How much fitness preparation?

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rifraf
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby rifraf » Thu Jan 17, 2013 3:00 pm

Enjoy Tim :!:
will look forward to your updates when you can manage them.
Lots of pics please!!!
Have a blast :!:
Cheers
Aidan :D
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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:15 pm

Thanks Aidan.
Photos are only going to be phone camera ones so nothing too flash. In good light the results are usually just OK. No internet access for the duration so it'll be a few weeks before I post pix.
I seem to have a ton of stuff. Probably just topping 20kg's. About 8kg's of that is food so I'll have to eat fast. :D
How much weight do you carry? What is a typical sized load I wonder?
When I add water the total weight will be well in excess of 20kg's. Not to worry, I've carried 20kg's on my back in the past so this should be manageable, I hope.
Never know, I might get to the front gate and turn around and go back to bed (Not likely). Too many good swimming spots along the way to miss out on this trip. Actually, that is the only plan I have, to swim at as many locations as I possibly can. No crocs down here, just BIG sharks. :lol:

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RonK
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby RonK » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:24 pm

Tim wrote:Packed up and ready to go. Departing Sat am. First stop Wattle Point/Blond Bay on the edge of the lake. I'll be due for a swim by then. :D After that, who knows?
Loaded up with what feels like tons of food. Diet is going to be based mainly on oats, bran, nuts (cashews and almonds), dates, powdered milk, Sustagen, coffee and brown sugar and a few bits of fresh fruit. Plan on eating plenty in pubs, cafes and restaurants along the way. Catch and kill the rest. :D
Report back in a few weeks time. See ya''ll all later.
There's usually plenty of road kill lying around, so you won't go hungry. :lol: Enjoy the experience...
Cycle touring blog and tour journals: whispering wheels...

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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:31 pm

Mmmm...slow cooked Black snake. Which end is the poisonous one?

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rifraf
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby rifraf » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:57 pm

Tim wrote:Thanks Aidan.
Photos are only going to be phone camera ones so nothing too flash. In good light the results are usually just OK. No internet access for the duration so it'll be a few weeks before I post pix.
I seem to have a ton of stuff. Probably just topping 20kg's. About 8kg's of that is food so I'll have to eat fast. :D
How much weight do you carry? What is a typical sized load I wonder?
When I add water the total weight will be well in excess of 20kg's. Not to worry, I've carried 20kg's on my back in the past so this should be manageable, I hope.
Never know, I might get to the front gate and turn around and go back to bed (Not likely). Too many good swimming spots along the way to miss out on this trip. Actually, that is the only plan I have, to swim at as many locations as I possibly can. No crocs down here, just BIG sharks. :lol:
LOL, I remember leaving from Mudgee on my way over here (WA) and for the first 200km it was like something out of Hansel and Gretal (Grim), with a trail of clothing etc behind me instead of breadcrumbs. :shock:
By Parks I'd wised up (a bit) and had posted a lot of my stuff (home) and started planning better. :oops:
I looked on maps and judged my between town distances and only took enough food (+2 days) for that distance.
I did the same with water although I was more wary of water due to my consuming lots of it and finding it a little hard to judge
I think because my consumption had a correlation with temperature.
I was a slow learner and I was beyond Lake Cagellico before I started taking this more seriously.
On this side of the Nullarbor I would have been carting about half of what I set out with. :lol:
No doubt I'll have to learn this all over again for my next tour. :roll:

One of the things I'll do next time is instead of carrying spares like a bottom bracket :oops: is to just make sure the bike
has a relatively new one before I leave on a trip and the same thing for a chain (I'll just carry a couple of joiners) and wont take a spare hub :oops: Instead of my taking a large plastic lidded tub on my trailer (with its inherent wind catching and lack of aerodynamics) I'll just plonk my backpack on it wrapped in a large rubbish bag. I'll take less clothes and buy more "throw aways" from Op shops.
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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 5:51 pm

Fairly bare-bones load for me other than all the food.
One extra I am taking is a 3.5m x 2.9m tarp and 2 aluminium poles. The extra shade in summer has been much appreciated on previous camping trips and I'm not confined to the tent if it rains. Adds about 1.5kg's to the load but worth it.
Oh, and a couple of other creature comforts; a tripod chair, a Thermarest "armchair" and a compressible pillow. Add an extra kilo, or two, so they may well find themselves littering the side of the road, but hopefully not.

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rifraf
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby rifraf » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:15 pm

Tim wrote:Add an extra kilo, or two, so they may well find themselves littering the side of the road, but hopefully not.
Ah well, like me, at least you'll have no problems finding your way home...... :lol:
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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:36 pm

It pays to check your gear before departure.
Just had a look and light-up of my little brass Svea123 stove. Its working perfectly. But, I store it inside a little aluminium billy. Last time I used them was camping by the beach at Cape Conran about six weeks ago. I cleaned the billy but it must have been a bit wet and salty when I put it away. On close inspection the billy has several pitted matchhead sized holes clean through the bottom of it. Glad I discovered the holes now and not on my first night out. Electrolysis. I now own a very effective pasta strainer. :lol:

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rifraf
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby rifraf » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:46 pm

Tim wrote:It pays to check your gear before departure.
Just had a look and light-up of my little brass Svea123 stove. Its working perfectly. But, I store it inside a little aluminium billy. Last time I used them was camping by the beach at Cape Conran about six weeks ago. I cleaned the billy but it must have been a bit wet and salty when I put it away. On close inspection the billy has several pitted matchhead sized holes clean through the bottom of it. Glad I discovered the holes now and not on my first night out. Electrolysis. I now own a very effective pasta strainer. :lol:
Hi Tim
Parts for those often come up on ebay.
Whats it like trying to source white spirits around your way?
Are you aware you can get a pump for the svea so you can run kero?
It burns hotter from memory than white spirits or coleman fuel but is smelly for a long time if you have a leak.
Also when you've the pump you can get a way with using diesel or heating oil in a pinch. This knowledge was very handy when I ran into difficulty finding kero in Northern Ireland during one tour.
I'm a big fan of the optimus range but have now turned to a Trangia for lightness and not needing spare parts.
I've had to improve my patience a bit to cater to slower boils and tardy tea making. I'm now quite a fan of the trangia.
My last Optimus was confiscated at the airport by Quantus so dont try to fly with one. Post it ahead of you if your journey includes any flying.
Cheers
Aidan :D
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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:07 pm

Come to think of it, I've not had much luck with billies in recent times.
The one before last was a nice shiny impressive looking stainless steel job with a nice little spout on the side, teapot style. I bought it for car and kayak camping. The spout was joined to the billy with what I thought was a very neat weld. The very first time I put the billy (and spout) on the fire the "weld" melted and the spout fell off. Cheap garbage soldered joint.
The billy before that was a cheapo steel sort of galvanised or zinc coated type thing, I'm not sure. I washed and scoured it in salty lake water with sand and a green pad. The next morning the entire billy surface was rusted. I scoured it clean again and used it for the rest of the trip. Nowadays it has a pot plant and rusted holes in it.
I have a collection of billies and they've all got holes in 'em.

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rifraf
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby rifraf » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:17 pm

Hi Tim,
sounds like your overdue for some new cookware. There are some nice Ti pots available that your little svea would fit into nicely.
I suggest you have a meander through this link: http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... =2&t=42497" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and follow some of the links for the afore mentioned Ti pots as well as some of the other offerings such as il padrones suggested
GSI Bugaboo cookset amongst others. Aushiker and Ronk both use Ti pots with their alcohol stoves and there are a host of other options to look at.
Good luck with the retail therapy!! :D
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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:26 pm

Thanks Aidan.
White spirits/Shellite used to be stocked in the large supermarkets down here but not of late. Usually only hardware stores. Bunnings sell it but it is getting expensive. I think I paid around $7-8.00/litre for it last. I can buy it cheaper in 20l drums but that is enough to last me years. Unleaded petrol is an option if desperate, though I would rather not. There are several large towns I will be passing through so hopefully I can restock.
My brother owns a Trangia which we used frequently in the past. He doesn't use it any more so I might make him an offer.
I had seen the pressurising pumps but I can't stand the smell of kero. Hate the stuff. In a past life I used to sand and polish timber floors and we would soak the timber down with kero prior to sanding. It is a period of my life I look back on with dread. Extremely hard and unhealthy job. Toxic fumes, old adhesives and coatings, asbestos from old vinyl still partly stuck to the floor, really nasty chemicals in the two-pack mix, dust and more dust. Thinking of a career change?

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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:32 pm

rifraf wrote:There are some nice Ti pots available that your little svea would fit into nicely.
I've got my eye on a Snow Peak titanium 900ml pot. The electrolysis damaged pot is actually the aluminium version of the Snow Peak 900. The Svea fits perfectly inside it. Unlikely I can get one locally and it is too late to order one for this trip, but it is on the list for the next one.

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Tim
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby Tim » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:56 pm

rifraf wrote:Also when you've the pump you can get a way with using diesel...
Just thought I'd add that I like the smell of diesel even less than kero.
I worked on fishing trawlers out from Lakes Entrance when I was a young fella for many years. We were refueling just prior to leaving Lakes on a four-five day trip. The fuel tanks have breather valves that on this particular boat vented out on the deck behind the wheelhouse where I was mooching about, bored stiff waiting for the tanks to fill. One of the vents suddenly released and saturated me in a fine spray of diesel. The hard-bastard skipper (they all are) wouldn't let me run home for a change of clothes, no time for that sort of farting around. They were a pretty rough mob on that boat and no-one including myself had any spare clothing. Five days in diesel soaked gear, not nice. Kero and diesel fumes still make me feel sick.

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rifraf
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Re: How much fitness preparation?

Postby rifraf » Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:17 am

Tim wrote:Thanks Aidan.
White spirits/Shellite used to be stocked in the large supermarkets down here but not of late. Usually only hardware stores. Bunnings sell it but it is getting expensive. I think I paid around $7-8.00/litre for it last. I can buy it cheaper in 20l drums but that is enough to last me years. Unleaded petrol is an option if desperate, though I would rather not. There are several large towns I will be passing through so hopefully I can restock.
My brother owns a Trangia which we used frequently in the past. He doesn't use it any more so I might make him an offer.
I had seen the pressurising pumps but I can't stand the smell of kero. Hate the stuff. In a past life I used to sand and polish timber floors and we would soak the timber down with kero prior to sanding. It is a period of my life I look back on with dread. Extremely hard and unhealthy job. Toxic fumes, old adhesives and coatings, asbestos from old vinyl still partly stuck to the floor, really nasty chemicals in the two-pack mix, dust and more dust. Thinking of a career change?
If I could offer any advice at all that I'd really like you to take its this:
DO NOT USE UNLEADED AUTOMOTIVE PETROL
The additives and aromatics that are used are WAY WAY more toxic than the lead that used to be used.
I used to work in an industry that recycled 40 gallon drums including the ones from oil companies/ refineries.
I was trained and informed and reinformed on this - the stuff in petrol is nasty and very carcinogenic.
Also dont use aircraft grade kero for the same reason. :shock: :shock: :shock:
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