Well 7 where that ended on 14 July with a medical emergency evacuation. Mick was evacuated to Perth with the help of Wayne from Great Divide Tours and RFDS. Ruptured ureter and kidney. Undergoing surgery I believe. Distance as 'Supported' walk 242km to Well 7

Rose vows to continue with the supported walk once Mick is well enough to travel in the support vehicles

These are the details I have been made aware of. I expect someone with more details will be able to provide better information.

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Reply By: Sash - Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 06:49

Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 06:49
Must be keen
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Reply By: Tjukayirla Roadhouse - Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 10:24

Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 10:24
With the tid bits I got, it sounded like they were very poorly prepared.

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Follow Up By: Member - CSR Walkers - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:36

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:36
No we weren't but thank you for your opinion, we were well prepared.
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Reply By: Les PK Ranger - Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 11:45

Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 11:45
Well, they had a go, good on them.
I wonder if the urethra / kidney problems were related to heat or dehydration ?
Glad he got out ok and to medical attention.

Not easy doing unsupported walking like that, you'd have to have water / food dumps, and that is supported in a way.
Pulling carts is sometimes impossible, as CW Bonython discovered on several of his outback walks.

Having done lots of bushwalking all over Australia and some overseas, we generally had access to water at anything from hourly to say 3 or 4 days.

Longest unsupported walk we did was the Flinders to Cameron Corner, which took us across Lake Callabonna and several pastoral properties just south of the Strz Regional Reserve.
We had a water / food dump near the east side of Lake C, and then just 6 days of carrying all needs to get to CC.
Was awesome, even with some decent blisters :)
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Follow Up By: Member - CSR Walkers - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:39

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:39
Your walks sound amazing you should be proud, we carried all our food water for each day, till we met up with our crew at the designated camp spot at the end of our walk every day. We walked between 20- 31 km per day depending where we chose to camp that night. The support vehicle did not travel with us, we left before them each morning then they drove past us during the day and met them at night. This worked great for us and them, or they would have been pretty bored if they had to drive at our walking pace. This is after we dropped our trolley's.
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Follow Up By: Les PK Ranger - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 16:37

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 16:37
Yes Mick & Rose, that is the smart way to do something like the CSR.
All the best with your future walks, and the next stage on the Canning, I'm sure you'll make it, just have to have the planets line up a little :)
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Follow Up By: Member - CSR Walkers - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 17:06

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 17:06
Thanks Les PK Ranger and yes we will never give up just a little bump in the road, just like life.
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Reply By: Michael A (VIC) - Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 22:51

Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 22:51
Did the CSR with Wayne on his first CSR trip in 2005. They could not have been in better hands. He is someone who has a unique perspective on what it takes to provide assistance in this circumstance. Wayne is an unsung legend of outback Aus travel and a credit to GDT.Well done.
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Follow Up By: Gaynor - Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 23:08

Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 23:08
It is his last season too, I believe. What a shame. But he has finished on a high note!
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Follow Up By: Member - CSR Walkers - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:42

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:42
After spending a couple of days with Wayne let me get the facts right for you Michael, Wayne told me direct that this is his last time on the Canning but he is still going to be working, but wanting to do more tours closer to home. Which is great for GDT and their customers.
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Reply By: Gaynor - Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 23:07

Wednesday, Jul 16, 2014 at 23:07
I am glad Mick is safe. Had they been on their own with no support vehicle or off track, this may have been fatal. Thankfully experienced travellers happened by at the right time and went to their assistance.

Perhaps Rose has a better understanding of the difference between Supported and Unsupported now and more attention and objectivity to planning given in the future. Their is no shame in failure if you learn from it. Murry made two attempts to walk the CSR Unsupported (no supply drops), before succeeding on the third. But he had to concede to using supply drops to do it on the third attempt.

From what I gather, the Weber's have given up on the idea of another Unsupported attempt. It is just too hard. Rose would like to continue with the walk, but as a supported walk, however Mick is very ill. They have to wait for infection to clear up and expect it will be another two weeks before they can operate. That might put an end to trying again this year as the season heats up. He will need recovery time before it is safe to take him out there on the corrugations and remote regions, even driving in the vehicle. We shall see. It would be nice for Rose to at least finish the walk. Psychologically it would be tough on her if she did not. Anyway ... just my thoughts.

There were six foot powered traverses planned for this year. Five have failed, one is still to start in August. This should be a red flag to those planning future attempts. Please don't take the desert lightly.
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Follow Up By: Member - CSR Walkers - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:34

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 12:34
Hi everyone I would like to give you all an update on our CSR walk for suicide awareness. Firstly Gaynor needs to get her facts right before commenting on other peoples lives. She always has an opinion and the one she has on these forums are incorrect. Compared to the abusive comments and slanders remarks she has sent to us via email. And yes I have kept them all and still thinking about legal proceedings. Gaynor is not an expert on Australia or the Canning Stock Route or does she have a medical degree so her opinion is not even worth our time.
Firstly we were very well prepared, for our trek, with a support vehicle and everything we could want or need for 2 months on the trek as well as another 2 vehicles that would be joining us from well 23 and another coming from Halls Creek in the first week of August in case we needed any other things as well as taking photo's for National Geographic.
Secondly we would never of done the trek without at least our film crew to do the trek totally alone is stupid as to get help especially if you were injured or ill is totally self centred. Initally they were our film crew then with their blessing they also buddied as a support crew.
Thirdly we never thought as Gaynor said "Its To Hard" as she apparently thinks that she knows my thoughts. Well that is just crap we know it is possible to do it unsupported but decided that after I found out that I could not have anymore that 3 months of work that we could do it in that time frame. You would need a lot longer. So Gaynor stop presuming you know our thoughts. After we dumped the trolleys it was a breeze walking the canning and we thoroughly enjoyed having the time to stop and talk to people and take many photo's of what the Canning has to offer.
Fourthly we are not city people we know exactly what the outback is like both of us having lived in remote communities. And travelled extensively the Tanami, Cape York, Gibb River Road, and the list goes on. Gaynor we are not novelist like you, who thinks they can walk one track in our country and think you know everything about our great country Australia. "In your words -I talked down a bull camel" Give us a break that gave us all a good laugh.
Fifthly apparently Gaynor thinks she is now a psychiatrist and in her words "Psychologically it would be tough on her if she did not" complete the walk. Well Gaynor you don't know me at all you refuse to talk to me by phone and you do not know what is going on in my head I am unlike you my husband is my life, along with my family and you have no idea what I can do psychologically. I am an incredibly strong minded and strong willed woman.
And on a sixth note since you now think you have a medical degree and also have a comment on Mick's medical condition then I suggest you get a second opinion. Because you have no idea what you are talking about. Unlike you I do have a medical degree and his condition for everyone else out there that actually do want to know what happened I will inform you.
He ended up with a PUJ obstruction. In a nutshell apparently he has a deformity in his left kidney from birth, which we knew nothing about as he is now 48 years old and has never has any problems with his kidneys including urinary infections. Most people who have this problem are undiagnosed until it is picked up during an incidental finding during xrays, or they may have issues like bladder infections, kidney stones etc. Mick had none of these his whole life so we did not know there was even a problem until he ended up with a tear, which is often the case but in 95% of cases it happens up to young children or adults very uncommon in adults. So it was pot luck that it happened when it did and where it did. It was not caused by the trek it self.
Gaynor also mentioned experienced travellers came by. Let me just get this straight also, we were in the process of getting Mick driven out by our support vehicle to Glenayle and on the phone to RFDS doctor and had our evacuation plan in progress, we were actually on the road when Wayne came by with his entourage of cars and volunteered to put Mick in his car to make it more comfortable for Mick. So even if they did not come along we still were fine in getting ourselves out of the medical situation we were in. It was just so nice of Wayne to want to help just to make it more comfortable for Mick and for that we are grateful.
And lastly please if anyone has any questions about what our plans are please contact us direct 0457659395 and we would love to give you the facts, and not made up and opinionated made up story that Gaynor comes up with.
And for the near future, yes we are going back to finish our trek when we will let you know, we are home now till Mick finishes his antibiotics but we will keep you informed.
Also thank you to our supporters you have all been terrific, we are doing this walk for suicide awareness and prevention. Our motto is on step at a time. Sometimes life can become tough but no mater what happens don't give up, ever. You just take a different direction but never give up. i.e not enough time to do it unassisted, - so take a different approach, illness - just take a break and then finish what we started.
Yes we will be finishing what we started and no we will not give up.
Regardless of the opinion of Gaynor
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Reply By: ModSquad - Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 20:49

Thursday, Jul 17, 2014 at 20:49
Many of us have a passion for this great country. Very few of us seek to challenge ourselves by pitting ourselves against a harsh environment in a feat of endeavour and human endurance. It is hard country all right and hard luck comes easy even to the best prepared.

The forum is a place to share these adventures but IT IS NOT a place for personal spats. You can take care of that privately.

To prevent the thread degenerating, the thread will be locked.

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