With good
preparation, some means
of communication that work, and knowledge of how to fix
the basics
on your vehicle, you should not.
Your main
worry is
to
get stuck in a place too far in the bush to walk out with
absolutely
no-one around for ages.
It makes
a big difference if someone is around if you get
stuck when remote.
But there are
a few
simple things
that help:
* Drive carefully to make sure the reason you got stuck is not that you
crashed your vehicle (not joking!).
* Have basic
knowledge about how to fix your vehicle - how to swap a tyre at
the very least.
* Carry the gear you need to get
yourself out of bog holes.
* Carry
some means of
communication that work
in remote
areas so you can ring for help if needed.
* Always
carry enough food and a
lot of
drinking water because you will have to wait
even if
you rang for help.
UHF Radio
EPIRB: the
Spot
satellite
phone
Forget
Mobile Phones and Internet
Telstra Next G
has the best coverage (Vodafone and Optusnet are not to rely on at
all), but even
Telstra only works in the handful of townships on the Peninsula, so as
a
remote area emergency help your mobile phone is useless.
UHF
Radios
A UHF Radio is a very
good thing to have on your
Cape York trip regardless the issue of remoteness.
It is cheap to buy and
free to use, and it is super handy if you are travelling
in a
group of vehicles. As an emergency help it may be
useless because it only pics up the signal from so far (the
bigger your antenna the better), but with a
good luck you may be
able to use it in emergency.
Satellite
Phones
Satellite phones work well,
but they are not
especially cheap
to buy or use. If you can afford it, get it,
but there are cheaper options.
EPIRB
EPIRB is an
emergency beacon that sends a
message to 000, which means
there will be a rescue team coming and looking for you. You are only allowed to use it if
your life
is threatened.
Such rescue operations can involve helicopters and be very costly - you
can end up with a huge fine if you use it in a wrong situation.
Spot
Personally I carry the SPOT- a kind of EPIRB that works in three ways: * you can
send an OK message to your friends - the satellites pick up your exact
location and your friends can see it on a map.
* You can
send an "I am in trouble" message to your friends or family - this is handy if you are
stuck but not in an immediate life threat.
This type of message needs to be pre-installed and pre-arranged with
your friends before you leave - once you are stuck you can only press
the button, not type.You can for example
pre-arrange with
your friends that they ring RACQ for you, or that they
come and find you. Again they can see your exact location on a map, and
also get
GPS coordinates.
* you can
use it as an EPIRB and send the 000 emergency message - if your life is
threatened, and the emergency people get
your exact
position and will come looking for you.
I
am really happy with my Spot,
its price, its looks and what it does, and I
feel
this is all I need to carry to feel safe everywhere in remoteness.
The "SPOT" - great to have
with
you in remoteness.
In March 2015, the body of the Melbourne man Dane Kowalski was found in
the South Australian outback, having
died from a snake bite.
That's the obvious
difference the remoteness does compared to being a driving
distance to a hospital, plus no communication means.
A tragical story that could have been avoided would he have had some of
the communication means to ring
000 in with helicopters.
If he wasn't bogged he could probably have made it to Coober Pedy to ring RFDS, but
bogged with no communication and
snake bite is obviously a rare but still possible and very dangerous
combination very much worth bearing in mind when going
remote.
Learn Bush Mechanicing
I could
not help but mention
- there is a hilarious
but actually
also very
creative and right out practical way to get out of trouble when in the
bush!
Our Aboriginal People are the cleverest bush mechanics you can ever
imagine!!!
Learn
How
to Do Bush
Mechanicing
Bush Mechanics is an
Australian television documentary series that was broadcasted on ABC
Television in the early
2000s and gained international recognition.
It features the Yuendumu Aboriginal People travelling through the
central, most remote deserts of Australia, in hopelessly old and
worn-down vehicles, only
getting
through by fixing them with bush
materials and some brilliant, unthinkable bush mechanicing techniques.
Examples
include filling punctured tyres with grass, having hand made
"snorkels" coming out of the roof and using the roof as a trailer..
only
to mention a few.It doesn't look pretty
but it does get
them through!
Bush
Mechanics
(All
Episodes of the Series
Included)
It is a great belly laugh
and gives
you ideas on what to do if you are out there in trouble with no
help!
Those tricks
are doable, and worth knowing, if it's your only way out!
Get
this 50 pages
guide totally for FREE.
It
contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip.
You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you
should take, how to get
there and get
around, where
to stay (general info), what
will it cost..
and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the
background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all
the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact
detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to
the Cape), at least 40 best
swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things -
from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
If
you liked the books or
this website, let others know about it!
Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet
about it...
Every link helps other travellers!
Thank you for doing the
right thing and letting others know :-)
This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.