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

[Psychaesthetic]

So here's the situation:

The last 15 years have landed me sharing houses with a mix of people, from junkies and cochroaches, to my present place in an upper-middle class neighbourhood with a woman who now drives me insane, and the feeling is mutual. I've been given my marching orders as usual which is fine (though I'll desperately miss the dog, having been with her every minute for the past several years now).

My options - as I see them - are either (i) move to some other house or shared accomodation and deal with adjusting (or not adjusting) to whoever happens to hold the lease, (ii) move to a caravan park or similarly low budget place on my own, either of which will cost me at least half my weekly income in rent alone, or the third option: get a tent, pack a pack and fly or greyhound my way to a nice spot on a river, near enough to a town that I can walk to a bus-stop or similar and travel into town each week for food.

I've only just decided upon option (iii) being the best course of action, but am already slurping-in as much information as possible on every possible known & unknown that could arise. I have about two months before I have to be out, thus two months before departure.

The location - must - be close enough to a freshwater stretch of river that I can access it on foot for water and fishing, and close enough to some kind of civilization that I can walk there too. Mobile reception must also be within walking distance, but ideally I wouldn't have to walk to get a signal.

Outside of those requisites I haven't picked a river yet, let alone a section that looks suitable, but having grown up in NSW (been in Adelaide for over a decade now) I'm thinking anywhere from Forster -> Byron would be where I'd most want to live, especially after all these years of horrid Adelaide dry-heat summers.

There are many pros and a few cons that I've listed while contemplating such a radical life-change, but this post has gone on about long enough really.

What I'd like from you, is any tips and pointers, good locales .. Anything that might minimise the number of "f$&%# why didn't I think of that!!" moments I'll encounter once I'm half way up a riverbank in the middle of nowhere.

The main reason I want to do this, is I have no ties to anyone or anything and - being almost 40 now - I might simply not have the chance to give it a bash in another ten years.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Riley

[Psychaesthetic]

Goes without saying, I suppose, that I'll miss the plants i've hoarded over the past few years: keeping some of the species alive through weeks-after-week of 43oC+ Adelaide summer heatwaves meant daily babying, and the dog.. I'll miss her.

[FickFackMD]

Have you checked out the Barrington Tops? i use to go camping up there when I was a kid. Im pretty sure the Barrington river flows all year, neither am i sure about fishing, however there are eels and yabbys.......

Also check out the Manning river, that's a little further out bush though.

Ideally you want to be near the coast. Look up the Wooli Wooli river.

probably your major concern thats going to affect your location is your want of mobile signal :D

[FickFackMD]

Goes without saying, I suppose, that I'll miss the plants i've hoarded over the past few years: keeping some of the species alive through weeks-after-week of 43oC+ Adelaide summer heatwaves meant daily babying, and the dog.. I'll miss her.

Maybe you should go way up Cape York like a lot of the Vietnam vets, find yourself a little clearing and forsake everything else XD

[Psychaesthetic]

Haven't maps.google.com'ed the Barrington Tops, but went there a few times in my early 20's, beautiful area too. Manning river I've only heard of, but I'll have a look, and the Great Lakes I used to hoon around in hire boats fishing about the same time but the G Lakes are salt-water sadly.

The mobile signal Is basically so I have some form of human contact: living in the bush between Grafton and Lismore or Casino and Lismore years back, I remember how total isolation fucks with your head, but these days with data so cheap, and coverage so .. Covered, I figure with a solar charger I can at least have my phone, but if I can get my hands on a solar charger with the amps to charge the ipad2 as well, the phonec an act as a wifi modem.

It's not like I'll be callong a Cab i to town from out there, and you cannot email 000 so yeah, just a basic insanity-prevention measure is what the mobile-signal requirement's about

[Psychaesthetic]

Maybe you should go way up Cape York like a lot of the Vietnam vets, find yourself a little clearing and forsake everything else XD

Well that's almost what I'm planning on doing. The caveat is I want to be close enough to walk to a servo or bus-stop to get into town once a week or fortnight. If I just walked into the bush with a pack and tent and compass, I figure in all probability I'll simply end-up insane or dead, hence my trying to sniff out places that are out of civilization, but close enough so I have a few safety-nets to fall back on.

Being vegetarian too, I won't be eating wildlife.

[Psychaesthetic]

While I'm here, the woman who lives here doesn't give a toss about plants, so if there's anyone who'd want to collect a few coffee plants (3), a 6 month old Baby Woodrose vine, and mm,.. Couple other plants, within the Adelaide area.

Nevermind actually: I'll start a new post in a couple weeks to finda. Home for them. There'll be two Tea plants arriving in the mail soon too, though I might be able to take them if i greyhound it to NSW.. Long trip on a bus, but I can't see an airport letting me take live plants and thousands of seeds cross-state somehow.

Mmmmm

[FickFackMD]

there are communes out there that have set up an alternate lifestyle (although it is A LOT like share housing, just with hippies.........), have you thought about setting up within one of those communities? perhaps those communes could be worse than living in a city though.

I do get what you mean with contact to the outside world though, regardless of who you are, there going to send a chopper to lift you out if you break a leg.

What about finding a rural property and offering to work for a small plot of land, that way you have company and access to telephone lines.

[Psychaesthetic]

there are communes out there that have set up an alternate lifestyle (although it is A LOT like share housing, just with hippies.........), have you thought about setting up within one of those communities? perhaps those communes could be worse than living in a city though.

That's what got the commune notion out my head pretty quickly: whoever already lives there will have more say than I will, thusly it's basically like you said - share accomodation in the middle of nowhere. There's also the fact that they'd all have their social pack heirarchy and all the bullshit comes with that.

I do get what you mean with contact to the outside world though, regardless of who you are, there going to send a chopper to lift you out if you break a leg.

Yessir, as long as I have that mobile signal, I can be medi-vac'ed out. I know they make PDB with satellite tracking: just hit the big red button and they home-in on the beakons GPS, but o imagine they'd be prohibitively expensive, and they don't come with email, twitter or fb which is mainly what I want the mobile signal for: uploading pics, maybe do a blog, could be good, but essentially it'll be for combating bush-madness, and upping my morale.

What about finding a rural property and offering to work for a small plot of land, that way you have company and access to telephone lines.

I'd be open to a property for work deal, except I don't know anyone with a property, and taking someone at face-value who you've never met, then travelling one-way - clear across the country - is pretty hit&miss. Hell, it could be as good as a private Nimbin, or as bad as Wolf Creek: there's no way of knowing, and relying on a complete stranger isn't a very good start.

At the moment, I'm focussed almost entirely on my inventory, and have pages of lists of things I could take, but every item has to be useful - ideally in multiple ways.

Whatever I take, I'll have to be able to carry it, so one big backpack, a tent, and I figure a garbage-bag-sized sack of light-weight, high protein, high carb foods: milk powder, powdered eggs, instant coffee and tea bags (they won't do squat for nutritional intake but they're light:), and of course vitamins: C, Iron, a good multi.. As mich as I can stuff in the sack should do me till I can get into town again.

Mm so much to think about. Once I've found a location though, I'll be able to start researching the crap out of it which will feel alot better.

[mr b.caapi]

Dont forget the Vegemite

[Halcyon Daze]

Find a temporary place to call home for a while and let bush camping become your main hobby. You'll be a ridgy-didge hermit in no time.

The trick to bush living is being able to survive on nothing, the less shit you have to lug around the better. But this is not really practical when first starting out.

Be prepared for anything and everything in your first ventures.

[~shameless~]

Dont shit up stream

[Psychaesthetic]

Find a temporary place to call home for a while and let bush camping become your main hobby. You'll be a ridgy-didge hermit in no time.

I'm dubious about doing this, since everytime I move-in somewhere rent and/or comfort ends up pinning me to the spot, whoch'd be alright if I were pinned-down in a tropical rainforest, but it's always a box in the suburbs, so I gotta go straight to the camping-hermit without easing into it,

The trick to bush living is being able to survive on nothing, the less shit you have to lug around the better. But this is not really practical when first starting out.

Be prepared for anything and everything in your first ventures.

I'll be taking a maximum of three bags: a 75+Ltr backpack for equipment, a garbage-bag-sized sack full of food, and the tent. Everything has to fit in the pack or sack, and food has to be light as possible: no vegemite ..no jars, tins, well maybe a small 90g tuna - the tin will be useful when washed.

The tents I'm looking at are 3 season, ~$300 and 2-3kg bagged, so the tent won't be an issue to carry.

[Halcyon Daze]

You'll sure have a great time.

[DiscoStu]

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=34938&hl=survival

[quarterflesh]

Is the dog hers or yours, if its hers just take it with you. dogs are the best company in the bush, save's talking to the wild life thats trying to kill you, and it would be a good warning / guard dog if anyone's trying to jack your stuff.

[ThunderIdeal]

let the caprice carry you there! just enough impulsiveness to make it actually eventuate, and just enough time so you aren't rushing into it. i like your chances and i like your attitude and really hope you get something out of it. who among us hasn't dreamt of doing what you're going to do?

i think you've got basics under control. instead of a saw/axe you might get away with an implement which is like a cable with a handle at each end, like a garotte which can is worked back and forth to cut through anything, won't take up any space in your pack at all. apparently they aren't the best, i'd go with a little folding saw and take care of it, small saws will bend or snap depending on how brittle they are. both scenarios can be avoided completely if you know what you're doing and take care. the advantage of a softer blade is it can be bent again (straightened, as it were) and you still have a 95% useful tool.

i'd suggest being prepared for snakebite because untimely snakebite could end the fun real quick.

i'd also suggest some sort of beacon to help a rescue team locate you. the best thing i can think of is to have a separate fire prepared, maybe two or three of them, near some green foliage you can add for turbo-smoke. if you were serious about the signal fire a little plastic will suffice to keep the rain out.

flies and mozzies. be prepared for those jerks, and the horrible in-between versions that seem to thrive near sandy waterways.

Edited February 11, 2014 by ThunderIdeal

[~shameless~]

Get your fossiking and prospecting ticket I just got one for about $89 and its valid till 2021, been fossiking a little and found small amounts of alluvial mineral and small gems like zirons and garnetts, depends where you are heading , but if your gonna spend time in a spot that s known to bear gold and gems you will have something quiet exciting to do when some descent rains hit around where you are staying, sort of depends if this kind of thing interests you, there's heaps of info about parts of qld are/is a real hot spot for this activity ,

[paradox]

Good luck mate, just make sure you're respectful of the place you choose, don't mess it up or over fish the river etc. Living in the bush like that would be awesome, as long as you're sure not to make an invasive feral pest of yourself. perhaps If I didnt have commitments & good reasons to not risk breaking any laws I would be finding myself a good patch, settle in & grow a bumper gormet crop. Do it for a season, see how you like the bush lifestyle. make some dough & if after a year you've had enough you'll be able to afford to live in the place more to your liking. it's a nice dream, but not good advice. perhaps in the near future when particular laws are repealed

Edited February 13, 2014 by paradox

[mimzy]

I'm not sure the romanticism of running away to the bush will live up to the reality of living in the bush, but I hope it works out for you. Take an emergency beacon just in case you get hurt.

[incognito]

Maybee a rifle or mad judo skills when the redneck kids come

On their dirtbikes to stir u up.

[FickFackMD]

Maybee a rifle or mad judo skills when the redneck kids come

On their dirtbikes to stir u up.

He shaw du gots a purtty mouf

[Psychaesthetic]

LOL some funny posts there, I'll reply to em once I've got my garden watered and had another coffee.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Dirt bikes..... Legit hazard!

[IndianDreaming]

Get a push bike for transport, and possibly a clapped out old van with no rego and live in that, I've seen a few people live in vans and they can be quite comfy - push bike is a handy means of transport...