Corner Country Trip

Sorry mate but you lost me at "her wet and soapy, naked body" :) :)

Hi Laurie

Regardless of where you travel in the Outback, always be self sufficient, that is our motto.

On our desert trips, for which we are no stranger, we always carry around 100 litres of water as a bare minimum for up to 3 weeks of travel, and usually come home with water in hand.

We can use as little as 2 litres for washing our hair in the morning and then doing the dishes.

If we ever top up our water from a source that is unknown, we only ever use that water for our personal washing and dishes, and not drinking, as you never know what bacteria is in the water.

Plan on being self sufficient and you will not have any troubles, which in turn always relates back to the old Boy Scout Motto, "Be Prepared".



Cheers



Stephen

Ah, you fellas! Glad I made your day with my humor.

I'm currently fitting a 70 litre tank under the ute body and will carry three or four 20 litre drums on the tray.

Trouble is, if the sweet lady uses 20 litres a day, my 100 litres will be gone in five days without me having a drink or boiling the spuds.

So my concern is to replace her shower water with second grade water every couple of days. Otherwise, she'll have to shower in two litres as I do when out on the bike.

If it's good enough for the cattle to drink, it's good enough to wash in, I reckon.

Photo: Shower with the billy - Andamooka Station

So I was hoping to find someone familiar with the Corner Country stations who could tell me how plentiful water is out there. Maybe it's as arid as further west.

Thanks,
Laurie.

The lovely Mrs Laurie doesn't have to use 20ltrs/day/shower surely ?
A heated sponge wash in a small bucket, or perhaps a 5ltr garden sprayer would do wouldn't it ?
She's not gonna meet the Queen out there and it's really good if everyone smells the same.

Laurie,
Women's advice here from a former princess :-) Get her a round plastic tub (or preferably two - they fit inside each other snugly) and a tin mug or whatever's around camp. Spread out a small piece of shadecloth so she's got something to stand on. Heat up some water (2-3 litres) and put some in the first tub, just enough to use a sponge to wet the body, and enough to wet the hair. Soap up - the secret is not to use too much soap or shampoo otherwise it's too hard to rinse out. Tip contents of first dish over head and shoulders. Use clean water in second dish to finish rinsing. Leave a little so she can condition her hair and then rinse it off.
It's amazing how clean you can get with 2 or 3 litres of water if you don't use too much soap.
The Corner Country general store in the main St of Tibooburra has a tap out by the bowser. We filled up there when we bought some diesel and supplies, no problems.
Louise

Laurie
Try a few practice showers at home and see how much she uses. If it is excessive then explain why and see if she can reduce it.

Louise is right when she said you only need two or three litres. My wife and I often camp in an area where water is plentiful. We can easily have a shower with a ten litre bucket. Even then the last one usually has to keep rinsing a little longer to empty it.

Well thanks, Lancie and Louise! You're both dead right, of course.

I can do it and my wife used to be able to also. But she's become such a lady, these days.

Happy wife: happy life, they say, and I believe it to be true.

She wants to get a 20 litre solar shower so that's what we'll do.

Ya know, on my last outback trip, alone, on the bike, I had a bit of trouble finding my way. Not lost, just bushed. There's a difference. The wheel tracks that I'd followed several years before were overgrown and in some places washed out into creek beds. I couldn't find one creek crossing and had to go cross country several times, navigating by the paper map and etrex GPS. I camped pretty rough two nights getting about 65km.

I never feel lonely out there, but I sure did feel alone and vulnerable. I decided that considering my age, this would be my last big trip and I cut it short, missing the most isolated area that I'd planned.

As I headed back to my ute at Arcoona homestead, near Woomera, I said goodbye to the country I've enjoyed so much, expecting never to see it again.

Well, I nearly fell off my chair about six months ago when the Missus said she wanted to out to Andamooka again. Mungo came into it and the Flinders Ranges.

When some friends mentioned their trip up the dog fence, we brought our trip forward a little to take that in as an extra.

So, you see, it's very important for me to keep my wife as happy as possible on the trip and as we get organised.

If it takes a couple of hundred litres of warm water and some privacy to keep her happy, then so be it.

I was just hoping to get some good info on the country out there, in particular the availability of water, but I also have further questions of people who know the country.

Thanks,
Laurie.

Hi Laurie!

What route are you taking from the Hill to The Corner and how long do you expect to take. I have done a lot of work in that country, and might be able to give you some help. It has been a good season and the dams would have plenty of water. It is what the stations use in their homesteads.

Cheers Wayne

Laurie

A rope, and a 10 lt bucket.
Cattle troughs, Bores, and Creeks are the go........So look around, and do not let the waste run back into anything.


Baby wipes, and deodorant were our essentials on the Canning. AS long as SWMBO could wash her hair every 2nd day everything was OK..
For toilet we used that hand sanitizer stuff.
That she did with 3 medium sauspans of water, but only when we found suitable water to replace what we would use.

Cheers
Bucky

Laurie,

Did the run from Camerons Corner down the dog fence as much as we could in Oct 2010 for the Drive for Life charity run.
Travelled in through Waka, through Hewart Downs past the Hawker Gate, Border Downs, Pineview, Mt Woolwoolahra to Silverton. There had been plenty of rain so quite a lot of water about. Pretty sure this was Lake Booka:

Obviously conditions can change so we had plenty of water in any case.
Plenty of gates to open and close. ;).
We were moving fairly quickly so only had the one stop overnight.
Have fun.

G'day Laurie,

The country is looking good out there - been through twice this year. There is a large lake on the east side of the road near Packsaddle you may get a fill up from; and from memory one on the west side also, but sounds like you are gunna be west of that.

However, a shower every couple of days? I reckon you'd be able to carry enough water to accommodate that on your ute.

How about purchasing 10L water cubes in the various places??? - Packsaddle roadhouse, Tibooburra etc.

Myself ??? - would not hesitate to grab stock water to wash in. You're observant; you'll find some IMHO, somewhere.

All well in the Stuart camp.

Cheers

Laurie3,

Richard's route in reverse is what I would have suggested. It really is the only way without going on the dog fence track. I presume th shoot near Tib is the Milparinka Field and Game 2 day shoot. Might be there myself. My partner who is a chef has been asked to do the catering. Have to decide in the next 2 weeks.

Regards Wayne