RL camping and T2K observations

[kcdusk]

I've just returned from a 5,000+km (3,200+mile) camping holiday. My family travelled in a 4WD and camper trailer. We do it quite often, but this has been our biggest trip. It wasnt just the longest, but also the most remote. 99% of our travel was on corrugated dirt roads in remote regions and through sand hills in the Simpson Desert. And of course, I'm thinking T2K all the way.

So, i jotted down some dot points as we travelled about rough travelling in real life and also T2K observations. I had hoped to write a massive email on my return, but no one ever reads them. So heres my cliff notes.

Packing: most times people dont have enough room and have to leave stuff behind. We're seasoned travellers (we take half as much as we used to)and had more than enough room. I like our car and trailer to be at "75%" capacity so theres room to add stuff along the way (firewood) or if you need to get to something (its always on the bottom) you can move stuff around without too much trouble. Something i found on this trip was after 3 or 4 days we had too much room. Too much room in our fridge, too much room in our food store and even in the back of our car. What was happening was, we were breaking stuff. Milk container in the fridge, fridge latch broke off after bumping around in the ute tray, cordial bottle in the food box. When we left home things were packed "tight". After a few days things were no longer "tight" and also there was more room to move, and with that movement, even small movement, things broke when bouncing around on corrugated roads. Every day you need to repack. We ended up putting my ugg boots in the fridge to cushion milk containers, beer cans etc. Once you've used up some supplies, you need to "dampen" down the available movement or risk breaking gear. T2K: a good store person is a must. And along with "maintenance", it should also include "packing". I'm strongly in favour of a daily roll for random items to be damaged during travel. It mimiks real life, and it really is random what can break.

You cant have enough spares. Most of what we broke were consumable items (liter of milk with a slow leak). Or "annoying" items (fridge latch. The fridge still closed and we could latch one side, but not the other). It really opened up the possibility that 50 cent items could bring you to a halt (blown light fuse, run down torch battery at night). T2K: just as random stuff breaks all the time, it pays to have spares. Its not exciting to list all your spares, but it might suit some. I dont like to list all spares and other carried items. If theres a good scrounger or storeperson in a party, i'll assign a % likelihood to the random item. If a fuse blows for example, a good storeperson is likely to have one (even if not listed), so theres an 85% chance your party has the fuse (roll for effect). If there is no one with good provision management, having that same fuse available might be 50/50.

We had to fill up with diesel in remote communities. While we carried jerry cans (x6) we had to refuel at some point. I'd heard stories of bad diesel, or water in petrol station tanks (rains, condensation). It was a big concern i had if the motor got into trouble so far from anywhere. T2K: bad fuel is a real fear. Is your alcohol still working properly? Did you just trade for good or bad diesel?

Even with a car fridge, food can and does go off. x1,000 in a T2K setting.

Small cuts or splinters are a real pain, and you pick up so many. I'm not a "manual work" kind of guy. But my hands were skun and had splinters from early on. Day 1 its no worries, "We're camping and my hands are dirty!". Day 2 and its "ow, this actually hurts". Day 3 "oh boy, its infected now". T2K: Day 10 "the medic says two of those fingers have to come off".

Personal hygene is real. I had a pair of socks on. That night it was cold and i wore the socks to bed. In the morning (-4c) it was so cold i kept the same socks on during the day, 4 days later the routine hadnt changed. I joked about getting trench foot. At the end of 3 weeks my feet had had clean and dirty socks on for 24 hours a day .... for 3 weeks. T2K: I'm lucky i didnt take my socks off when i got home and have toes rattling around in them.

Travelling on dirt roads for so long really knocked stuff about. The roads were maintained, to a point. In T2K they arent. 100's of kms of corrugated roads shook stuff apart. Everything rubbed and got dirt in it (see random breakage die roll). Even on good roads we were travelling at 80-90kph and then out of no where its "whumph" & you'd speed through a washout or dip in the road, the car bottoms out, its bash-crash type stuff. Quadruplerly so travelling through sandhills where you need speed at the bottom to get over the top, so your travelling faster than you need to.

Simple items can be really important. We have a treg hitch on our camper. Its a square block, with a simple pin that connects it to your car tow bar. If we took the camper off the car to travel during the day, the pin sometimes got left on the rear step of the car .... you forget its there and drive off .... if your lucky the pin drops off the car not far from camp. More likely you've lost the pin. A $5 item, but hard to come by. Without it your really going to struggle to connect your trailer to the car. My wife and i are hyper sensitive to loosing the pin. But twice on the trip we forgot. Bad process, yes. But it happens when your short of time and hurrying. T2K: i expect discipline in T2K to be less than we employed.

We towed a camper trailer through the Simpson Desert. Trailers are not recommended, some people think towing trailers through the sandhills cuts up the track. They also mean your travelling slower and groups can get caught up behind you. I was worried we'd catch some abuse from other travellers. But everyone we came across was really friendly. We had a UHF radio and pulled over if anyone came up behind us or we had people travelling towards us. We got stuck a couple of times, didnt need a recovery but took 2 or 3 attempts to get over some hills. But even cars were doing that. Everyone we met was like "hey, its remote out here, how are you going? Whats the tracks like where you've been" and were more than happy to talk about where they'd been. T2K: not every group is out to get you. People are social creatures. Most people are happy to see others. Some want to take advantage of you. People normally either want your co-operation (no matter how "weak" you may be, they think you are more capable than them) or are after conflict (travelling marouders).

Anyway. For those in Australia we did the Oodnadatta track (Leigh Creek to marla), Ayres rock, Kings canyon, Hermensburg, Palm Valley, through Alice Springs (2 hours to refuel and food), Chambers Pillar, Finke, Dalhousie Springs, across the Simpson ... to Birdsville, down the Birdsville track, Blinman (flinders ranges) and .... then home.