ࡱ>    !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRoot EntryZ O2@URCONTENTS CompObjVSPELLINGXt response to the problem. I suppose that most tents are purchased, used for only a few days and then stored to be used only intermittently. At this stage I had erected the tent approximately 50 times and opened and shut the zipper(s) at least 1000 times going in and out and sometimes just getting stuff or putting it inside. The  door had to be kept closed at all times to keep out the flies and ants but also was some barrier to snakes! The tent was chosen after using a two man,  el cheapo for a month on a 600km walk up the beaches and national parks of south east Queensland from the NSW border to Gladstone, about one year prior to the Gulf to Gulf walk. I chose a two man tent so that I could store all my gear inside and still lie down to sleep. It needed enough height to sit up for drinking, eating, reading, checking maps etc. Mainly at night, but also on rainy days when I chose not to walk. This only happened on two days. There were other days when I did not walk because of rain, or the threat of rain, but I was in a town, cattle station or caravan park and staying in a room. Choosing a camping site each afternoon included supports (trees etc) for the radio antenna, firewood and a relatively clear area for the fire as well as a suitable bit of ground for the tent. The tent site was always a compromise. The surface needed to be clear of stones, long grass, small shrubs, level (not sloping) and flat (not bumpy). Also the tent pegs could not be pushed into hard packed ground. I often used a rock to drive the pegs in, but sometime even this was not possible. Fortunately, the tent would stay in its shape after erecting. And once I put in all my gear and myself, it would not blow away. If the ground was soft sand, and this was always considered optimum, the pegCHNKWKS TEXTTEXTdFDPPFDPPhFDPPFDPPjFDPPFDPPlFDPCFDPCnSTSHSTSHpSTSHSTSHp2SYIDSYIDPpSGP SGP dpINK INK hpBTEPPLC lp(BTECPLC pFONTFONTp<STRSPLC p:PRNTWNPR"q*FRAMFRAMTITLTITL@0DOP DOP p"s) at least 1000 times g 4 December 2007 Equipment on Jeff s Walk Backpack Brand Karrimoor Waterproof Cover Adjustability Capacity Weight Bum Bag Brand Weight Tent Brand: Vaude Model: Hogan Ultralight Size: 2 man Material: Siliconised Nylon. Poles: Aluminium tubing. Pegs: Pressed aluminium. Orange Stuff Sack (came with tent. on the walk, used only for outer) Weight: 1.44kg The tent had and inner and outer part. The inner was the tent proper and the outer was a fly or rain/sun cover. The outer was very, very effective. For at least half of the walk the outer would be thoroughly drenched with dew each morning. My first task at piccanini dawn (enough light to move around) each day was to take off the outer and hang it up to dry as much as possible before packing it away. It usually took about 40 minutes each morning to  transition from sleep to walk. Even this was usually not long enough to dry out the outer (the sun was not up) and the fly would be packed away still dripping wet, hence the need for separate stuff sacks for the inner and outer. The inner part had an opening at one end that was closed with two zippers. Either one of the zippers could open and close the entrance, but of these zips failed approximately half way through the walk. The camping equipment store, Go Camping, at Nerang on the Gold Coast where I bought all the gear were very supportive. I contacted them through radio contact with Bill and they contacted the importer in NSW and they in turn despatched a new inner to Birdsville. When I arrived in Birdsville where I was welcomed by the local caravan park manager, Geoff, and provided with a prime camping spot  on the house , I picked up the new tent inner from the Post Office and send the old one back to the importer. All in all a perfecs were pretty well useless as they had no purchase in the sand. Again, once weighted down, the tent was fully functional. Setting up took about 15 minutes and, needless to say, I get pretty good at it. After selecting the site from the road, I clear the best area from obvious rocks and stones. Sometimes I d remove tufts of growing or dead grass and often there were live or dead double gees (aka & & ..) small and large. Several times when on a sand hill I would dig into the sand a few centimetres to make sure I got the ones just below the surface. Additional Stuff Sacks Brand  Sea To Summit Large, green for tent inner Medium, purple, for laundry Small, red, for ground sheet Grey 2nd hand (Ex Old Sleeping Bag) For Food Blue 2nd hand (Ex Old Sleeping Bag) For Miscellaneous Sleeping Bag Brand: Roman Model: Temperature Rating: 0deg Very satisfactory. Extremely light for temperature rating. Washed and dried several times. Black stuff sack doubled as pillow slip filled with clothes for adequate pillow. Ground Sheet Brand: El Cheapo, Grey tarp 6 X 4 with eyelets Excellent decision to take this. Low cost. Relatively low weight. Protected tent from hard, rough sharp or wet ground. Also used once as a rain tarp. Could have cut the eyelets off and heat sealed the new edge to save weight. Flags 2 X  quarto size DBA flags Shirts Husky second hand  walking shirt. My favourite but it  fell apart with the constant perspiration. I eventually dumped it at Innamincka. 2 X T-shirts, white  DBA screen prints 1 X T-shirts, Blue  DBA screen prints 1 X Short sleeve dress shirt Shorts 1 X Lightweight shorts 1 X Swimming shorts Tracksuit Pants Bill sent me a pair of tracksuit pants to meet me at Moomba at the end of May. Shoes Brooks Walking Boots Size 13 EEEE These boots saw out the whole 2500Km trip Thongs Hat Floppy cloth hat (was pre-loved at the start and  swapped at Moomba) Beanie (Knitted, woollen) Face Net (against the flies) Gloves 1 X Pair Knitted, Woollen Jocks 7 X  Jocks brand Socks 1 Light weight dress socks 3 X Medium weight walking socks 2 X  Explorer walking socks 1 X heavy wool oversize Spectacles Replaced at Hawker. I had my eyes tested and new lenses made and I handed over a pair of spectacle frames that were very nice and previously had safety glass in them. The optometrist at Beaudesert agreed to fit the lenses when they arrived and forward the glasses on to me in Newcastle as I was leaving for the walk and calling in on Bill at Stockton, Newcastle and staying there for a visit before the walk for a few days. They did not arrive before I left and when the Beaudesert optometrist phoned me later to say they were ready I was already on my way in Sydney and about to leave for Adelaide. I asked them to forward them to one of their branches in Newcastle and Bill could send them to me after they arrived. In the meantime I was using my  old glasses which were ok but just a couple of years behind my prescription and the frames were el cheapo plastics while the new frames were titanium (or at least a nice light metal). When I was between Quorn and Hawker, about a week into the walk, I was plagued by flies around my face. I am a bit macho about not using fly repellent but they were driving me mad. I was doing a fair bit of very active  aussie saluting and one swipe caught the corner of my gl;asses and knocked them to the bitumen. When I picked them up, I saw that the frame was broken around one of the lenses. I salvaged the loose lens and carried on. A few days later, still plagued by hundreds of flies, a passer by stopped and after the usual questions and answers he asked why I did not have a face net. I answered saying that I intended to get on in Quorn but had forgotten but that I would get one in hawker. He reached over to the passengers side and picked up and handed me his face net.  Here, he said,  you need this more than I do . Such is the generous nature of our species. Personal Hygiene Baby Powder Vaseline Toothbrush Toothpaste Wilderness Soap Cholesterol Pills Thyroxin Pills Towel Sun Screen Toilet Paper Radio Gear Transceiver Yeasu FT817nr 5 Watt Amateur band Weight 1.2Kg Microphone Long Line Antenna 20 meters for 7.045 Mhz Home made Antenna matching coil ( Wave Dipole Antenna made at Hawker) Camera Canon Powershot A560??? 1 X 16M Memory card 1 X 32M Memory card 1 X 128M memory card 1 X 256M memory card 1 X Camera Bag Transistor Radio El Cheapo Low power usage 2 X AA Rechargeable NiMH Batteries MP3 Player/Voice recorder 1 X X-beat 1Gig 1 X AAA Rechargeable NiMH Batteries GPS Receiver 1 X Garmin Gecko 101 2 X AAA Rechargeable NiMH Batteries (1 X Magellan Explorer 200) Thermometer/Compass The thermometer was a "key ring" style that I saw at my sister Diane's place on a bedside table just a few days before the start. I asked for it for the walk and no troubles. It became one of the most used items checking the temperature 3 or 4 times each day and using the compass when setting up the dipole HF radio antenna. UHF Citizen s Band Radio 40 Channel Mobile Phone Nokia Optus (Motorola Telstra Next Gen) Satellite phone Iridium 9505A 12V Charger 240V Charger Weight 375g (User Manual) Battery pack 12V 10 X AA NiMH in series taped together Battery Holder for charging 4 X AA 2 X AAA Solar panel 5 Watt UniSolar Flexible USF5 (with clamp) The solar panel was not working at first. I had not tested it before I set out and the 12V battery pack was not providing power to the amateur transceiver after a couple of days. I suspected the individual batteries at first as I believe that batteries can end up in different states of charge when charged and discharged in series. I tested the batteries individually and found several that were definitely in a lower state of charge to the rest. I replaced these with 2 of the spares. This worked for 10 minutes or so and again the overall voltage dropped under load so I checked them individually again and found a couple of batteries were low. This went on for a couple of days until I got into the quaint little town of Quorn where I intended to stay overnight but I stayed for 2 nights. During the  lay day, I got serious with the 12V battery pack and the solar panel and I found that the solar panel was not producing very much current at all. Actually measured 20ma instead of 250ma. I flexed the joints in the lead and all the way along the lead but could not fault it. Then I flexed the solar panel itself, contorting it into all sorts of shapes and suddenly it came good with full output. I tried to tie it up with string into the shape where it worked but it wasn t co-operating. Next I started applying a pinching pressure with my finger and thumb all along the leather/plastic edging looking for a bad joint between the individual cells. At the third cell down on the left I hit pay dirt. I could make it come good by applying a light pressure at a particular point and make it work. I wandered into  town and found a general store with a bit of hardware and a very helpful proprietor and he dug out a bubble pack of 3 small  G clamps. I had the battery pack and the multi-meter with me so I positioned the  G clamp in the right position and wired it all up on the floor of the store under a skylight in the roof and it worked like a charm. I paid the man his $2.50 and gave the 2 spares to the caravan park operator and the solar panel and the clamp worked perfectly for the whole trip. However, there is a sad ending to the solar panel story. I called into an amateur radio operator s place in Brisbane 2 months after the walk and took most of the electrical and radio gear into to show and tell. When I looked for the solar panel the next day I could not find it in the car. I phoned the guy in Brisbane but no luck, I didn t leave it there. All I can think of is that I carried it out to the car and put it on the roof while I packed the rest of the stuff in the car and then drove off. Damn I could have used it heaps of times since then. Multi Meter Dick Smith $10 basic Volts, Amps, Ohms Mini Jumper Leads 3 X Leads. Alligator Clips Each End Small tools Fine Side Cutter Fine Long nose Pliers Multi Purpose ([Pseudo] Swiss Army) String 2 X Cigarette Lighters 1 Box Matches Thermometer (with magnetic compass) Spare Batteries 4 X AA NiMH For Camera 4 X AA NiMH for Transistor radio and UHF CB 2 X AAA For GPS and MP3 player First Aid Kit Dettol (50ml) Needle and thread Bandaids Tweezers Scissors (small) 2 X Bandages Eyewash Sterile Swab Food Noodles (packet 2 minute) per day Soup (Cup-a-soup sachet) per day Muesli Bar per day Isotonic powder (Poweraid) for adding to water Tang Powder for adding to water Powdered Milk Qwik (banana) for adding to milk Water Containers 2 X 3 Litres Cordial Plastic Bottles 2 X 750ml Iced Coffee Bottles 1 X 600ml Spring Water Bottles Utensils Billy (1 Litre) With Lid Desert Spoon Plastic Drinking  Glass Stationary Diary 2 X Biros Pencil Plastic Ruler Maps (20 A5) DBA Receipt Book Wallet Cash Drivers License Credit Card Debit Card Pension Card Medibank Card clamps. 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