Thursday, May 12, 2005 at 12:54
Ruth, you are spot on, lady. We actually learned quite a lot on our trip last year. We carried 60 litres but thought we had an 80 litre tank under the ute, plus 30 litres of
drinking water in 10 litre containers.
We actually ran our tank out showering four on the middle night, trying to get salty mud off. A VERY hot shower at Purnie
bore and a refill of the tank and we were right again, before the swim at Dalhousie.
I think The Undertaker is way over the top putting words into Ruth's mouth. She said nothing like he believes he quoted. I am glad we wouldn't follow him through with his wife on 8 litres a day, especially if he was taking a trailer to carry all the water which is preferred not to be used across the SD. I agree with Ruth about 200 litres being extreme unless you are carering for a heap of people.
Karen there is a practicality limit, every kilo of water you carry lifts the mass over the weight limit. Springs, shockers and what you have to carry over the sand, tyre loads too in sandy or stony conditions.
One of the things we learned in conserving water was to use paper towels to help clean out cooking containers and crockery and burn them on the fire, a bit of fat or oil is good for getting the fire relit. It will limit the requirement for water as long as you don't burn on the food. A bit of wet sand can be a good abrasive if you actually do that however. Being a farmer we can get access to lots of the alcohol wipes too which are very good for cleaning knives, spoons and forks at stops when you don't need to wash up. You can get those at veterinary suppliers. All these things are a lot lighter than water to carry and use.
Ruth I also drink water is I have my beer and wine too though, or in tea, but the U'taker is way over the top. I did find the alcohol wipes were not too good on the salty mud !
Oh,.. we had heaps of water for drinking too left when we got to
Oodnadatta though no beer and little wine.
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