South Australia Outback Wilderness Travel

A fter several wilderness         of outback South Australia, the    trips to outback South          roads marked are public roads and  Australia, Laurie McArthur      you are free to travel these       writes of the preparation             outback roads through the arid     necessary to venture, alone, into     wilderness country as you would    an environment that will kill         any other country road.            you, just for being there, if you     Exceptions are national parks and  don't look out.                       Aboriginal land. But they are                                            another two stories.               Traveling on an ATV (quadbike or                                         four wheel motorbike), Laurie has     However, the extra roads and       traveled hundreds of kilometres       tracks marked on a topographic     around the Arid Region, west of       map of outback South Australia,    Lake Torrens, in South Australia,     are station owned and maintained.  camping and photographing the         Whether there is a gate or not,    harsh wilderness landscape as he      you must have permission from the  goes.                                 station manager to travel on                                             these outback roads and tracks.    Ownership of the Land                                                                                   Moreover, if you approach the      About 70% of South Australia is       outback station manager with       pastoral lease. The land is owned     appropriate courtesy, he'll more   by the South Australian               than likely give you invaluable    government and leased, long term,     local knowledge. You see, there    to pastoralists for sheep and         are outback tracks marked on the   cattle grazing, and to mining         best topographic maps that don't   companies for exploration and         exist, and visa versa. There are   mining operations.                    outback tracks that are so washed                                        out as to be impassable. Some      If you look at a regular road map     lines on the topographic map,      marked as outback station tracks,     pastoral lessee(s) by          will be found to be just an old,      telephone or letter, well in       tumbled down fence line that you      advance of your proposed trip.     might be able to follow on a          They may refuse permission for a   horse. Still other outback tracks     range of good reasons including    might cross a dry salt lake for       stock management and road          say, 10 kilometres, with the mud      conditions.                        being firm enough to hold a                                              vehicle only after a dry spell of     You should make allowance for      many years.                           some of these folk not being                                             highly oriented toward office      Permission to Travel on            work. But generally speaking,      Pastoral Leases                   once you develop a rapport with                                          them, they'll be most supportive.  1) Contact Mapland at                                             http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/     It's important to keep in mind     mapland/contact.html#Offices and      that the roll of the pastoralists  purchase a large map of South         on the outback land is to run      Australia showing all the             stock. They are not there as an    pastoral leases and their names.      extension of the tourist industry  Then identify which pastoral          and cannot be expected to bail     leases you wish to travel on.         you out should you get into                                              difficulties on their station.     2) Contact Outback SA,                                            Level 6, 101 Grenfell St.,            Navigation                  ADELAIDE SA 5000 or telephone 1                                          800 678 477 for a list of             The South Australian outback is    Pastoral Leases.                      vast and unforgiving, so be well                                         prepared to navigate your way      3) Contact the relevant            reliably through the Arid Region.                                        year and how far to the north the  1) Maps. You must have a       sun will be at noon. Both the sun  paper road map and a paper            and the moon move toward the       topographic map of the outback        north in winter. Take note of the  area you will be traveling. Never     prevailing winds and the           rely entirely on a GPS, no matter     direction of the parallel sand     how sophisticated a model it is.      dunes.                                                                                                      2) Compass An inexpensive      5) Study the Maps Well      pocket compass will do to             before the trip, become familiar   orientate the topographic map or      with the South Australian outback  the road map.                         country you'll be traveling. Know                                        the features such as hills, wells  3) GPS With a hand held or     and dams, homesteads, lakes,       vehicle mounted GPS you'll know       creek beds and main roads as well  where you are on the map to an        as tracks. Google Earth is a       accuracy of about five metres.An      great resource for getting to      entry level GPS used in               know the outback in advance.       conjunction with a paper map will                                        be quite adequate to find your        Communication There's no    way around the South Australian       reason for ill prepared outback    outback. More sophisticated           travelers who become stranded, to  models display a moving map on        die of dehydration, in these       the screen.                           modern days of satellite                                                 communication. All South           4) Bush Sense Be aware of      Australian outback travelers       where the sun and the moon rise       should have a satellite phone.     and set at the particular time of      About the Author Would you like to read about Laurie's South Australian outback trip of August 2006? In his ATV Camping Trip website, http://www.southimage.net/atvcamptrip/, Laurie tells many stories, illustrated with his digital images, about his travels on Bosworth and Andamooka stations, west of Lake Torrens. Published At: www.Isnare.com