Traveling in a solo vehicle

[humdingerslammer]

After spending my work days looking after people, the vast majority of whom r just great, when travelling outback all I want is alone time, to hear the silence, to see beauty and devastation, aridness and water and space and sometimes, just to let myself know that being alone does not mean being lonely and so as I can say "I have done that, on my own".

For me, my alone trips re-charge the batteries like nothing else!!

I pack according to where I am going, try to travel light and don't set myself up to break things. Outback, in deserts etc this means danger and a lot of expense. You can only be self reliant to an extent, more when you r sensible and keep yourself safe.

A lot of "knowing" advice about what to buy and attach to your vehicle is in the main bullshit that is proffered by those who design and or want to sell it to you. Not much more than about 10% of the Km done in my JK have required 4WD. Height and power, yes, but 4wd is over-sold for the vast majority of places most people want to visit. And I have traversed mud, sand, corrugations, deserts etc etc.I don't have a winch and have never needed one: max trax knock offs have done the trick simply and efficiently.

And it is perfectly safe to travel alone, in one vehicle. Keep your wits about you re safety. If you come across a person/people and they look a bit suspicious remember, if it looks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. Leave the situation straight away All this applies to places you might want to traverse etc.

Watch your speed, air down/up as appropriate, use 10ply MT tyres and have a good 12V pump. Also carry the usual spares and tools that fit your vehicle.

I NEVER leave the JK without a back pack that contains a sat phone, an EPIRP (best attached to your belt, in easy reach), a strong LED strobe light, a signalling mirror, a knife, simple first aid equipment (bandages, aluminium splint) a survival blanket and tent, parachute cord, paper and pen/texta, compass and 3 days of emergency food and water. Sounds OTT and you might laugh but some of this gear has helped others in trouble. It is very easy to become disoriented on what seems a benign walk amongst the scrub.

Go for it, stay safe and have fun.

[Methamon]

My wife and I are truly solo campers and prefer to 4wd by ourselves. Have tried the group thing just wasnt for us. We are happy to say hello and have a drink with other campers on our travels but not much into the group style camping and touring

[vernonbain]

In my opinion it depends on the situation, whenever I'm with my wife, I'd love to travel just with her but when travelling alone, I'd like to bring my buddies who have the same hobby as me which is going off-road.

[eksjay]

I was unsure whether to revive this thread. I could have placed the link to the News story below in the Sat phone thread, but I thought I would drop it here.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...9c30efb4a339dd

Lucky for this couple that they were quick thinking and took the sat phone out of their car along with the spare battery.

They must have collected too much spinifex under the car. Is it a Land cruiser? The blue water canisters partially survived the melting process.

[humdingerslammer]

Originally Posted by eksjay

I was unsure whether to revive this thread. I could have placed the link to the News story below in the Sat phone thread, but I thought I would drop it here.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...9c30efb4a339dd

Lucky for this couple that they were quick thinking and took the sat phone out of their car along with the spare battery.

They must have collected too much spinifex under the car. Is it a Land cruiser? The blue water canisters partially survived the melting process.

No.... very much worth re-kindling this thread (pardon the pun). Spinifex can be a real problem... very high risk of fire from super hot exhausts and particularly cat converters that get to a phenomenal heat. Fires from spinifex or other grass tend to start very soon (like minutes) after parking in high grass or if it hasn't cleared from cracks and crevices.

I carry a short piece of broom handle (about 18 inches long) with a hook screwed and glued in to one end and use this to pull out any grass, spinifex etc every couple of hours when I am driving in such country. Travelling the CSR my brother thought I was mad because he said his Landcover Discovery never trapped spinifex. Must be a crappy Jeep thing he reckoned. So I got him to get down with me and have a look under the Discovery... he was quite surprised when he was proven wrong.

In my opinion, if fires start a few hours after parking it is more than likely from an electrical fault... something rubbing and worn and wires have contacted metal etc. or from a slow fuel leak onto still hot metal.

Oh, and I also carry a small spray bottle that can get under the vehicle to water spray any flames... it might help I reckon. And I also have about 6 fire extinguishers that work when tipped upside down dotted all around the JKU and easily reachable from different points from in and outside the vehicle.

My satellite phone, EPIRB etc is always in a small back pack on the front seat that I can get to and throw out instantly if necessary. See earlier reply above to see what I have in it.

[Trailfirst]

One of the weekend 4WD-ing shows - I think Pat Callinan? - is always solo remote area stuff - but I can never help thinking "Hmmmm" when I see his shows. For a while i thought yeah but he's not really on his own - ie. the film crew etc. but since realised he probably does do the whole thing himself - ie. with drones. And I've probably missed the episode where he explained all the safety gear and sensible precautions for single vehicle adventuring...

[eksjay]

Originally Posted by Trailfirst

One of the weekend 4WD-ing shows - I think Pat Callinan? - is always solo remote area stuff - but I can never help thinking "Hmmmm" when I see his shows. For a while i thought yeah but he's not really on his own - ie. the film crew etc. but since realised he probably does do the whole thing himself - ie. with drones. And I've probably missed the episode where he explained all the safety gear and sensible precautions for single vehicle adventuring...

There may be instances where he does do solo trips, but I have seen his production convoy on two occasions going through my town. It is made up of several off road vehicles (with his decals) - I don't think he does tag along tours.

Even Ronny Dahl has a production crew and in the video below, it helped bail him and his mate's 4WDs out of trouble (start at 22:30).

https://youtu.be/ann4S7NvUv0