Posted on July 14, 2019

How to survive in the Outback.

Brendan Confaloniere has been a survivalist for many years, travelling through some of the most remote places in Australia.

The trick to surviving in the outback is know what you really need and what you don’t. The most important item is a very good knife. This is not for self defence and maybe not even hunting, a good Bushcraft Knife is essential to build shelter, prepare wood for a fire and process small game. The next most important thing is a ferro rod. You use your knife to strike the ferro rod and produce sparks. Fire and shelter are two primary requirements.

Report this ad

I have many knives for different purposes, but, my go to bushcraft knife is the Crudman MT5. This is a very heavy duty knife and is capabale of splitting timber for shelter and fire.

A standard Ferro Rod

A good Ferro Rod pairs nicely with this knife. Strike the spine of the knife down the length of the Ferro Rod. This will produce sparks. I would advise to study up on how to prepare kindling and practice this process.

The next most important thing is drinking water. There are a number of ways to obtain that, but, it all comes down to where you are. You can survive around 3-6 weeks without food, but only about 3 days without water.

I carry a number of different water purification devices. If you have a good water filter like the Katadyn Hiker pro, you can filter even muddy water. At the least you must always boil water to kill bacteria, so if you do not have a billy with you, a water purifier is the easiest thing to carry. You can also use water purification tablets, but you will need to strain the water through some cloth to remove particals. Even if you have clear running water nearby, you must always boil or purify with tablets.

If you are in a dry area and you have no fresh water sources you need to use other methods. I will say this, if you know you are going to a remote area, have plenty of water stored in the car.

I also carry a Solar Still to extract water from plants

So, we now have water, shelter and fire. We are well on the way to lasting until help can arrive. Of course if you know you are going to be remote that you should have warm sleeping bags, at least a tarp if not a tent and good supplies of food and medicine. It is just common sense, you just need to stay still and wait for help to arrive. Most times this would occur you would be in a car breakldown, eventually someone will drive through and find you. Do not leave the vehicle.

I have not addressed food in this article as it is not essential for a short term survival situation. But, I always have bags of beans and rice in the vehicle and a method to cook them. Preparedness is the name of the game.

I will address other survuval situations in subsequent posts, such as how to survive in an urban environment after a natural disaster of a SHTF scenario.

People talk about having Bug Out Bags, well I have them as well, but 72 hours is not going to get you far if you do not have a bug out location prepared. I will address long term bug out survival in the next instalment.

Brendan Confaloniere

Posted on January 30, 2020

Pandemic (Coronavirus?) what you need to survive

One of your best weapons during a disease outbreak is

knowledge, says Dr. Jonathan Temte of the University of Wisconsin.

A pandemic is an outbreak of global proportions. It happens when a bacterium or novel virus becomes capable of

spreading rapidly. It causes serious illness and can spread easily

from one person to the next.

Prevention—What You Can Do

1. Distance yourself from or avoid people and crowds. If you must go out, stay at least six feet away from individuals.
2. Wash your hands for at least 30 seconds using soap and water frequently, but especially after using the bathroom, before cooking, and after shopping, opening doors, touching elevator button and grocery carts.
3. Don’t panic or buy into the hysteria. Stay vigilant and research. The info being disseminated in the beginning is usually wrong.
4. Self-quarantine.
5. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze—preferably into your arm or elbow, not your hand.
6. Wash your sheets and pillowcases every few days in hot water.
7. Germs can live on surfaces for days. Disinfect surfaces regularly with bleach. Wipe down your desk, door knobs, handles, light switches, and elevator buttons at the office regularly with cleaning wipes.
8. Heed the warning. Pay attention to advisories and take precaution. It is better to be safe than sorry. Stay inside if you must—you and others can spread disease without feeling sick or showing symptoms.
9. Do not go to the hospital unless it is an emergency. Medical resources will deplete. Hospitals and doctor’s offices are hot beds of sickness. If you can, take advantage of your insurance’s call in service if available.

Build a Pandemic Preparedness Kit:

Prepare for city services to be interrupted, hospitals overrun and even shut down, and grocery stores out of stock. The bug-out bag or emergency survival kit you have already prepared is a basic start, but you need a few extra supplies to add to it to be ready for a pandemic.

• Hand sanitizer
• Cleansing wipes
• Water—at a minimum stock one gallon per person per day. In times of illness, you will need more!
• Drinks that contain electrolytes
• Over the counter, essential prescriptions and antivirals for a month (Discuss your options with your doctor)
• Blankets
• Copy of your health records
• Disposable gloves
• Masks. Masks are helpful, but standard surgical masks don’t do much to fight the flu, because the virus is small enough to pass through. The CDC writes in its H1N1 flu advisory, “facemasks help stop droplets from being spread by the person wearing them. They also keep splashes or sprays from reaching the mouth and nose of the person wearing them. They are not designed to protect against breathing in the very small particle aerosols that may contain viruses.”
• Household Bleach
• Cleansing wipes
• Soap
• Non-perishable food
• First aid supplies

Building A Survival KIT

Why would you need a survial kit?

For any emergency, whether it be Bushfire, Storms, Flooding or Cyclone if Government Services are interupted, you have problems.

Let us just say the power goes out for an extended period. This would be the result.

• No ATMS, so you cannot buy food or anything else without cash.
• No Petrol, how can Service Sations pump fuel out of the tanks without power?
• Possibly no town water, electricity runs the pumps and purfiers. This also means you cannot flush a toilet.
• No heating if it is winter. If you are on town gas that supply may be interupted as well.
• No ability to cook, if you are on electric and possibly gas.
• No lighting.

If you are someone that is into camping or offroading you certainly have an advantage ofver people who are not.

This list are some of the basics you should consider. I have included a scenario where it may not be safe to stay in the city. In this case what if a Pandemic was spreading rapidly, you would want to isolate yourself and your family as quickly as possible. There are many other scenarios where you might need to leave a city, but that is something for another blog.

Preparedness Kit

Shelter

• 10′ x 13’ Tarp – for making a temporary shelter

• 6′ x 8′ Heavy-duty space blanket – one of the good ones

• Space blanket 2 man tent

• Three normal space blankets

• Rain poncho

• Emergency sleeping bag – made of the same materials as the space blankets

• One complete change of warm clothing

• 200′ of paracord

• Roll of duct tape

Water

• Two liters of water in aluminum water bottles (can be put in the fire to purify water)

• Sawyer bag water filter – guaranteed to filter one million gallons at 0.02 microns

• Lifestraw – the best straw type filter I’ve seen

• Water purification tablets (my emergency backup)

• WAPI (water pasteurization indicator) – a great device that tells you when your water is pasteurized. You don’t have to get it hot enough to boil

• Clear plastic sheeting – for making a solar still, if necessary (I live in an arid part of the country)

• Flexible plastic tubing – for use with the plastic sheeting to make a solar still

Food

Most people turn their food into homemade MREs. I don’t bother, as I find it easier to just carry the stuff that I can turn into those meals. If it’s in a meal, I tend to eat it all. Better to just eat what I need and allow it to last longer. All in all, I have about five days worth of food.

• Rice and Beans

• Packaged mashed potatoes

• Ramen noodles

• Beef jerky (for soups)

• Spam and tuna in soft pouches

• Dried vegetables (for soups)

• Dried fruit

• Nuts

• High energy food bars

Cooking

• Backpacking cookware

• Camp stove that burns sticks

• Esbit stove and fuel – a recent addition, for use when I don’t have wood available to burn

• Stainless steel utensils

• Plastic cups and bowls – from the dollar store

Food Gathering

• Spool of fishing line

• Fish hooks

• Bobbers

• Split shot weights – I use the types that are designed to be removable

• Automatic fishing reels – set them and come back later to see what they caught

• Guitar strings – for making snares

Fire Starting

• Windproof butane lighter – more fires per cubic inch than anything else

• Stormproof matches – the best survival matches there are

• BlastMatch – I really like this, sends a shower of sparks, rather than fighting with a Ferro Rod

• Cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly – my “go to” fire starter for damp weather. I have 50 of these

• Fire starters made of black powder and nail polish remover – my “real emergency” fire starter for wet weather

Tools

• Sheath knife – on my belt

• Combination hatchet, hammer, and pry bar

• Folding pruning saw (much more effective than a wire saw or hand chain saw)

• Multi-tool – make sure it’s a good one; the cheap ones bend too easily

• Collapsing camp shovel

• Machete with a saw back edge

• Spare flashlight, with extra batteries (my primary flashlight is on my belt)

Health

• Toilet paper – don’t forget this one

• Personal hygiene kit – contains toothbrush, toothpaste razor, soap, shampoo and deodorant

• Insect repellant

• Waterless hand sanitizer

• Sewing kit

• Spare pair of prescription glasses

First-aid Kit

I carry a larger first-aid kit than most people do so that I can be ready for anything. Just a personal decision I’ve made. I want to be able to help out anyone I run across who is hurt.

• Rubber gloves

• Adhesive bandages – cloth bandages are flexible and work better. I also carry cloth knuckle bandages, which are great

• Antibacterial ointment

• Butterfly bandages – used in place of sutures

• 3″ x 4″ Bandages – for larger wounds

• Sanitary napkins – great for large wounds and cheaper than bandages

• Cohesive medical tape – sticks to itself, not to your skin

• Israeli bandage

• Sam splint – foam backed aluminum, which is formable by hand. Can be fit to any shape to make a quick sprint. Much more comfortable and better than using sticks.

• Ace bandages – for use with the Sam Splint

• Tweezers – for getting out splinters

• Eye loupe – for use with the tweezers, my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be

• Medical scissors – for cutting away clothing or bandages as needed

• Hemostats – for closing off a spurting blood vein, before the person bleeds out
• Tourniquet – the kind that can be operated one-handed, in case I have to use it on myself

Report this ad

All of these medical supplies, as well as some basic medicines, are packed in a shaving kit so that I can separate it from my bug out bag if needed. It normally hangs on the outside of the bag, so that I can get to it quickly.

Communications & Electronics

• Disposable cell phone with cards for extra time

• Signaling mirror

• Whistle

• Hand-crank FM radio – for getting the news and weather reports

• Solar battery charger – to charge my phone and tablet

Miscellaneous

• Compass

• Monocular

• Maps – topographical and road maps of the area

• Extra batteries for my flashlight

• Tablet – Contains survival books, including edible plant recognition

• Miscellaneous plastic bags

• Small bungee cords – for holding things to the backpack, if needed

If you want to ask questions please feel free to contact myself, Brendan Confaloniere directly.

Posted on October 24, 2015

Brendan Confaloniere – Outback Travel Series

This is a ongoing series of videos I have been putting together over several years and in different parts of Australia as other work travel permitted. So now People who can’t get to these areas can enjoy highlights of what stood out in these far flung Road Trips.