Tony and others,
What appalled me was not your good advice on outback travel, but your use of
derogatory terms: reckless, gung ho, little prep or knowledge, macho bravado.
I thought that was most unfair as you didn't know what sort of precautions Carol
had made.
Merrilyn.
Tony Russell wrote:
> Merrilyn, I agree that Carol's report was very good - about the birds - and
> I have already told her so. But I still consider it unwise to go out to
> places like that on one's own. 2wd may be Ok while the weather is good and
> roads are passable, but it doesn't take much to change that, and even then
> 4WD doesn't always suffice. Have you ever been to places like that? Alone?
> Well, I've done a lot of outback travelling and it's always been with more
> than one vehicle, never just one, and certainly not on my own. And we go
> with radios and spare parts and recovery gear and extra supplies of fuel,
> wouldn't dream of anything less.
> So if you are appalled at my comments about a lack of caution in such
> circumstances well, that's your problem. Try asking the outback tour
> operators what they think about it. Try asking local people; try asking the
> cops; try asking anyone involved in rescue operations.
> Another angle on the whole topic is that you can never be sure about the
> types of people you might run into out there; there's no one to help you if
> they turn out to be unpleasant.
> I don't know anyone at all who would go into the desert alone in a 2WD
> vehicle. There's just too much that could go wrong, and being on your own
> makes you just that much more vulnerable.
> Sorry Merrilyn, being appalled at me doesn't budge me an inch. I still
> think she was lucky nothing went wrong. Have you ever seen the number of
> car wrecks out there in the desert? Someone had to rescue the owners of
> those wrecks.
>
> Tony.
>
> At 05:53 18/09/99 +1000, you wrote:
> >Hi all,
> >I am quite appalled that Tony Russell calls Carol Probets reckless and
> probably
> >quite lucky and implies she is gung ho and had very little preparation or
> >knowledge. From reading her emails, she seems to me to be a very sensible
> and
> >knowledgeable person, and as she did enjoy herself and came back safely, I
> can
> >only assume she was very well prepared and took all precautions.
> >Merrilyn.
> >
> >Tony Russell wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Allan, notwithstanding Laurie's very useful comments, I tend to agree
> >> with you. I think she was a bit reckless, and probably quite lucky.
> >> Too many gung ho's get out there with very little prep or knowledge, and it
> >> almost seems a point of "macho bravado" for them.
> >> Me, I go over-prepared and always go with more than one vehicle - and I
> >> come back, 'cos I'm worth it!
> >> Tony.
> >>
> >> Tony Russell,
> >> Adelaide, South Australia
> >> 08 8337 5959
> >>
> >> There's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a new bird is there?
> >>
> >
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