Water Considerations and More Projects Completed

The planned walking track crosses numerous streams which means finding water shouldn’t be an issue.  Therefore no need for a large water storage container.  Instead I’ve purchased a small water bottle holder that will be attached to my belt.  For a water bottle I’ll buy a bottle of water on arrival in NZ and keep it for the walk. 

You would think water running off snow melt would be pure but the National Park website mentions all water should be filtered.  I assume they are just protecting themselves against any potential adverse action should someone fall sick.  I’m going to be boiling most of my water but just to be safe I’ve bought a small water filter.

 

The plastic bag gets filled with untreated water which then runs through the filter to be collected in my water bottle.  The syringe is used to back flush the filter.  The manufacturer claims the filter will remove 99.9% of sediment and bacteria.  Obviously it’s not going to remove viruses!

After comments from DavidSS and Dave about my last blog post I should explain how I intend to cook on the walk.  I will buy a selection of freeze-dried meals in NZ.  There are a wide range of meals available.  This is one example from the manufacturers website.

The meal is contained in a sealed aluminium foil bag.  The top of the bag actually has two seals.  An upper and lower.  The meal is rehydrated by tearing off the top and adding 500ml of boiling water to the contents.  The bag is then resealed using the lower seal and left for 20 minutes before opening it and eating the food from the bag.  No washing up.  Flatten the empty bags and place them in a small rubbish sack.

Irrespective of manufacturer; all the meals require a maximum of 500ml of boiling water.  My APG stove is all I will need to cook.

The last of the latest shed projects has been completed.

Jan has knitted some blankets for the larger cradle.

Of course there is no rest for the wicked and this morning the washing machine failed.  It’s making a horrible “clonking” noise and I suspect that means one of the drum spider arms has broken.  It’s a big job disassembling the machine to get at the failed components and after checking the cost of a replacement part ($200) I decided repairing the machine wasn’t economically viable.  Jan is now researching washing machines and looking for discount codes!

I disconnected the power and hoses before manoeuvring the machine out the back door.  These days I’m too damned old to pick the machine up so I resorted to using my brain and employed the principle of levers and packing to wriggle it through the back door.