Always carry a paper map and compass!

idw

idw

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These days alot of us get bogged down with turn by turn navigation and gps tracking, electronic maps and similar items. But there is always a chance of loosing power or breaking your gps (I've knocked mine off the dash and had the screen gravitate to the gearstick on the way to the floor).

It seems obvious but lots of people dont carry a back up for the electronic device being used. The advantage of carrying a paper map is they need no power! With a compass and some basic map reading skills you can get yourself back on track or heading towards town or a main road in an emergency. Information booths in Australia usualy have maps of the local area, state or park your visiting. Alot of these maps have points of interest as well that probably aren't on your gps.

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Hema maps like this one are about 30 bucks at racv stores and this one has a great mix of 4x4 maps, parks, and road maps for most of australia including camping both free and paid fuel stops caravan parks etc. a compas is 5 bucks for a clear one with a scaling ruler! thats $35 well spent when the excrament hits the proverbial fan.
 
Absolutely first rate advice, Id.

I could not agree more.

All electronic devices can fail, and Murphy's Law dictates that this will always happen at the worst possible time ... :( :(

That said, I chose my current GPS device because it has about 4 hours "talk time". It also has very fast startup and satellite acquisition. This latter is important because this process can drain your device's battery if slow. Many GPS units are hard pressed to run for an hour away from your car battery ...

Having detailed maps ("Explore Australia", or any other reasonably detailed atlas) along with a compass and basic map reading skills can save your life.

If you absolutely have to leave your vehicle for any reason whatsoever (NOT recommended), always remember to aim well away from your destination - i.e. well to the North/South or East/West - so that you know with certainty which direction you have to walk to get to that destination, once you are at that distance.

If you are almost spot on, but don't know which side of your destination point you are on, choosing to walk in the wrong direction can be a very long way round (about 25,000 miles, in fact ... :().

If you know that you are some distance to the north/south, east/west, then you can head up/down your line to your intended destination with certainty.

If you do not understand fully and completely what I have just written, you need to brush up on your map reading and orienteering skills ...

Either that, or I have stuffed it up ... :poke: :lol:.
 
I remember spending a day birding in montane tropical rainforest with an Englishwoman who was staying at the same place as me. At one point we were on foot trying to track down an elusive catbird, which was calling from somewhere deeper into the forest. Now this stuff is thick; you can't see the sky, not even a hint of where the sun might be (if it is even out), and visibility is typically about ten metres. So we are talking seriously easy to get lost. Anyway, bit by bit we went further and furter into the jungle and, eventually, she said she was getting a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to find our way back.

"It's OK", I assured her, "I've got a GPS and a compass."

"Oh, that's fine then", she said.

A bit later I added, "They're in the car, but I've got them."

She laughed out loud, stopped worrying, and we carried on even deeper into the forest - I was getting a bit nervous myself by then. We eventually found the catbird, and got back without difficulty. The GPS would have been useless anyway under all that tree cover. Compass would have been more than handy though if I'd had it with me!
 
Tannin said:
I remember spending a day birding in montane tropical rainforest with an Englishwoman who was staying at the same place as me. At one point we were on foot trying to track down an elusive catbird, which was calling from somewhere deeper into the forest. Now this stuff is thick; you can't see the sky, not even a hint of where the sun might be (if it is even out), and visibility is typically about ten metres. So we are talking seriously easy to get lost. Anyway, bit by bit we went further and furter into the jungle and, eventually, she said she was getting a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to find our way back.

"It's OK", I assured her, "I've got a GPS and a compass."

"Oh, that's fine then", she said.

A bit later I added, "They're in the car, but I've got them."

She laughed out loud, stopped worrying, and we carried on even deeper into the forest - I was getting a bit nervous myself by then. We eventually found the catbird, and got back without difficulty. The GPS would have been useless anyway under all that tree cover. Compass would have been more than handy though if I'd had it with me!
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I've had a few experiences in map reading jungle environment, worst case was in Vietnam with a guy who couldn't map read to save himself.
 
subyroo said:
I've had a few experiences in map reading jungle environment, worst case was in Vietnam with a guy who couldn't map read to save himself.
Click to expand...

That just sounds scary. When I've been walking in the bush from camp sites and looking around, alot of places look exactly the same after you've lost sight of the road. It's really easy to loose your bearings, I've talked to a few CFA and SES blokes on call outs who've been out searching for campers and hikers because they didn't take maps. Years ago I was on a search with the CFA looking for a 4 year old who'd wanderd off from the family home into the bush and it still amazes me how much man power goes into finding someone, and that was the local bush where i grew up and know like the back of my hand.

If you dont know where you are how the hell do you expect help to find you?
 
^ Exactly right, Id.

I took delivery of my highly expensive medical appliance 2 days ago.

My next purchase will be a FindMeSpot EPIRB and tracker.
This can also tether to my Blackberry for SMS (at SatPhone rates, but hey, better than being dead ... ).

If 65+ y.o. SOFA members (like me ... ) are going to go wandering about the countryside unaccompanied, then they damn well should take appropriate measures to protect themselves. They should also avoid costing the community a bomb trying to find them if they cark it, get lost or just need rescuing for all sorts of reasons.

An EPIRB and monitoring cost bugger all in comparison. The device is a couple of hundred bucks with a further $100 or so p.a. for monitoring.

No one should be going bush without one. Simple as that. Less than the cost of one tyre ...
We now have this wonderful technology available to us - why not use it?
 
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