The things people carry when touring.

just us said:

... we had a German guy, 24 years old stay. He had 4 huge panniers, front bag, bag above the back panniers, then on top of that long tent poles, sleeping mat. He was also carrying 6 litres of water!!!!!!!

I don't know if it's a German thing or not, but many years ago a German friend of my then girlfriend visited us. She was staying in Australia for 25 days, and had in her suitcase 25 pairs of knickers.🙄

MalP said:

I don't know if it's a German thing or not, but many years ago a German
friend of my then girlfriend visited us. She was staying in Australia
for 25 days, and had in her suitcase 25 pairs of knickers.🙄

Maybe she extended the "don't drink the water" adage to "don't wash in
the water"? An ex-girlfriend was German and that kind of behaviour
wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Mind you, I've got other German
friends who are a lot more normal (by my standards at least).

By the way, why were you rifling through her suitcase for knickers? ;-)

Graeme

Graeme Dods said:

MalP said:

I don't know if it's a German thing or not, but many years ago a German
friend of my then girlfriend visited us. She was staying in Australia
for 25 days, and had in her suitcase 25 pairs of knickers.🙄

Maybe she extended the "don't drink the water" adage to "don't wash in
the water"? An ex-girlfriend was German and that kind of behaviour
wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Mind you, I've got other German
friends who are a lot more normal (by my standards at least).

By the way, why were you rifling through her suitcase for knickers? ;-)

My partner has a story of meeting a German bicycle tourist when doing
some research on eco-tourism for the NMA, this guy had heard about the
dangers of the Australian bush and was sitting dead-tired on the
un-shaded shoulder of the road badly dehydrated with no water, but too
afraid to step off the shoulder and sit under the trees to get out of the
sun!

Cheers

Joel

just us said:

Interesting to see I got some great response from my last post. I am not
asking what I need to carry as reality is I think I have a fair idea after
living in North Qld and travelling around some remote areas on foot for
years.

Glad you thought they were useful!

Quoted message said:

I got out my gear for my ride of 1500kms. Total gear was 10kgs. This
includes tent, sleeping bag, a change of knicks and jersey, a set of quick
dry top and bottom and a jacket. To that I will take a few days of dried
food but no fresh stuff due to weight. My freind and I hope to keep our
total weight under 16kgs each. Water? We have a couple of days dry, but will
organise with property owners to dump some water under grids for us (nice to
know people!).

Nice! I can't travel that light, mainly because I like to have enough
water for today's ride, and next days incase the campsite is dry or
non-potable. Plus I take toys: a music maker, a book or newspapers,
wet food.

It sounds like you're pretty prepared for touring and also have a good
idea of what kind of bike you want. I suggest ontop your 10kg you
should need:

2-3 extra tubes.
1 extra tyre, either folded into a three leaf clover or using a kevlar
tyre.
Patch kit. High pressure pump.
Lube.
Spare fasteners for your rack mount screws (these like to vibrate out).
Locktite for the above when you need to replace them.
Spare spokes.
Spare brake cable, spare rear derailleur cable. (so even if you break
both brake cable and both gear cables you'll have 9 gears and a brake
until you get to the next LBS / post office).
Tag ties (many). Hose clamps (couple). Roll of electrical tape. Small
length of gaff.
Tools to use the above..

Basically enough gear that you can fix the bike to ride until
completion if one system fails, or to jerry-rig it until the next town
if there's catastrophic failure. GIven that you've camped / bushwalked
ultralight`you can probably cut that list down to what you feel is safe
and recoverable for your own way of camping.

glad to be of help,
Sam R.

MalP said:

just us said:

... we had a German guy, 24 years old stay. He had 4 huge panniers,
front bag, bag above the back panniers, then on top of that long tent
poles, sleeping mat. He was also carrying 6 litres of water!!!!!!! I don't know if it's a German thing or not, but many years ago a German

friend of my then girlfriend visited us. She was staying in Australia
for 25 days, and had in her suitcase 25 pairs of knickers.🙄

We had a german kid come on a hike with us, 6 days through the
grampians, he carried fruitcakes and a cast iron frypan. Fit bugger
though, he never once complained about how light our packs were in
comparison.

just us said:

Interesting to see I got some great response from my last post. I am not
asking what I need to carry as reality is I think I have a fair idea after
living in North Qld and travelling around some remote areas on foot for
years.

Kathy.

Very amusing story Kathy. It obviously takes a while to shift from the
car culture where you can never take enough stuff to becoming a nomad
and carrying as little as possible.

When my wife and I set off with our three and one-year-olds on a 500km
tour we carried thought we were carrying far too much. One day we came
perilously close to running out of water but managed to ration the last
half of a biddon till we arrived in a town. We also got down to having a
handful of almonds, some cauliflower, soy sauce and seven slices of
bread one lunchtime. Best sandwich I've ever eaten. Naturally the one
year old only got the single slice of bread. I did, however, have every
tool imaginable, weighing in at around 10kg. Well everything but a 4mm
allen key, which was the only thing I needed when my gear cable snapped.

I think it was in Jim Fitzpatrick's book The Bicycle and the Bush where
I read about Francis Birtles, an early day cycling version of the
Leyland Brothers. He sought advice on what to take on a south-north
crossing of Australia. He was advised to take all sorts of things
including water tanks and lots of food. In the end he just opted for his
street clothes and a revolver (to shoot the odd wallaby I imagine).

Peter

--
Peter McCallum
Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA
http://bicyclemackay.org.au

MalP said:

I don't know if it's a German thing or not, but many years ago a German friend of my then girlfriend visited us. She was staying in Australia for 25 days, and had in her suitcase 25 pairs of knickers.🙄

What were you doing rifling through your girlfriend's friend's underwear??? 😉

Sounds like your fairly well set for what to take. If cyclists are weight concious then walkers are much more careful about what they have to cart on their back.
I am sure you have already thought about how many spare tubes to carry and will refrain from offering trite advice.

We came across a young Geordie who was on his way to Cairns and north, on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. His greenspeed was so heavily loaded he couldn't get it down the ramps on the northern end. It took two of us to wheel the bike down after he had left the trailer at the top with our tandem.
He had an unbelievable amount of weight. I think he was using the Arkel TT84's as his main panniers which have a greater volume than what we use for the two of us on the tandem.
Some people have no idea whatsoever and don't seem to learn or be able to take advice.
They make fun stories to tell others though.

Have a great trip and post a report for us when you get back.

Cheers

Geoff

just us said:

<snip>
To that I will take a few days of dried
food but no fresh stuff due to weight. My freind and I hope to keep our
total weight under 16kgs each. Water? We have a couple of days dry, but will
organise with property owners to dump some water under grids for us (nice to
know people!).
<snip>
Kathy.

There is a trade off when carrying dried food v's fresh (or 'wet' if you like). You need more water for the dried food but you can eat fresh/tinned/wet food without adding your drinking water to it. This is only a major problem when water is scarce/polluted etc.
Would you rather eat dried meals that need boiling in the water you carried separately, or open a tin/packet/munch something fresh?

scotty72 said:

What were you doing rifling through your girlfriend's friend's underwear??? 😉

LOL! I did say "then" girlfriend... :p

Joel Mayes said:

My partner has a story of meeting a German bicycle tourist when doing

I was touring with a German who had an incredible weight on his
el-cheapo 15-speed mountain bike. It was OK until one hot day he bought
a *watermelon* from a passing farmer, and somehow strapped it on top of
his load. The poor solid rear axle finally met it's death shortly after.

I was impressed and a little worried when we happened accross a German (who could not really speak English, but SWMBO has German in her lingo lineup) between Caiguna and Balladonia. What made it remarkable was that distance is about 200km if memory serves, that particular day we overnighted in Norseman and it was 45degC, the northerlies were truly raging, and there were large numbers of road kill on that section of road. So here was this German chap, rack plus 4 panniers of which the front ones were loaded with water, cycling in stormwinds, 45degC, 100km away from Balladonia, with overpowering stench from roadkill. We stopped and gave him a drink from the car fridge and chatted a bit. I don't think he will forget that day.

Actually I wished I was on the road with him on my bike instead of in the airconditioned car.

I would rather the dry that I have to "boil" in water. A couple of years ago
my husband and I did a 23 day hike off track to the tip of Cape York and
drank out of puddles, pig holes and dams as well as some wonderful creeks 🙂
When we got to the tip we spent time with cyclists who were carrying way too
much water as they were in fear of drinking from the creeks! Depends what
you are happy with I guess. The graziers who will leave up to 10lts under a
grid for me will do me fine - I would rather the trade off of dried food for
less weight any day.
Kathy.

Peter McCallum said:

In the end he just opted for his
street clothes and a revolver (to shoot the odd wallaby I imagine).

It was probably his food supply. I am currently reading Eric Rolls' A
Million Wild Acres and the thing that comes through was in the early
days, lost of people lived off native game.

just us said:

impressed that we were able to convince him before leaving Canada that he
would not need an axe for his travels

All together now: "He's a lumberjack and he's OK..."

--
john
There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes.
- Dr Who

just us said:

I would rather the dry that I have to "boil" in water. A couple of years ago
my husband and I did a 23 day hike off track to the tip of Cape York and
drank out of puddles, pig holes and dams as well as some wonderful creeks 🙂

You left out vital information;
a) what time of the year you did this and
b) how many cyclones there were during the previous wet season

Quoted message said:

When we got to the tip we spent time with cyclists who were carrying way too
much water as they were in fear of drinking from the creeks!

You can never have too much water.
Things probably haven't changed much on the Cape, but elsewhere in
Australia, this is a very wise attitude. As the number of people, aka
[censored] in Australia increases, a number of previously rare diseases
have become common. Meningochocial for one (water), Ross River & Barham
Forest (mossies) and Cellulitis (?)[1].

[1]Any disease that you can get from just scratching your leg whilst
camping/bushwalking/etc is of major concern to me. I never thought I
would see the day when carrying antibiotics on longer trips in Australia
would be recommended. That was a third world country trick.

Quoted message said:

Depends what
you are happy with I guess. The graziers who will leave up to 10lts under a
grid for me will do me fine - I would rather the trade off of dried food for
less weight any day.

Well, that would radically change outback touring if we could all tap
into that service. Most of the water I was offered came in a tin of
brewed product with the explanation of cracking it then and there.

Does anyone know what the change in population in Australia has been in
the last 100 years. I believe we have gone from 1.5 billion to 6 billion
world wide (1900-2000), but I think Australia might have done something
like 2 million to 20 million.

I am currently sitting here charting the efforts of my ancestors in this
expansion and I am very certain that when Peter Costello said "have a
third baby for your country", that a many generations rolled over in
their graves with laughter.

We did it July, in a dry year. There were no cyclones for the previous 3 or
4 wets. And believe me the cyclists we met at the Tip had carried way too
much water. Any read on the road to CApe york talks of creek crossings, only
5 kms apart.Why carry water litres and litres of water?
I work in the Pathology industry and there are indeed a lot of bugs out
there, that is why we carried ABs but we also had our shots for JE,
MeningoC, had repellent and nets, treated scratches promptly. I know folks
who have had a paper scratch and end up with Cellulitis - may as well lie on
the couch and watch the tellie :P.

Kathy

What is life without a risk?

In article
<[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

,

Terryc said:

Does anyone know what the change in population in Australia has been in
the last 100 years. I believe we have gone from 1.5 billion to 6 billion
world wide (1900-2000), but I think Australia might have done something
like 2 million to 20 million.

I am currently sitting here charting the efforts of my ancestors in this
expansion and I am very certain that when Peter Costello said "have a
third baby for your country", that a many generations rolled over in
their graves with laughter.

The first National Census was conducted on 2/3 April 1911.

Population data by year since 1788 (by state):
<http:[email hidden]/log?openagent&3105065001_
table1.xls&3105.0.65.001&Data%20Cubes&3451B0B3478CB42ECA2571760022670D&0&
2006&23.05.2006&Latest>

enjoy,
Darryl

just us said:

A couple of nights ago we had a guy stay who was going to bike across to
Normanton, Burketown, Roper Bar and through to Mataranka and up to Darwin.
He had a trailer, 4 panniers, a bag of "stuff" on top of the back panniers,
a massive sleeping bag tied to the front handlebars! He just couldnt take
the trailer off his bike and after much groaning he decided to leave it
attached for the night! I dont know what clothes he had but I did wash for
him and noticed that he had heavy drill shorts (which were still sopping wet
when he left in the morning). We had emailed this guy a few times and were
impressed that we were able to convince him before leaving Canada that he
would not need an axe for his travels LOL... (sorry but it is a little
amusing isnt it?) He had eggs, canned food, way too much water, etc etc.
When he left he donated to us an Espresso Coffee maker, couple of kgs of
coffee, and a 400gram jar of Vegemite (he had another still in his bags) We
had advised him that he would have shops all the way to Burketown with a
couple of days at the most inbetween, but he was carrying huge amounts of
excess food. He had landed in Cairns, got to the Kuranda Range and found he
couldnt ride it so hitched a lift to Mareeba. So on day 2 of his travels he
stayed with us, and was pretty well exhausted.

Hi Kathy, this is Ken - the "guy". There was no problem getting to
Darwin with all my stuff - in fact doing it my way was a "hoot". I never
bothered to follow your advice about fires as my SVEA stove did a champ
of a job. Mind you I used shellite - but did not have to even think
about setting a fire and then waiting for coals to make a nice meal.
Your comment about the axe was well taken - BUT please remember that I
come from Canada (home of lumberjacks, forests AND guess what - axes)
;-) Please keep things in perspective. I DID meet Australians on my trip
who DID use an axe - in spite of what your comments were.

You also did NOT mention that I AM an insulin dependent diabetic who
needs to eat regularly. I simply would die if I did eat the way you,
your husband, and others eat - for when it is time to eat, I stop and
eat. Period. I do NOT keep bicycling along waiting for am appropriate
time and place to stop. I EAT. NO discussion about it. Also, I would
rather have too much than not enough. You live on prepared dried foods
that you make in Tolga and take with you a few (hundred) km. I flew from
Canada so did not bring any food. The Australian quarantine system could
have taken some of my food - then what would I do??

So I bought food and experimented. The eggs were a part of an
experiment. They lasted over 2 weeks without refrigeration. I had cheese
(Parmigian) that lasted until Darwin without refrigeration. Still nice
and tasty. I would bring Parmigian cheese like I did, AND would buy eggs
like I did. The canned food was a nice change from cooking dried
stuff.... But then i did not have ANY dried prepped foods like you
brought with you.......

I hope you find the espresso coffee maker useful because Jacques coffee
plantation in Mareeba is a great place. However, I don't remember giving
you any coffee. I brought back the Jacques coffee with me to Canada. The
Vegemite I gave you was because I mistakenly bought 2 jars. You did not
mention that. I did eventually use up the 40 oz bottle of Pernoid that
we shared at your breakfast/dinner table. I also bought three 900 gm
jars of Vegemite in Sydney and brought it back to Canada because
Vegemite is no longer imported by Kraft here in Canada. That is another
difference between living in Tolga and living in Winnipeg :-) At least
the peanut butter here less expensive than what it cost me in Queensland
and NT - but there are reasons for that too....

You forgot to mention that my visit at your home was the start of my
trip and was not in the kind of shape you and your husband are. However,
by the time I got to Normanton I was fine. I knew before I left Canada
that it would take 2 weeks of bicycling to get in shape. Besides,
nothing here on the prairies would have prepped me for the Kiandra
range. NOTHING!

In fact, the dirt road section between Normanton and Borroloola) was
slow bicycling but great! I did about 60 or 70 km of dirt a day and
stopped to talk with lots of folks. I could not see bicycling like a
maniac for 100 km or more a day and not stopping to talk with locals or
fellow travellers. Several places were old WW II aerodromes that were
well worth stopping at (for me) but i realize that not every bicyclist
is interested in old WW II stuff. I am sorry that i did not stop at the
Mareeba airfield. Lots of historic stuff there too..

Several other bicyclists were hell-bent on doing 100+ km a day. Not me.
I have nothing to prove by going fast. I wanted to see things and that
means talking with folks too.

You and your husband should take the dirt road that I took on a bicycle
instead of driving it in a vehicle.

Quoted message said:

Water? We have a couple of days dry, but will
organise with property owners to dump some water under grids for us (nice to
know people...

Not everyone has that ability. Not everyone has your connections. I
could not see myself asking others to drag water for me IF I could not
drag it myself.....I drank water where I got it from - rivers mainly and
followed your advice (and that of others). Mind you when on the Nathan
River road and I was down to my last liter of water, I asked a passer by
for some.

Folks who stopped to chat, asked me 2 basic questions:

"You right?" and "Need wattah?"

Folks in the outback were always concerned about the water. Even
aboriginal folks I spoke with told me where I could find water.....

Then of course there were those who said "Here is a beeah..." I never
refused a beer and drank it beside the dirt road too.

You did not mention that I also wore a leg brace because of a fused
ankle, nor that I had another set of "plastic" Nike's (of the type of
shoes that you and your husband wear) for crossing through the rivers
between Hells Gate and Borroloola, and also on the Nathan River road. My
leather orthopedic shoes would simply mildew and rot if they got wet too
many times... hence I carried more stuff than you had to (and I was
quite happy to be able to carry the extra stuff along my trip

Naturally I carried MORE things than you could be bothered with - but
then you and your husband are healthier than I am. :et me be perfectly
honest about why I carried what I did! But yet I did bicycle on the dirt
section of "the Savannah Way" instead of just on the pavement part as
you did.

I ask you to do the dirt section too - it is a great ride on a
bicycle.... Maybe you will eventually get a light bicycle for
travelling, but my expedition grade bicycle weighs 40 pounds. Get good
quality components too, as 'cheap stuff" won't last..

Happy bicycling on the dirt roads of the outback. By comparison, bitumen
is "for wusses" :-)

Ken, Canada