Tips for Remote Travel

What's the best way to prepare for travel in the Australian outback?

There's lots of tips, trick and advice going around.

It's easy to get confused.

Should you carry a personal locator beacon or a satellite phone?

What outback maps, GPSrs or compasses should you use if you're going somewhere like Lake Eyre?

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to make it much safer, without taking away from the adventure. Here are six tips for doing just that.

1. Prepare.

I've seen people on remote tracks in Central Australia in 2WD vehicles with very little water, no food or recovery equipment. I've had to pull them out of sand traps or given them fuel and water.

The Ernest Giles Road, 150km south of Alice Springs is particularly notorious for this.

Many tourists underestimate the time needed for the trip and the kind of vehicle needed.

If a sign in outback Australia says '4WD Recommended', it means it. 

This kind of road will not be a pleasant jaunt through your local national park on well-graded dirt track.

Your 2WD family sedan will not be suitable.

2. Carry a map and compass. 

I know most people have a GPS these days, but there's no substitute for knowing how to read a topographic map and use a compass.



To get the most out of your outback maps, you really need to know how to read them.

Many people lost in the wilderness have hiked or driven farther into empty country because they had no idea which direction to travel to the nearest road.

A compass is a good idea too, but be sure you know how to use it. Practice near home, and start using it before you need it, just to keep in practice (and to keep from getting lost).

3. Learn other navigation skills. 


If you're a hiker, this one is for you.

Can you use a watch and the sun to determine direction? How about a stick and shadow?

Because compasses break, and maps get lost, you should know at least one or two ways to determine direction.

Also note the direction most likely to take you out of the wilderness before you start. If you remember that a highway runs along the entire south side of the area you are in, you know which way to go in an emergency.

4. Be Like Bear (Grylls). 

Ok. You don't have to jump out of a helicopter into a canyon, armed with only a knife, but it is handy to learn a few basic survival skills. Remote area travel becomes safer as well as more interesting.

Knowing that sleeping under a pile of dry grass or leaves can keep you warm could save your life someday.

Learning to identify a few wild edible plants can feed you when you lose your food, and make a trip more interesting in any case. Knowing the signal plants for water in the outback could even save your life.

If you've taken a Lake Eyre flight, then you'll know how vast and changeable the outback can be.

Each different habitat has different plant species which mark the presence of water. Taking the time to learn these things can be very useful in a survival-type situation.

5. Have a Plan. 

Rarely does anyone die from starvation in the outback.

They commonly die from exposure or thirst. In fact, the most common way people die in the outback is from heat exhaustion when walking in extremely hot temperatures.

This is the cross of a German tourist who died on the track out from Lake Eyre to William Creek. She attempted to walk out for help when the hire car she and her partner broke down.

She died from heat exhaustion and dehydration, approximately two-thirds along the track.

Her partner, who stayed with their hire car, survived and was rescued.

If you break down, stay with your car. Have extra water and even extra food.

But most of all, understand the nature of the risks you're taking and have a plan if things go wrong.



 6. Get help from others. 

Nobody can come to the rescue if nobody knows where you are. Leave an itinerary behind with someone. You may also want to carry a satellite phone, EPIRB or personal locator beacon (PLB). 
 


We carry PLBs all the time - when we're offroad or hiking.



Get an extra copy of the outback map you're using and outline your route on it.

Leave it with someone responsible. 

If you're heading outback, do more than read these tips. Take them and apply them.

Have a plan, understand where you're going and what to do if things go wrong. Get the vehicle, the right outback maps, and carry a personal locator beacon in your pack or glovebox. 

Make sure you don't end up as a lonely grave at the end of a Lake Eyre tour.

100,000 Pelicans: The Mystery of Pelicans and Lake Eyre

When Lake Eyre fills with water (roughly every 15-20 years), it becomes a giant pelican breeding colony.

For many years the question of how something like 100,000 pelicans find their way inland from Australia's coasts to Lake Eyre's tiny islands has been a mystery.

(How hundreds of birdwatchers also find their way to Lake Eyre is somewhat less of a mystery!)

John Read is an ecologist who's lived and worked around the lake for two decades. One of the most perplexing questions he's dealt with is how pelicans know when Lake Eyre is full.

In his book, Red Sand, Green Heart, he tries to solve part of this mystery.

Lake Eyre's Pelican Colonies

Australia's pelican population is somewhere around 300,000–500,000.

Most of the time, people just see the odd pelican or two scattered along the shore of coastal towns.

However, following inland floods, thousands and thousands of birds mass at breeding colonies hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the coast.

John Read was part of documenting the largest colony ever recorded at Lake Eyre South in 1990. In the first six months of 1990 following its flooding from local rains a year earlier, 100,000 pelicans successfully fledged as many as 90,000 chicks.

The pelicans flew inland, and roosted on the shores and tiny islands of the lake. They feasted on the explosion of fish and yabbies in the lake: Hardyheads, Yellowbelly, Bony Bream, Black Bream and Catfish.

This bonanza of food allowed a bumper breeding season for Australia's pelicans. This has been repeated in 2009-2011.

Even so, a single pelican needs to eat a lot of fish! Apparently, a single adult pelican can eat up to 500 Hardyheads per day.

(Hardyheads aren't very big!)

How Do Pelicans Know?

This brings me to the mystery of how the pelicans know when Lake Eyre is full.

Read relates in his book that some ornithologists thought that pelicans could detect sonic or ultrasonic vibrations of storm fronts that were hundreds of kilometres away.

However, he dismisses this, as the presence of storm fronts doesn't necessarily mean a major flood event.

He then looks at theories claiming that the birds can smell the fish in the lake. This is easily dismissed, as it's impossible for birds to smell fish thousands of kilometres away.

What he suggests is that the pelicans might be like bees.

By this, he means that some pelicans act as scouts, who criss-cross the country, and when they find inland floodwaters, return to communicate the news to other pelicans.

He supports his case with his own observations of:

• the pelican waggle-dance, which he likens to the same kind of dance the bees do
• the fact that pelicans have a 2.5 (huge) wingspan
• pelicans can easily fly long distances

Whilst this might not yet be the widely accepted theory about how the pelicans come to know that there's food and water inland, it's certainly a lot more plausible and robust than 'feeling vibrations' or 'smelling the fish'!

Red Sand, Green Heart is a fascinating book that I've now read several times. If you've taken a flight over Lake Eyre and seen the huge pelican colonies, I recommend picking up a copy and giving it a read.

Outback Australia Maps : Plan Your Outback Trip and Avoid Mistakes

Outback Australia Maps : Plan Your Outback Trip

The outback takes up about seventy percent of the Australian continent. 

Occupying an area approximately twice the scale of Texas, the outback is a place that captures the imagination of folk from all across the globe.

We've chatted with folk who visit the outback from Europe on one or two occasions who told us they came here particularly to drive for loads of miles with the point of not seeing a city or another auto.

Yet, many people think that the outback is a flat, barren desert covered in red mud and the odd enormous red rock, the Australian outback is stupendously varied: you'll find mountains, waterholes, gorges and naturally, deserts and Heaps of wildlife.

So to help get the best from your outback journey, we have put together this convenient how-to guide on selecting the best outback maps.

Free Regional Maps

Free regional maps are brilliant for getting an idea of what's where and just how great the outback.

These maps cover huge areas and along with your Google research, can actually help you start to get together a practical itinerary for your trip.

Here is what to look for in a free regional outback map:

• Road distances
• Fuel stops
• Accommodation
• Attractions

With a  free online map, you will be able to get an idea of just how gigantic the outback actually is, where places are, and what's interesting to you.

This'll help you to plan your trip without even leaving your house or spending a cent.

Free Outback Town and National Park Maps

After you've decided where you are going, you have an idea of what you would like to see and you know roughly how long you would like to spend here, it is time to get online again.

In this step, you will be searching for maps of major outback cities and national parks.

You'll find lots free online outback maps, covering all of the outback's major towns: Alice Springs, Mt Isa, Coober Pedy, Kalgoorlie, Broken Hill and more.

Of course, you'll also want to visit some of the outback's famous national parks and reserves.  So using some of the free online maps will be very useful.


Off Road Driving and Hiking

If you're planning on driving off road, or you are an eager walker, then you'll need to buy a commercial map, as the free ones won't have the detail you'll need.

I really like Hema Maps. These maps give superb details and are adored by true Aussie off-road adventurers.

There's tons of different HEMA maps to choose between: Outback Australia, Central Australia, the Desert Tracks Atlas and the Simpson Desert Tracks map.

If you are after the indisputable best, then get the Desert Tracks Atlas. This spiral bound book has EACH single Hema outback map and masses of info about automobile preparation, outback travel, gear to take, campsites, history and things to do and see.

It is a bargain for the price ( around $45 Australian bucks ).

Top Three Reasons to take a Lake Eyre Flight

Author:  Chloe Cavalier

In outback Australia, there is a giant salt lake known as Lake Eyre.

This lake is located in outback South Australia, approximately 670 kilometres north east of the city of Adelaide, and about 200 kilometres east of the underground mining town of Coober Pedy. The lake is usually a massive dry salt pan, that glistens blinding white under the sun. However, several times each century it fills with water and bursts to life.

In 2011, Lake Eyre has filled with water following record rains in Queensland and the Northern Territory. For most of the time, Lake Eyre is a large, dry salt lake, which extends further than the eye can see. It's 144 kilometres long and over 70 kilometres wide. When you stand on its shore, the sun beats down on the salt crust and it looks like you\'re standing next to a giant snowfield.

Lake Eyre is much like Death Valley in the United States. It's 15 metres below sea-level at its lowest point. It's home to very unique plants and animals.

For most of the time, it's hellishly hot and dry. However, 3 or 4 times every hundred years, the lake fills with water following above average rainfall in the Northern Territory and Queensland.
When this happens, pelicans and other waterbirds fly inland in their hundreds of thousands and set up massive breeding colonies on the lake. Fish also breed in the lake, and the birds feed off these fish.

To visit Lake Eyre ordinarily, you'll need a 4WD and experience in off-road, remote area driving. Alternatively, you can take a Lake Eyre Flight.


Flights over the lake have become extremely popular over the last two years (2010-2011) as the lake has filled with water and burst to life. A flight from Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide to Lake Eyre is a solution for those who don't have either a 4WD or the time to spare.

Flights to Lake Eyre range from 1-6 days, depending on your choice of schedule.
Perhaps the best reason to take a flight over Lake Eyre is that you really get to appreciate just how big the lake is.

You can take short, 1-2 hour scenic Lake Eyre flight from William Creek (famous for it\'s great outback pub), from Marree (where the famous Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks begin) or from Coober Pedy (the incredible underground opal mining town). Short scenic flights start from as little as $250 per person from William Creek, via Wrights Air.

A flight over the lake will let you take some incredible photos, and you\'ll see many of the large bird breeding colonies.

And of course, if you\'re into photography or birdwatching, then a flight over the lake is especially for you. As we've said above, Lake Eyre changes colour from pink to blue to green - all in a matter of moments. You'll see all of these amazing changes during a flight.

However, the lake won't have water in it forever! As the rains have slowed, the water will evaporate some time in 2012. We reckon you should take a flight over the lake sometime in 2011 to see the lake at its best.

This doesn't mean you can't take a flight over the lake when it hasn't got water in it! Lake Eyre flights are available at William Creek and Marree all the time. It simply means that the lake won't have water in it if you plan to go later on.

With or without water, we recommend that you visit Australia's largest lake, Lake Eyre, and take a flight over this incredible outback wonder.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/destinations-articles/top-three-reasons-to-take-a-lake-eyre-flight-4974657.html

About the Author
Can you get paid to travel and make a living online? Chloe Cavalier is on a mission to find out. Chloe's travel writing has been featured in print, inflight magazines and online. She's recognised as an uncommon traveller, who sniffs out unique cultural and historical insights to share with her readers.