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The Corroboree
Psychaesthetic

Heading into the bush on foot to live with nothing but a backpack and tent.

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I am done here then, you obviously have it under control then :wink: good luck and be safe

EDIT - really got me fucked why you are asking for advice and feedback then.....

lol...theres a difference between cabinetmaking and tree-felling

Don't be a sook :)

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Im not trying to be negative but I gotta ask the reasoning for your need for electronic devices, it seems kind of contradictory to your reason for undertaking this life change. Sorry if you've outlined already but I kinda skimmed this thread... I did read though

I choose option two, because society bores me: the shopping, the advertising we get drowned in, the consumerism, the miserable people.. I'm over it all.

In my opinion these smart phones and ipads etc are the ultimate in consumerism and a key factor in this brainwashed generation...

Just a thought, If I was in your position I think I would try to eliminate relying on technology.

If you need the net or phone to stay in touch or for emergencies maybe you are kinda jumping into the deep end.??

Many have suggested good ways to ease into your goal but from reading this thread I would suggest you rethink..

And Dont the forget hillbillies who like to torture and murder. Im sure its not that far a stretch of the imagination that you will come across some as they and their dogs are hunting pigs etc. Im sure it sounds dumb but people are vulnerable in such solo situations and people go missing all the time without a trace...

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Im not trying to be negative but I gotta ask the reasoning for your need for electronic devices, it seems kind of contradictory to your reason for undertaking this life change. Sorry if you've outlined already but I kinda skimmed this thread... I did read though

In my opinion these smart phones and ipads etc are the ultimate in consumerism and a key factor in this brainwashed generation...

Just a thought, If I was in your position I think I would try to eliminate relying on technology.

If you need the net or phone to stay in touch or for emergencies maybe you are kinda jumping into the deep end.??

Many have suggested good ways to ease into your goal but from reading this thread I would suggest you rethink..

And Dont the forget hillbillies who like to torture and murder. Im sure its not that far a stretch of the imagination that you will come across some as they and their dogs are hunting pigs etc. Im sure it sounds dumb but people are vulnerable in such solo situations and people go missing all the time without a trace...

The electronics are so I don't start talking to my own feet, since human interaction will be minimal. I don't use facebook or twitter generally but emailing, as well as uploading photos, will give allow me to not feel completely isolated, I've spent time in the bush alone years back (before we had the tech we have now) and without any interaction at all, you *do* get a bot depressed and lonely.

Having said that, anyone who's online regularly knows that while emails aren't as personable as face-face conversation they certainly fill the gap, and these days with solar chargers capable of outputting 3amps for under $200, and data being dirt cheap, AND the fact most phones have wifi modem functionality as long as they're in range of a tower, well, there's never been a time when handheld devices are so reliable, but above all, it's for contact with humans.

The Hillbillies are a point, but there's not much I can do about thrm. What I *can* do, is camp in a national park that's popular (and populated) by other hikers, bushwalkers, absailers, climbers and campers and close enough to town that 4WDs and pig hunters are minimised. That's a selling point for the B/Mountains: it's popular with nature-freaks from all over the world, and 4WD access looks to be pretty limited, at least in the nearer areas below Katoomba.

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Do not drink the cox's river water or the grose river water!

They are both full of nasty shite!! Heavy metal poisons in both. I can't find the reference at the moment but don't do it!

And giardia. You need some method of treating the water unless you have guts of steel, creek water around there is often contaminated, especially after rains when the shit from the towns washes into it. The tablets they sell are often not good for long-term use, so consider a hand-pumped filter or one of the UV pen-sterilisers. Carrying in your own water is fine if you're only going for a couple of days, but I thought you were planning to live out there? You will get thoroughly sick of hiking into town every second day for clean water.

* Hygeine & First-Aid -- Antibacterial soap, toothbrush+paste, first-aid kit etc,.

Antibacterial soaps are for surgeons. Replace it with regular soap if you must, but this is just another thing that has to be kept dry, when sand or a handful of leaves can usually do the same job. Use sunlight to sterilise your eating utensils. Better to cultivate healthy skin bacteria and carry some betadine for cleaning wounds, you can also use it to sterilise water at a pinch.

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I should rephrase that last paragraph: The Mountains are such a huge area, I don't imagine locals, tourists or rangers would tolerate rednecks shooting up the valley around Katoomba, and yobbos with rifles don't walk for kilometers through the bush, they drive on roads with floodlights, so they can feel - interestingly - like hunting legends because they manage to outsmart a couple unarmed pigs.

I doubt they'll be too hard to avoid. Genuine Wolf-Creek fuckers are no doubt around, but not as common a species as we all like to believe.

But, better a tourist park than an actual "middle of nowhere", completely isolated wolf-creek location.

Edited by Riley

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And giardia. You need some method of treating the water unless you have guts of steel, creek water around there is often contaminated, especially after rains when the shit from the towns washes into it. The tablets they sell are often not good for long-term use, so consider a hand-pumped filter or one of the UV pen-sterilisers. Carrying in your own water is fine if you're only going for a couple of days, but I thought you were planning to live out there? You will get thoroughly sick of hiking into town every second day for clean water.

Antibacterial soaps are for surgeons. Replace it with regular soap if you must, but this is just another thing that has to be kept dry, when sand or a handful of leaves can usually do the same job. Use sunlight to sterilise your eating utensils. Better to cultivate healthy skin bacteria and carry some betadine for cleaning wounds, you can also use it to sterilise water at a pinch.

Wouldn't anti-bac be better just for armpits and groin? I mean, I won't be singing in my hot shower twice a day, but some bacteria you just don't want building up :) I hadn't intended to go obsessive-compulsive clean while out there, but having good germ-killing soap for yeah armpits, arse, groin, nutsack,.. Surely nobody would suggest allowing bacteria to flourish there? Seriously? :)

I figure sand and water for the plates/cooking stuff, but I don't reakon on there being any shortage of healthy body oils out there :D

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And I always planned to position myself close enough to a town to resupply every week or two, then go back, I have no intention of felling trees in a national park, and, since I'll find more than enough branches already fallen, it'd be abit unnecessary, excessive and wannabe-commando to start chopping trees down for uselessly wet wood.

I'm vegetarian, well I try to be, so unless It's absolutely necessary no animal will be harmed by me.

^ ..this is why i have to walk into town to re-fill on food every week or two.

Edited by Riley

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I know all that.

Thats why I am not wasting my time cock....

Don't be a sook :)

I'll leave that be..... my intial good luck and be safe still stands

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Yes, seriously. Skin is going to have bacteria on it no matter what you do. When you apply an antibacterial to the skin it kills all of them, not just the stink-making ones, or the "germs". Then it becomes a blank slate for new bacteria to grow, and there is absolutely no reason to think that these will be better than the old ones, they could easily be worse. So the idea is to fill that niche with something benign. It's the equivalent of growing a groundcover in your garden to keep down weeds - if you poison the groundcover it *could* be replaced by buds-n-roses, but it could also fill up with unwanted weeds. I have heard that some hospitals are even trialling this idea to help avoid resistant strains of bacteria. Unless you know that they're harmful, it's probably better to just leave them alone and let them find their own balance.

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If your serious about living out bush for a long period of time then you should seriously consider somehow acquiring some kind of vehicle, you seriously can find some absolute gems of campsites just 20 to 30 kms outside of large regional cities. Any closer than that then you’ll usually constantly be having your privacy invaded or be harassed by rangers, police and near by residents to move on eventually. Plus without a car you’ll will quickly become extremely feed up and exhausted from carting all that gear around and will find yourself off loading a lot of it. Cutting your toothbrush in half and shit, since every gram will become very significant.

Although, admittedly stealth outbush is far easier without a vehicle.

Also, Australia is a massive country with many different climates; so don’t limit yourself to just one climate. The best thing to do if you’re serious about doing it long-term is to camp down south in the summer and then head to the tropics in the winter. Trust me, you want to be where there’s the least chance of rain. Since you’ll quickly become very depressed from spending days at a time stuck in your tent and miserable from constantly being wet and cold.

Personally, to me the Blue Mountains just sound like somewhere a person who’s never spent more than a few weeks out bush for any one time would suggest. But what the fuck would I know, right? I guess some people would probably like being constantly wet cold and confined to small spaces, I just haven’t meet any of them.

Camping on the Murray river just outside a regional city like Cobram would be your best option in the warmer months before the weather goes to shit, you’ll have know problem getting phone & internet reception right along the murray. Plus you will be easily able to find a camp site that’s secluded enough not to constantly have your privacy invaded, yet can still be close enough to civilization to be able to access a woolworths or coles (which is actually very important when living outbush, since small local supermarkets are usually very limited and end up costing ya a fortune for basic necessities).

Finding a secluded creek or river to camp by just outside of regional cities like Townsville and cairns is your best option during winter. You’ll also get phone & internet reception outside of those cities, but will find yourself needing to walk a lot further to find a decent camping spot.

I have found the best technique for finding a good campsite is to find out where the tourists go and then head in the opposite direction.

Anyway, best thing to do is just head outbush to get your feet wet, but keep your options open and have somewhere to come back to once you have experienced what it’s actually like living outbush. Then you will be able to reassess and use your experience to know exactly what not to do.

More importantly than anything else though, always make sure your eating healthy and have some kind of fresh food and something to do out there. Lol, it’s very easy to lose your shit, go feral & bat shit stir crazy out there on your own, if your not paying special attention to maintaining your physical and mental health.

Edited by Subaeruginosin
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If your serious about living out bush for a long period of time then you should seriously consider somehow acquiring some kind of vehicle, you seriously can find some absolute gems of campsites just 20 to 30 kms outside of large regional cities. Any closer than that then you’ll usually constantly be having your privacy invaded or be harassed by rangers, police and near by residents to move on eventually. Plus without a car you’ll will quickly become extremely feed up and exhausted from carting all that gear around and will find yourself off loading a lot of it. Cutting your toothbrush in half and shit, since every gram will become very significant.

Although, admittedly stealth outbush is far easier without a vehicle.

Also, Australia is a massive country with many different climates; so don’t limit yourself to just one climate. The best thing to do if you’re serious about doing it long-term is to camp down south in the summer and then head to the tropics in the winter. Trust me, you want to be where there’s the least chance of rain. Since you’ll quickly become very depressed from spending days at a time stuck in your tent and miserable from constantly being wet and cold.

Personally, to me the Blue Mountains just sound like somewhere a person who’s never spent more than a few weeks out bush for any one time would suggest. But what the fuck would I know, right? I guess some people would probably like being constantly wet cold and confined to small spaces, I just haven’t meet any of them.

Camping on the Murray river just outside a regional city like Cobram would be your best option in the warmer months before the weather goes to shit, you’ll have know problem getting phone & internet reception right along the murray. Plus you will be easily able to find a camp site that’s secluded enough not to constantly have your privacy invaded, yet can still be close enough to civilization to be able to access a woolworths or coles (which is actually very important when living outbush, since small local supermarkets are usually very limited and end up costing ya a fortune for basic necessities).

Finding a secluded creek or river to camp by just outside of regional cities like Townsville and cairns is your best option during winter. You’ll also get phone & internet reception outside of those cities, but will find yourself needing to walk a lot further to find a decent camping spot.

I have found the best technique for finding a good campsite is to find out where the tourists go and then head in the opposite direction.

Anyway, best thing to do is just head outbush to get your feet wet, but keep your options open and have somewhere to come back to once you have experienced what it’s actually like living outbush. Then you will be able to reassess and use your experience to know exactly what not to do.

More importantly than anything else though, always make sure your eating healthy and have some kind of fresh food and something to do out there. Lol, it’s very easy to lose your shit, go feral & bat shit stir crazy out there on your own, if your not paying special attention to maintaining your physical and mental health.

Yeah I can imagine pelting rain for five days straight wouldn't be much fun, though I didn't simply single-out the Blue Mountains because it's a well known tourist spot, my home state is NSW, and it's one of the prettier places up and down the coast. There seems little point camping in an ugly, flat, dry chunk of nowhere: If I'm going to the effort of getting prep'ed for such an epic endevour I want the most attractive natural location possible.

Sure there're rainforests and waterfalls scattered around NSW and QLD but how many areas are as beautiful, and as close to towns as the BM?

The BM isn't set in stone, though I at least have family in Sydney if I do need to regroup or abort, Whereas in QLD I don't know a living soul.

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Thats why I am not wasting my time cock....

I'll leave that be..... my intial good luck and be safe still stands

Sook :)

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you did mention WWOOFING id consider that most certainly an alternative option, you get the chance to make new friends and perhaps learn some new skills and still keep human contact/interaction and maybe you could arrange to camp on the land too, either that or follow the harvest trails in a van/public transport like buses etc could be fun

best of luck with whatever you decide :)

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you did mention WWOOFING id consider that most certainly an alternative option, you get the chance to make new friends and perhaps learn some new skills and still keep human contact/interaction and maybe you could arrange to camp on the land too, either that or follow the harvest trails in a van/public transport like buses etc could be fun

best of luck with whatever you decide :)

Yeah it sounds good that. Best of all, they're organic farms: I switched to organic for all my gardening a while ago and it's now difficult to spot a single leaf on any plant that isn't a deep emerald green, uniformly, all my plants look incomparably healthier than they did using salt/liquid-based ferts.

Haven't talked at all about plants since I've been here! .. I figure it's a given really, why would anyone join an entheogenic plant forum without any interest in plants :D

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Cool, you've got the soap situation in hand, perhaps now you can start worrying about the staying-alive part. It's nice that you believed me, but nearly every other post in here is talking about more important things than how your nuts are gonna smell. Stop saying yeah-yeah-yeah and listen to their advice, that's what you came here for. Everything is much MUCH more dangerous when doing it alone and in an isolated area. Minor stuff like a bad cut, concussion, sprain etc which might be part of an interesting adventure story with company, can be fatal when you are alone. You cannot rely on having mobile reception (or keeping your phone in one piece) - so any emergency plan that hinges on that needs to be re-thought. Fifteen or twenty K's isn't that far to walk to town, it's true - especially if you're near popular tracks in decent weather. But what about in bad weather when the hikers stay at home - is there anything in your first-aid kit that will let you walk that far on a broken ankle, or while losing blood from a missing finger? I know others have said it, but yes, it's gonna be cold. You need to read up about hypothermia - it is notoriously tricky to self-diagnose and even harder to self-treat because one of the main symptoms is slow thinking and wanting to go to sleep! Know how to avoid and treat frostbite. Get some books on bushcraft and spend all your free time reading them, before winter sets in. If you have all this stuff in hand, then none of it needs to be a hassle.

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In my opinion, it's actually taking the easy way out by running away into the bush. Giving up on the problems in the world, leaving everyone else to their fate to focus on your own. Maybe you're fine with that. But if you somehow think you're doing the world a favour, then as soon as you think about it more you'll see it's not the case. If you want to do some good for the world, and live in the wild - then be a damn forest ranger. There are jobs in NZ where you live alone in an isolated area looking after it. We went to a place up in the hills of Coromandel and the forest ranger had her dog, her privacy, and was doing some measure of good too.

Anyway.
- You don't seem to have thought about the material of your clothing. Avoid cotton for anything that will "move" (shirts, pants, underwear, etc). It's among the least durable of all fabrics, and it dries out very poorly (and it's heavier than a corresponding synthetic product). Nylon is extremely tough. Polyester is okay too. I guess if you can find a campsite and make 3-4 trips to stock it up, you wouldn't need to worry about the weight requirement.

- The difference between a camping mat, and straight on the ground is close to 10 degrees in extra heat. Plus it helps keep your sleeping bag dry. I would consider it strongly.

- Start "preparing yourself" for the food you will eat now. See how enjoyable it is to eat raw food when you accidentally tip over your fuel container, or just get sick/injured and can't walk into town to re-fuel.

- Get properly fit and hiking-trained before going. Don't bullshit yourself on this one.

- Think deeply about the medical kit - don't just buy a standard one and hope it'll have what you need. Some things are very useful but are never included (painkillers can be useful if you're in a lot of pain, but need to get to the town - drug yourself and away you go, maybe you prefer superglue instead of sutures, rather than toothpaste a more potent toothpowder, etc)

- Count on your equipment failing/getting lost/stolen, etc. Being outdoors is not about relying on your equipment, but about relying on your skills and knowledge.

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Skimming through it all. I think the pushbike is the best advise.it would drastically increase your ranging abililities with no ongoing cost. Could do without electronics because you could cycle to library and access free. Didn't see it mentioned but should also consider eumptser diving as possible source of food. If I was to try this I would have it all fit on bike so I could check out surrounding areas and move there if found it more favourable

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Update: The maps have arrived. 1000+ square kilometers of topo/orthophoto@25K.

Really, quite shit paper, I predict folding/unfolding half a dozen times would see holes starting to form at the corner-folds, so I'll probably want to order a laminated map of the quadrant My route(s) run through. For now I'm just rolling them up to spare some tears.

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Have you ever considered a horse and cart like a gypsy? There's people who do it.

Or maybe just go for the basic donkey like Jesus did.

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Long as the Donkey doesn't start arguing back at me right? :)

I've been making jerky in my unused hydro grow-box, chicken just sucks, but would be fine rehydrated in soup or whatever, well as beef and pork.

Beef is really the superior meat as far as dried "snack" meat goes, I'll assume that's the blood content gives it so much more "chew-life" in your mouth. But thepork's not bad, just loses flavour faster. All of these meats are far lighter dry of course, and although I've used marinades on the pork and beef for testing purposes (Hickory-Smoked BBQ), any I dry out to actually take with me would only have salt, and as little as possible, of course.

Yeah Donkey Jerky would make that sucker a lot less stubborn and objectionable.

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