Camping equipment, food and clothing
Camping
So the plan is to row 2,200km's, divide that by 70 days = so about 36km's per days with a few rest days thrown in. Where can you sleep and eat on the Murray every 36km's?
It should be easy to get an answer as to what the rules are for camping along the Murray but it's not.
In general, the river is in NSW, the banks on the NSW side are generally privately owned but there are some designated spots.
The general rule in Victoria is that camping is allowed within 2 chains of the river but there are places where camping is not allowed, it was safe to head to an area marked as Murray river Reserve.
Most of the towns along the way had caravan parks on or near the water. Most of these also had cabins if you want to lash out.
South Australia is a bit problematic trying to work out what is private property and what isn't. Some is obvious, other spots not so. The good thing is that the distances allow you to go from one town to another in a day or with caravan parks in easy reach. If you want to free camp, good luck!
The next part of planning was to work out what I needed to take and what met my needs. Over at ETA Unknown, Alan has a great check list that I worked from.
Weight was always going to be an issue, space less than an issue but whatever I took, I knew would have to be lugged up a bank so minimalistic was the aim.
I wanted a two man tent that I could sit up in, any cooking was going to be done outside and a tent fly was part of the planning. Putting the tent under the fly overnight was also best practice.
I didn't want to spend up to 70 nights in a cocoon sleeping bag on a hard sleeping mat, my biggest concession was a big, wide cotton sleeping bag on a wide self inflating sleeping pad.
One of the Murray River Expeditioners posts caught my eye in asking the question, what luxury items did you take? This led me to buy a folding chair and table, so much better than trying to cook and eat sitting on the ground.
I took matches but never lit a fire. I worked out that so many shops on the way have butane canisters so a small gas stove was going to get me by with two cans as backup.
I had a small plastic poo spade and one roll of paper, a solar shower but travelling alone and in good weather, I was happy to wait until I showered in a caravan park or a quick wash in the river.
Food
A nutritionist would have been a good thing. I knew that Ian and Beverley had food drops on their trip, their reasoning was that they wanted to be self sufficient the entire journey, preparing the meals in advance was part of the experience for them.
I budgeted to eat in each town visited along the way. Additionally, I was happy to visit any local supermarket.
Back Country Cuisine make a good range of dehydrated meals. These pack down well and are quite nutritious. I padded them out with 2 minute noodles or added things such as soup mix.
When I restocked, instant meals such as rice always got a look in. Rice cream was a key ingredient and perfect straight out of the can.
With no fridge I carried no milk. I'm not a fan of black coffee so relied on leaf tea with honey. Porridge with boiling water was de rigueur for breakfast, I had a six can cooler which I kept filled with banana's, apples and stone fruits.
Up and go's were consumed occasionally, snacks such as muesli bars, fruit bars, dried apricots and prunes kept me going through the day.
Lunch was predominantly rice cakes with peanut butter.
This included thinks like a frying pan, cooking utensils, folding shovel, a couple of bags, instant coffee.
Coleman Pilbara C-5 Sleeping Bag
Sea to Summit Camp Plus SI Sleeping Mat Rectangular Regular Wide
Thermarest Compressible Pillow Large
Outdoor Connection Compact Side Table
Trekology YIZI GO Portable Camping Chair
Sea to Summit Travel Clothesline
Sea to Summit Mosquito Headnet
Clothing
Kmart got a good workout. There's a fair chance that if you go into any gym, there will be a fair bit of Anko gear hiding under a Champion branded hoodie.
Rowing Zooties are not designed for all day in the Aussie sun, bike knicks are made for bike seats, undies are not made for sliding seats so Anko shorts and thin tops work. They're also cheap enough to be disposable.
I always wore a life jacket, a big brimmed legionnaire style hat, arm warmers which were give aways at the 2022 Santos Festival of Cycling thanks to Ziptrak or a long sleeve top to keep the sun out and plenty of sunscreen.
Crocs on my feet, daggy but superb for what I was doing, I tried other shoes for the water but they couldn't match Crocs. I had other shoes for rest days, there are limits to dagginess.
I had an array of wet weather gear but fortunately didn't use it often.
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