Lost in the outback

[the evil twin]

snip....

but i would think you wouldnt be navigating anyway unless your gps had sh@t itself, in which case you'll need to know your way around a compass and paper map.

Hi cobber,

Ain't that the truth...

Soooo... Stumpies challenge to us is finding your way back to the vehicle and in 95% of WA's bush that is a real hassle if you get geographicall embarrased (Lost).

I teach Navigation in the SES and get to do my share of searchs as does DX Grunt. A couple of things about the WA Goldfields is...
You can't see the horizon or the features for the scrub...
You can't climb a tree because there isn't any...
You miss the vehicle by 50 metres then you probably won't see it in the scrub...
There are no power lines or fences and 1 railway line...
There are about 3 mapped roads for every 1 gazillion squre kilometres...
There are about 1 gazillion 'old' vehicle tracks for every 3 roads...
There are a lot of Mine Haul Roads but they invariably are not on the maps but are on leases where you normally aren't...
Every one of those vehicle tracks looks EXACTLY the same as the next one...
Every hill is close to the same height so you can't tell if the one your standing on is different to the ones you can see or which is which on the map...
Every dry watercourse you cross looks EXACTLY the same (there are no rivers or creeks)...
It's almost impossible to walk a decent compass heading by yourself (there are some good tricks you can use if there is a couple of you)...

As Stumpjumper says, it is a real challenge in that sort of country.