I’m sure SDU knows the significance of that but for those who don’t, it is in the middle of nowhere where 3 States meet and was explained to me as a warning in my very early days there emphasising the need to be very aware of the water situation. The story went that a family in a car broke down there and, instead of staying with the vehicle, they decided to walk out eventually dying after running out of water. The point was that you should remain with the vehicle, easier to be found, but also it might be that the water in the rad, however unpalatable, might just be a life saver.
Is it true SDU? The story I mean, I know it is true that I was told that.
I was once diverted down a towpath when the satnav mistook the canal for a road. At least I would have been had I been following it.
@spardo Quite right mate, not just in the corner country, but anywhere remote. Always carry water and stay with the vehicle. Vehicles are easier to spot from the air than people, they also provide shade.
Just last week, a family of four left Oodnadatta in a small, front wheel drive, Holden Barina and became bogged for days. Fortunately for them, someone raised the alarm when they didn’t arrive at the intended destination. A search plane located them, later dropping a sattelite phone and water. They were eventually rescued by helicopter.
I can’t for the life of me understand why adults who live in and know the terrain intimately, would attempt the journey in an unsuitable car. I wouldn’t travel those tracks in a competent 4x4, in flood conditions.
My issue with two GPSs in conflict stem from the fact that these unmaintained tracks move from season to season, as people look for the easiest line or have to avoid obstacles.
My fault for not reading the addresses closer. Had devilries down in the Fens one day, two farms next to each other - well in farm terms i.e. only 5 mile apart.
Young and foolishly I trusted the satnav. After dropping at the first farm, it said turn left.
Next Left. Left again. Next left.
Yep you guessed it, I’d ended up doing a 30 odd mile circuit instead of turning right out the first farm to the second.
Never trusted the damn things since, which is good.
Had a delivery down somewhere near Doncaster. I’d checked the map so I knew which turning I needed. Stoopid satnav tried telling me to turn down this parallel dirt track other side of a river to the road I needed. That would have been another 20 mile pointless odyssey with the probable joy of reversing 10 miles.
Course now we never know if the ruskies will jam the satellites just for fun.
Best result I had from my Garmin was when I took 2 Siamese cats from the Dordogne backwoods to Budapest. Hungary wasn’t on Garmin’s list so once I crossed the Danube bridge there was no detail.
However, as I always do, I made my detailed directions from start to finish printed on a sheet attached to the visor, and once in Hungary knew when I needed to turn and used the satnav as a compass as it still showed all points.
Got there ok but there was one snag, wanting to confirm my last but one turning in dark rainy weather I pulled into what I thought was a resto parking. As I got out of the car I realised that the lights from the resto were in fact from a tram at a tramstop…and I was parked on the tracks.
A swift exit and a genuine resto and I was soon at the house of the Canadian lady adoptante who lived there while working for the local UNESCO.
