The above book is a gem I found over a decade ago, I read and enjoyed it in less fraught times than these. Well, it appears that our world is no less prone to disease than the world of our ancestors, although we usually have some prospect of recovery without some overzealous monk draining our suppurating buboes (yes, this is a word) to balance our bodily humors.
You all are doubtless aware that I speak of the Corona virus.
You are also aware that I have some travel upcoming.
Wow, I picked a winner this time. Hopefully I can manage to get down to Oz without full biohazard gear and a respirator, but I guess time will tell. As a friend of mine said, I could show up just as everyone is getting into the beginning stages of Book Of Eli mode.
So what does the fashionable traveler bring during the zombie apocalypse? Or a mere pandemic?
I’ve given this some thought.
I can’t just bring an M-4 and some frags. Security frowns upon such excesses.
Well, looks like I’m just going to have to go more or less raw-dog. Of course I will have a lightweight tent. A mess kit. A canteen. Compass. Map of my destination.
Because without a map you have NOTHING.
Camping utensils. Multi-tool. 20 feet of 550 cord. And this:
What can I say, Facebook had a sale.
After all, it is unlikely that your hosts will share food with you during the dawning horror of civilizational collapse. So you need enough food to buy time; time to get familiar with the local edible stuff. In Australia I am dead as shit because I literally know nothing about Aussie flora and fauna.
I do know that you can get messed up by a kangaroo, that European hares are a pest (and can be killed with a stick), and not to handle a platypus.
Can you eat a koala, or do you go straight to hell for that? Probably hell.
As for edible plants, maybe there are dandelions in Oz. The damn things seem to have spread worldwide.
I’ll have to up my game for sure. If I wanted security and comfort as the world burns, I could stay here in Festung Lambright. Instead I choose to venture forth while the sensible ones visit relatives in the country.
My shrink would be proud that the only weapon I’ll have at hand isn’t a weapon.
It’s a camping shovel, known in the military as an entrenching tool.
See below.
Ridiculous you say?
Poppycock.
Go read “All Quiet on the Western Front / Im Westen nichts Neues” and then curse yourself for a fool. I’d rather have one of these than a tomahawk or a knife. Seriously. Especially if you give the edge a touch up with a grinder.
But I digress.
My VA shrink wouldn’t be happy about me catastrophizing and drawing up worse-case scenarios, which is what this whole article basically is.
No, I’m going to go hang out in a really cool place with really cool people who I have been rather keen to meet for years now.
I’ll just have some camping gear where I stay, that’s all.
Nothing more than that.
The Interstellar Valley 
Jason – Just enjoy the trip and be happier in the knowledge that people like us are probably better equipped to manage than most when things turn to shit! Years ago, I was on my way home from a deployment and picked up a book in an airport bookshop called the called ‘The Hot Zone’ by Richard Preston – it’s postulates how Ebola escaped from the wild and worried the crap out of me – I’d recommend it (and it’s also muc, muchh better than the TV series last year that was based on it). You’re correct about Koalas, eat one of those and the devil will be waiting for you downstairs with a red hot poker.
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I read “The Hot Zone,” and yeah it was good. And yeah, kinda figured koala steaks were beyond the pale. So I won’t do that.
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Jason – Just enjoy the trip in the knowledge that Oz is a amazing country and people like us are probably better equipped than most to manage when it all turns to shit! Back in the 1990s, I was on my home from a deployment in Kenya and picked up a copy of ‘The Hot Zone’ by Richard Preston in which he postulates how Ebola jumped from the wild to humans and spreads from there. At the time, it scared the crap out of me but it’s good read and far better than the TV series based upon it which came out last year. Also, you’re right about Koalas – eat one of those and the devil will be waiting downstairs with a red hot poker.
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Sorry, double post!
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Machts nichts, ayjaycee. This site is all about relaxing and having some fun, good to have you by. Me? I’m up early and enjoying the snowfall while walking the dog.
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“The Plague” by Camus is really good.
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Koalas are out, but you should get stuck into kangaroo…
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I have seen pics of Roger the Kangaroo. It’d be pretty hard to take him down with an e-tool. Doable, but difficult.
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Just go into any supermarket – you’ll find plenty of Skippy there ready to cook!
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I take it Skippy is kangaroo?
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Sorry – I just assume everyone in the world is familiar with Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippy_the_Bush_Kangaroo) – iconic Australian show that is (gulp) 50 years old. Think of it as Australia’s version of Lassie or Flipper. But with a kangaroo. Obviously.
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Yeah, just read up on it. It was never a thing here in the ‘States, especially when I was a kid. I need to get better at this stuff.
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Or you could just buy some kangaroo at the butchers shop – it’s tasty, but don’t overcook it. I have it on good authority that koala tastes awful (all the eucalyptus in them). Plant life (with few exceptions) tends to be sickness inducing at best, toxic at worst (like real bad – look up the Gympie-Gympie tree!).
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OK… add a roll of duct tape to the list. Apparently you can use it to remove the poisonous hairs of the Gympie plant. And Tucker Bush Cherries look tasty.
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