Outback2003

Wednesday Status Report

Reconfirmed LandCruiser Rentals
Called up Budget to reconfirm the car rentals. I must have had a tin ear when I first heard the details. The insurance is $20.70/dayAUD. Taxes amount to 3.3%. I think there are a few other bullshit fees, but it all basically squares up.

Schedule
You probably didn't notice, but I did change the daily schedule a bit. We've never been let off the waitlist for the convenient flight from Darwin to Alice Springs. Appears like we'll be stuck in Darwin till the afternoon and only arrive in Alice on Sunday evening.

This cuts out a day designated for logistics assembly.

Jol Flemming Reverts
The 4wd recovery class we'll be taking is going to run from 9am till 4pm. That leaves us just enough time to collect our cars from Budget 8am monday morning.

The problem (I think) is it leaves us only that time. There are always countless errands to run, including collecting a cylinder of helium. Australian shops close early, so this will be nip and tuck.

I really don't want to cut out a 4wd day so that we can lazily range about collecting groceries the following day. The first day drive, down the Finke, is going to be a long one. We can't afford to do logistics till 1030AM and then get on the road. We need to leave at daybreak. So the plan will have to be we have two detailed to-do lists, and as soon as JolSchool is excused for the day, we'll break up into two "tactical units" to go and rapidly tick things off the list.

Quartermaster
Speaking of Jol, he also reverted with the prices for renting the 4wd equipment we'll need...

Worst Fears

Imagine a two-week 4wd trip through the Outback, but without any 4wds....

Well, that's what they said when I started calling around. "Oh... August?! totally. booked. up

I nearly vomited. I tried several places. I finally found a company called Eurocar that rented Land Cruisers. Their availability sucked. One available on the day we needed, but then the other not available till the next day at 11pm. They wanted 170$/day (300km/day limit) 27c excess.

I was so concerned about avails that I almost booked it.

I hung on line for Thrifty for perhaps two minutes, and then balked and called Budget.

Via Budget, I was able to book two Land Cruisers with the following details:

pickup Monday August 18th at 830am
return Friday August 29th afternoon

150$/day for 450km/day limit (27c excess)
1905$/vehicle for all the insurance
total price, including all the taxes, etc, is 2106$AUD/vehicle. (approx 126$USD/day/vehicle)

I will call in a week's time and reconfirm. I have the order numbers, but won't post them here in case there is some sicko who cancels them or something...

Bush Pundit

This evening I dissected my buddhist prayer beads (108 of them + the knot-bead) and reconstituted them into a pundit-style 100 + knot bead).

I'm a bit nervous about the string -- it's a very low quality acrylic weave. The holes through the beads are big enough that something stronger could and should be used.

Anyway, it and all the accessories and extra beads are in a slide box, ready to go.

Dad bought a new compass, so we'll be able to use that to work on our Punditry. He also sent me a few very interesting excerpts from The Essential Wilderness Navigator: How to Find Your Way in the Great Outdoors.

Put 2 marks on the wall exactly 12 inches apart at about eye level.
Measure 10 feet back from the wall and stand at the line.
Hold your hands out at eye level with your two thumbs side by side and your finger tips together.

Close your left eye and line up the v notch between your thumbs with the left mark on the wall then swap eyes. The v notch should be setting on the right mark. This indicates that the ratio of v notch distance to eye spread is 10. You may find that you have to set your thumbs in a differnet angle than natural to make it exact, or just use one arm, or some other way.

So once you have found a way to do a 10 ratio triangle then you can site a known length in the distance as being 1 wink wide and immediately know that you're 10 times that distance from it.

...

For measuring angles the index finger is 2 degrees, index + middle is 4, index middle an dring is 6 held at arms length. Thumb to tip of index is 15 degrees while thumb to tip of little finger is 20. On a flat lake, the horizon in miles is the square root of how high your eyes are in feet. Sitting in a kyak at 4 feet yields a root of 2 which is miles to horizon (about).

...

By eye:



• 6 miles = large houses, small apartments buildings, and towers can be recognized
  
• 2 miles = chimneys stand out; windows are dots; vehicles can be seen moving
  
• 1 mile = people look like dots; trunks of large trees can be seen
  
• 1/2 mile = people look like posts; larger branches on trees become visible
  
• 1/4 mile = head and body forms, leg movement, and colors of clothing become discernible
  
• 250 yards = faces and hands are blurs but can be seen, as can details on clothing
  
• 100 yards = eyes appear as dots
  
• 50 yards = eyes and mouth can clearly be seen
  

I can't wait to try all these little tricks. And the beauty is, we have GPS and walkie-talkies to reconcile all of it.

Power

So I'm thinking more about the power issue.

Presumably, simultaneously across two cars we'd want to power and use:

Sunday Jul 27

Followup conversation

Called Jol Flemming today and let him know we were interested in both the course and the equipment hire.

In addition to the gear mentioned already, we'll get a second tent. Mine is only (barely) enough for two people. He has more the Sears-style tent -- large roomy tent that you can stand up in, etc.

Britz?

We talked about other logistics.

I'd looked to rent a 12v refrigerator from him. The one issue we'll have is that on any truck we rent, the only power we're going to have is from the cigarette adaptor. That means all sorts of equipment competing for this one power point.

Spontaneously, Jol suggested my original idea -- have one truck and have one BushCamper as the mobile kitchen.

I'm not sure what to advise.

Bushcamper pros

Admin

Call Wiwi the travel agent 6 3399 133 on Monday.

The Unholy Spies of Captain Beadell

I endured a dreadful ecommerce experience today to order an (admittedly cheap-cheap-cheapo) sextant and bubble level.

The idea was that we could try our hand at the sort of Outback navigation science that Len Beadell used back in the 1950's and 1960's as he built most of the major roads in the Outback.

Due to a ridiculous heap of crap superstition and a Chinese wife who believes this garbage, I've been forebidden to mountain bike in the jungle this and the following weekend. (And there is no symmetry to this lunacy, either...)

So I'm sitting here this evening and in between bouts of brooding and grumbling I thought about other things to keep me busy. It seems like a good time to bring up an old project that I had sort of started, but never completed. The idea becomes quite apropos considering our Outback trip.

Several years ago I read Trespassers on the Roof of the World, by Peter Hopkirk. It details the astonishing 19th century secret survey of Tibet by Indians trained by their British spymasters. The entire book is astonishing -- these guys were as hard-core as any modern day Navy SEAL. What is most germane to our trip is the methods they employed to surreptitiously survey Tibet.

First they were trained by endless practice to take a pace which, whether they walked uphill, downhill or on the level, always remained the same - thirty-three inches in the case of Nain Singh. Next they learned how to keep an exact count of the number of such paces they took in a day, or between any two landmarks. This was done with the aid of a Buddhist rosary, which as we have noted normally comprises one hundred and eight beads. Eight of these were removed, leaving a mathematically convenient one hundred, but not a sufficient reduction to be noticeable. At every hundredth pace a bead was slipped. Each complete circuit of the rosary, therefore, represented ten thousand paces - five miles in the case of Nain Singh, who covered a mile in two thousand paces. Because the Buddhist rosary has attached to it two short secondary strings, each of ten smaller beads, these were used for recording every completed circuit of the rosary.

When I was in China early this year, I bought a set of prayer beads expressly for the purpose of making a "secret" pacing counter. I never got around to amputating eight beads, or to ever even measuring my paces.

However, the Outback seems like a great place to play at this -- figuring out pace settings, practice of dead reckoning, etc. And, like our Len Beadell play, we can use the GPS to determine how accurate (or fucked up) we are.

This weekend I'll cut up the prayer beads into a proper 100-bead chain. Does someone want to bring a thermometer to we can make guesses of the altitude? (Hmmm. maybe this is hard...most thermometers do not get up to boiling-water temperature. The idea is to calculate altitude from boiling water, where boiling_point = f(altitude).)

Saturday July 26 Status Report

Following up on Quartermaster...

I sent off an email detailing everything we want to rent from Jol Flemming.

Quartermaster

Jol Flemming Reverts

Finally heard back from Jol Flemming regarding equipment and car rental.

He suggested common names for car rental... Europe Car, Hertz, Avis, or Territory rentals. I had hoped maybe he could suggest someone he's tight with, guaranteeing us a good deal. I'll call these companies up and see what's available.

We can spend a day at his 4wd training facility and he'll be able to teach us all the recovery and driving techniques we'll need for the areas we're travelling to. Sand driving looks to be a bit tricky, and the recovery stuff (snatch straps, etc) is totally new to me. I thought I was proud the first time Ling peed in the desert--I can't wait to watch her in one LandCruiser yanking free Mom's intentionally-bogged LandCruiser!

The final bit of good info is that all the heavy auto-camping, radio, and recovery equipment we need we can rent from Jol. This is the list of stuff I'm considering:

Celestial Navigation

Another pastime I thought we could amuse ourselves with in the Outback was to spend the nights learning how to fix our own position using the stars, Len Beadell-style. His books don't especially explain how to do this, but he did mention the use of compasses, theodolites, and lots ot tables.

So yesterday I put out a query on sci.engr.surveying and sci.geo.satellite-nav

Wow... I got a lot of responses.

Hard to summarize them.

A sextant is the "cheap" way to do position calculation. However, it's better suited to the sea because you can see the true horizon, while on land you have to make a fake horizon by using a pan full of oil to reflect the stars. Sounds like if you know what you are doing, you can get to about one mile accuracy.

A theodolite is better suited, but even the Kern DKM1, a reliable mechanical relic of the 70's still used, is at least several hundred dollars, more likely "under $1000." Ouch.

One interesting idea was to get some of the more powerful astronomical software out there, . They say simply by careful observation of the night sky as you see it, plus time-of-day, plus date, you can back-calculate your position to within thirty miles. Not that this is great, but it is even just a fun exercise to pick out the Southern Sky features. We could buy quite a set of telescopes and binoculars for less than $1000...

The thing is, if we could beg, borrow, or steal a theodolite, there is tons of info on the web about how to navigate using them. So we need to start asking around to see what we can find. Matt -- check your engineering department. Dad -- check your plant colleagues (or maybe Nick). Mom -- call up Howard. Shannon -- you are in construction...can you help us?

It also might be worth calling up an equipment rental place -- these things must be rentable...

Books-On-Tape

So another idea to pass the time on the trip was to have some "books on tape."

We tried this on our trip in Death Valley. We brought at least four novels. Way way way too many. We ended up listening to thirty percent of one, "Polar Star."

We found it tough work to listen to. It takes more concentration than you like and it gets a bit loopy after a while.

Well, we've all been passing around copies of the Len Beadell books. I found that Len's ancestors have a website. One of the things the do is sell Len Beadell tapes and cds. These are recordings of his talks, among other things.

At first thought, it sounds like a clever idea to listen to these. But then I listened to some of the snippets on this page.

Ugh. I probably hear Australians more often than most of our crew, and I found Len's strange high-pitch warble fairly difficult to hear comfortably.

I'm sitting in my otherwise silent study playing the snippets on a nice sound system.

Now if I cannot understand him very easily in those conditions, imagine us sitting in a Land Cruiser, blasting down some dirt highway at 60mph with a truckload of equipment bouncing around the back.

How often do you think we'd have to rewind our tapes to hear all this? Probably not as many as you think; we'd eventually just abandon the whole thing.

We still should try to throw together some cassettes of shit to listen to during the trip -- books on tape and music. Maybe even my favorite, and something that I don't get to enjoy now that I am back in Singapore, TALK RADIO.

Geochacing in Australia

Within fifty miles of Alice Springs there aren't too many caches. And they're not appropriate to our trip. One is in Palm Valley (part of the Western Lobe route we abandoned) and the other one is along the forlorn Stuart Highway, at a Truck Stop which I believe I stopped at last month. Screw that.

Australian Geocaching.com is kind of a crappy site that seems to be a "purposeful community" bolted on, somehow, to the database at the regular geocaching.com. It's not a thing of beauty. However, I used it to see what's in the areas we'll be travelling.

Group 1

Clothing for Mom and Dad

Here is my advice on clothing for Mom and Dad to prepare with. It's pretty minimal and inexpensive.

Prescription Sunglasses & Backup Glasses
I never understood how Dad could stand so much driving without sunglasses. After seven years living on the equator, I really can't understand it. The Outback is even worse. Some of the areas we drove through were blasted regions of wind and sun-baked rocks and nearly volcanic earth. The glare was punishing.

Anyway, unless you have them already, when you come over, we'll get sets made here. Glasses are quite inexpensive in Singapore, mostly because the medical cartel doesn't have as firm a chokehold on the country, but also because seemingly everyone from age five onwards wears glasses here. (It must be something to do with the diet -- too much refined sugar or something)

As well, make sure you bring a second set of glasses. The last four days in India were somewhat tedious as Ling's glasses broke and she was reduced to wearing her Yoji Yamato fashion sunglasses for the rest of the trip. Glamorous but dark.

Even Matt, who I'd never seen wear glasses ever, bought a tony pair in Singapore. (He took Ling's advice, and not mine, when choosing styles )

Boots
This is the other important thing to break away from tradition. Leave the twenty dollar tennis shoes from Hills at home, and instead bring a decent pair of boots and (Dad's favorite) sandals.

Both Mom and Dad have complained of feet problems recently, so I make more stringent specifications than I might have otherwise.

In your case, I'd find boots with a stiff sole and high ankle support. Most of the Southern Lobe trip will be in sand. What you want is a good stiff sole for the sand, otherwise your feet tire out a lot faster. The Eastern Lobe will be in the mountains, and we'll be scrambling among the old mines, so you want a stiff sole (for the same reason as sand) plus you'll want higher ankle support when you're jumping around the boulders. (It will also help to have stiff soles when you are jumaring back up the rappel lines from the some of the deeper (two to three-hundred feet) shaft mines we'll be rappelling into. )

Vibram soles are very good. They are really sticky on rocks and I highly recommend them.

There is no water in Australia. Therefore no need to worry about water-proofing. Therefore no need to worry about what your boots are made of -- either leather or synthetic. Either will do. Synthetic is sometimes a bit cheaper, so maybe you can get a more expensive, quality sole for less money than a leather boot.

My suggestion?

Get this boot or something like it. It looks like a good dollar value -- quality sole, leather construction, and appropriate ankle-height -- for $100USD.

If you want something cheaper, a model like this would do.

Unfortunately there are no REI stores within fifty miles of Murrysville. Where else to try? There is a smaller REI clone called EMS -- Eastern Mountain Sports. They have a store at Ross Park Mall. Their selection is comparable to REI, although they don't have leather boots.

You can also try the stupidly-spelled "Exkursion" in Monroeville. I don't know what their product selection is like. As well, with small niche outdoor shops like this, you might do some price-checking before you buy. Also beware their salesmanship, advising all these other accessories and upgrades you just must have.

Just do yourself a favor, and don't seek out the cheapest possible boots for this trip. These things last forever, so it is effectively a one-time purchase.

The following is the fitting guide I stole from REI:

Fitting tips:

Begin with a foot measurement - Have an experienced REI salesperson measure both of your feet using a Brannock device. Use these measurements as your starting point for trying on boots. If one foot is larger than the other (which is quite common), fit your larger foot first. You may need to use extra socks or an insert to take up extra space in the other boot.

Pick the right socks - Wear the type of socks and sock liners that you'll be using out on the trail whenever you try on boots.

Check the initial fit - Lace up the boots and stand up. They should feel snug around the ball and instep of your foot, but loose enough that flexing your foot forward is not uncomfortable. Your heel should be held firmly in place. If your foot feels like it's "floating" inside the boot, try a half size down. If your foot feels cramped or your toes make contact with the front or sides of the toe box, try the next bigger size.

Take a walk - Take a walk and see how comfortable the boots/shoes are. Check for any looseness, foot movement and/or heel lift. Good-fitting boots will hold your feet firmly in place without binding or pinching them. New boots may feels a little stiff at first, but they should still be comfortable.
After a quick walk across a flat surface, step onto an incline facing downhill (if one is available) to check for foot slippage. Your feet should not slide forward easily, nor should you be able to move your heel from side to side. If either of these is possible, try a smaller (or lower volume) boot. If your toes make contact with the front of the boot without much forward movement, try a larger size or a different boot.

Investigate your options - Try on a number of boot models before you decide on a single pair, even if the first pair feels good. Every boot model is built around a different "last" (standard foot shape), so each one will grab you a little differently.

*Bring sandals. Wearing hot boots for two weeks tires your feet out. Plus, at these crummy places we're staying, you don't want to stand in their showers in bare feet. *ugh*

Clothing
Not much is necessary. It doesn't rain there and the weather is reasonably constrained to 32-85 degrees. Therefore you don't need extreme clothing. My normal tack is to wear several thin layers and take them on and off as necessary, as the day gets hotter then cooler. So it goes something like:

Sticky Friday Afternoon

Since the Ross River Resort is closed for the year, the only other option is the Arltunga Bush Hotel. I called them to check availabilities, rates, and facilities.

Bad news again. Their pub/hotel is closed for the year. All they have is a campground (for which they don't accept reservations).

So that means there are no fixed accomodations available to us anywhere in the East Macdonnells. Nowhere.

So what can we do?

1) Scrap this Eastern Lobe trip, and try a modified Western Lobe

2) After we return from the Southern Lobe, exchange a truck for a larger camper, and take that out to the East MacDonnells for the three-day trip.

3) Get some camping gear and tough it out for two nights.

I'm not very keen on #1. We'll really miss out on some of the cool 4wd'g, industrial archeology, and desolation. A western lobe trip would be little more than visiting several scenic gorges. It doesn't suit our tastes.

I'm suggesting #3 is the best option -- two nights should be tolerable. It's a campground anyway, so there'll be showers, so it shouldn't be to gross for those that care.

Finally, not having tied-in reservations means we can be extra flexibile about how we take the last four, five days of the trip.

I think the threat of "no reservations" is utterly toothless. The pub isn't open because there are no tourists. No tourists means no problem finding a site.

I don't think there is a quality-of-life improvment provided by bringing along a camper rather than a 4x4 & tent. And it will be more expensive. And it will make the 4wd exploration more difficult.

Thoughts?

====

Sidenote:

*The calculus of 'no reservations' is beyond me. I can only think that they lose business from it. What are the risks?

RISK: "I make a booking, but never show up"
risk-to-campground: potentially turn away a customer because you are holding a spot for the no-show. Value: 15$ or whatever a campsite rents for. Furthermore this is making the extreme condition where there is absolutely no room whatsoever to squeeze in that last walkin ANYWHERE in your site.

RISK: "I can't make a booking, so I just hope to be able to find something"
risk-to-vacationer: big expensive vacation I've planned for is all fucked up because we can't find a place to stay anywhere Value: 100$ 300$?

There is so little downside for the place to give reservations that it's just ludicrous to refuse them.

31die's Flight

arrival: noon on Wednesday 13-Aug
departure: 1:10pm on Monday 1-Sep

---------------------

 12 AUG 03  -  TUESDAY

    AIR   EVA AIRWAYS          FLT:17                    MEALS

          LV SAN FRANCISCO                130A           EQP: 747-400 COMBI

          DEPART: INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL                 12HR 35MIN

  

 13 AUG 03  -  WEDNESDAY

          AR TAIPEI                       505A           NON-STOP

          ARRIVE: TERMINAL 2                             REF: CHD3XQ

          ELDRIDGE/MATTHE   SEAT-28C

    AIR   EVA AIRWAYS          FLT:225                   MEALS

          LV TAIPEI                       740A           EQP: 747-400 COMBI

          DEPART: TERMINAL 2                             04HR 20MIN

          AR SINGAPORE                    1200N          NON-STOP

          ARRIVE: TERMINAL 1                             REF: CHD3XQ

          ELDRIDGE/MATTHE   SEAT-29C

  

 01 SEP 03  -  MONDAY

    AIR   EVA AIRWAYS          FLT:226                   MEALS

          LV SINGAPORE                    110P           EQP: 747-400 COMBI

          DEPART: TERMINAL 1                             04HR 15MIN

          AR TAIPEI                       525P           NON-STOP

          ARRIVE: TERMINAL 2                             REF: CHD3XQ

          ELDRIDGE/MATTHE   SEAT-23C

    AIR   EVA AIRWAYS          FLT:18                    MEALS

          LV TAIPEI                       740P           EQP: 747-400 COMBI

          DEPART: TERMINAL 2                             11HR 10MIN

          AR SAN FRANCISCO                350P           NON-STOP

          ARRIVE: INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL                 REF: CHD3XQ

          ELDRIDGE/MATTHE   SEAT-29C

PGH/SGP/PGH Flight Details

Mom & Dad's Flight Details

YOUR RESERVATION:
Date: MONDAY, AUGUST 11
Flight Number: NW3619
Departs: PITTSBURGH, PA (PIT), 11AUG at 100P
Arrives: DETROIT, MI (DTW), 11AUG at 206P
Class: V
Seats: 13A,13B
Meal Service:
Equipment: RJA
NW3619 Operated by MESABA AVIATION
Check-in with NORTHWEST AIRLINES/NORTHWEST AIRLINK

Date: MONDAY, AUGUST 11
Flight Number: NW0011
Departs: DETROIT, MI (DTW), 11AUG at 340P
Arrives: SINGAPORE, (SIN), 11AUG at 1230A
Class: V
Seats: UNASSIGNED
Meal Service: Dinner
Equipment: 744

Date: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 04
Flight Number: NW0012
Departs: SINGAPORE, (SIN), 04SEP at 610A
Arrives: DETROIT, MI (DTW), 04SEP at 225P
Class: V
Seats: UNASSIGNED
Meal Service: Brkfst
Equipment: 742

Date: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 04
Flight Number: NW1585
Departs: DETROIT, MI (DTW), 04SEP at 455P
Arrives: PITTSBURGH, PA (PIT), 04SEP at 547P
Class: V
Seats: 13A,13B
Meal Service:
Equipment: D9S

July 15th Status #2

Started making hotel bookings today.

Good news: Got the Southern Lobe sewed up -- reserved with Mount Dare and with Old Andando Homestead accomodations.

Bad news: The Ross River Homestead is privately leased for the whole year because they are filming a corny TV movie there. This is going to fuck up the logistics of our Eastern Lobe. I'll have to figure out where else we could stay, or what other route we could follow. This sounds like a cool enough lobe that it's worth making the logistics work somehow.

I haven't bothered booking the Alice Springs accomodations yet. The tourist industry is weak there now, and I don't have much concern about finding rooms. I'll do that later this week.

I tried to contact Jol Fleming, but when I called him he was away until July 21st. His answering machine left a handphone number, but the number dumped right to voicemail. I assume he is tearing around the bush somewhere. I'll keep trying over the next few days and maybe get lucky.

July 15th Status

So I worked out a rough calendar and destination calculation. Now I have no excuse not to call up the lodging tomorrow and start booking reservations.

After I do that, I'll check out the car rental as well. I am suppsed to contact Jol Flemming of Direct 4WD Awareness (08) 8952 3359 (directfourwd@bigpond.com.au) He comes well-recommended for 4wd driver training. Hopefully he'll have some ideas for a good supplier of trucks and recovery gear.

Daily Schedule

Saturday, August 16
Fly out of Singapore at 2215

Sunday, August 17
[Alice Springs]
Day spent in Darwin; we only arrive in Alice Springs at around 6pm.

Monday, August 18
[Alice Springs]

//SOUTHERN LOBE

Tuesday, August 19
Southern Lobe Day 1: Alice Springs to Finke (Apatula)
[Old Andado Homestead] (booked)

Wednesday, August 20
Southern Lobe Day 2: Explore Simpson Desert around Old Andado
[Old Andado Homestead] (booked)

Thursday, August 21
Southern Lobe Day 3 (can abort days 4 and 5 from here): Old Andado to Mount Dare [Mount Dare] (booked) OR back to Alice Springs [Alice Springs]

Booked two doubles ($70) and a single ($35) and requested dinner.

Friday, August 22
Southern Lobe Day 4(*): Explore Witjira/French Line
[Mount Dare] (booked)

Saturday, August 23
Southern Lobe Day 5(*): Rejoin the Old Andando Track back to Alice Springs [Alice Springs]

//ALICE SPRINGS

Sunday, August 24
[Alice Springs]

//EASTERN LOBE

Monday, August 25
Eastern Lobe Day 1: Alice Springs to Ross River Homestead; an easy, short drive
[Ross River Homestead] ***not available***
[Arltunga 'Bush Resort'] only campground; no reservations accepted

Tuesday, August 26
Eastern Lobe Day 2: Explore around the Ross River/Arltunga area
[Ross River Homestead] ***not available***
[Arltunga 'Bush Resort'] only campground; no reservations accepted

Wednesday, August 27
Eastern Lobe Day 3: Cattlewater Pass to The Gemtree
[Gemtree]

Thursday, August 28
Eastern Lobe Day 4: Gemtree back to Alice Springs
[Alice Springs]

//ALICE SPRINGS

Friday, August 29
[Alice Springs]

Saturday, August 30
Fly back to Singapore

=============

Old Andado Homestead 08-8956 0812 (Bush), 8952 4034 (Alice Springs)
Mount Dare Homestead 08-8670 7835
Gemtree 08-8956 9855
Ross River Homestead 08-8956 9711
Arltunga Bush Hotel 08 8956 9797

July 14th Status

A quick status report...

====REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF====

FLIGHTS [mostly done; waiting for MWE]

List of Stuff to Bring

I made a place for us to list stuff we need to remember to bring. These are generally one-off items.

Lost in the Akihibara

Another marvelous quality about Japan is that there is no numbering scheme to their addresses. There is no "4777 Logan's Ferry Road". At best, you'll get an approximate street address and maybe a bit of description. You can imagine how useful that is when I don't speak any Japanese, and most Japanese don't speak almost any English.

So after spending two hours in the Tsuyu rainy season searching Akihabara, the venerable electronics district of Tokyo, I failed to find 2-way transceivers that function on Australian UHF CB frequencies.

They had plenty of handi-talkies, but they were all around 430mhz, not the 460-470mhz we needed for compatibility with Australian UHF CB nets.

Looks like we'll have to source the gear in Australia. Who knows, maybe we can even rent it; I'll check it out.

Forums

I set up a bulletin board-style forum for the Outback 2003 trip. For longer, multiparty, meandering discussions it will work better.