Friday, Mar 02, 2018 at 16:11
Thank you so much for replying Rolf....
Yes, to walk the CSR in survival mode, unaided, I too believe is a do-or-high-probability-die event. It is the nature of such a task.
Not doing it, is also one of my biggest regrets.
I walked it with a 30kg backpack in 2013, but I had dug in food and water every 21kms or so, so it was a bit like walking to the grocery store on the corner every day. But it was still hard enough.
In 2015 I bought a 25 year old Australian army Land Rover, the model with the reliable Isuzu engine, and spent 2 months on the track, alone, researching the bush tucker and water availability.
Interestingly enough, I believe I solved the water issue.
It was not going to be easy, but I did manage to break the distances between water down to a max of 100km on a number of sections by digging down to 3m in two areas, and closer to the surface in others. A rainy season would obviously change everything and provide surface water, but this was a bonus, not something to rely on.
Many of the wells in the centre were saline and in others, straining out camel and bird contamination, boiling and or treating to drink, was something I had to teach myself to do. Surprisingly difficult to drink water that is not clear and has camel poo and dead lizards floating in it.
Anyway, I do have a website with a Water page should you ever like to revisit this challenge. As I am now in my early 50's, 51 or 52, not sure, I find my body is beginning to creak and groan and the effort likely beyond me.
Food, not water, is the real problem out there. I have done a lot of research, spent time with the community Aborigines in
Wiluna, Parrngurr,
Mulan and Blliluna, learning directly, and also through experience during my two months alone with the 4x4. There is no doubt in my mind that lizards, camels and snakes would need to be on the menu, but with a 4x4 on hand with easy rations, I could not bring myself to kill. In a real survival situation, yes, I would focus on the reptiles, but the situation would be dire and my skills are poor through lack of experience. Months out there in this manner, moving across 1600km was just not a viable option at my level.
In the third month of my 2015 journey, I had a passenger and tasked myself to not eat, only drink water, from the vehicle. For 9 days I went without food other than what I could find in the bush. I lost 7kg. And surprisingly, considering I had plenty of water available in the vehicle, I never drank enough to flush my body of the toxins (ketone) that were building up as my body ate itself. My thirst and hunger cravings had switched off.
I know without doubt that I could have gone longer, by just increasing my water intake to take care of the flushing, but I had already proved to myself, that I did not have what it takes for such an undertaking. And so I resumed eating slowly.
One of my greatest regrets is not doing a crossing drinking and feeding from the land. I look forward to the day when that special person succeeds. But in my case, my commitment levels means I would likely die before I gave up. And I am not ready to die just yet.
May adventure continue to be your life Rolf.
Blessings from South Africa.
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