I've been watching the "reality " TV series " Outback Truckers " and things seem to go wrong often.
I know little about trucking and even less about the Australian outback.
But how staged do you think this series is ?
The last couple of episodes have featured Russel McDonough getting bogged after taking a dirt road "short cut ".
Could he have been paid to take it and bog his rig ?
gwimweeper,
Sep 27, 7:48am
And a previous episode showed a truck claimedly getting lost.
Wouldn't drivers have GPS ?
r.g.nixon,
Sep 27, 7:50am
You would think so. But then their delivery destination might be described as the track up the hill half an hour after you pass the dead tree.
seadubya,
Sep 27, 7:53am
Not sure about Outback Truckers, but I have seen some of what goes on with another series and it wasn't "live reality", a lot of organising and preparing went on behind the scenes.
stevo2,
Sep 27, 7:54am
x5
Dont know about staged but the narrator is far too dramatic. Even loading stock onto the truck is "Life or Death" situation
tgray,
Sep 27, 7:54am
6 days of hell trying to dig themselves out, when they could have taken the longer safe route. Lesson learned.
2sheddies,
Sep 27, 7:57am
x1
When you're hauling 100+ tonne roadtrains on corrugated, flooded, narrow dirt tracks, things go wrong! The narrator does sometimes go a bit overboard in my opinion though, trying to make viewers interested by suggesting doom is imminent around every corner! Unless you have an interest in trucks, you'll probably find it quite boring no matter what. Great show. Steve Graeme and Dennis Dent are my favourites. Two real gnarly old timers. get the job done no matter what.
2sheddies,
Sep 27, 7:58am
x1
GPS would be totally useless in the vast wilderness of the outback.
gwimweeper,
Sep 27, 8:16am
Why ?
According to this GPS Australia forum 8 years ago " purpose made Australian off road topographical vector maps are currently available for Garmin and Magellan GPS's "
If GPS works off-road wouldn't it also work on outback dirt roads ?
tamarillo,
Sep 27, 8:24am
Nah, the whole point of gps is it works anywhere it can see upwards! Bet an outpost camp like that will have a gps coordinate to give. If you have any gps device you can get a coordinate to give others. But anyway, it seems he doesn't have a gps unit, or turned it off for effect. I can't help but like the show, despite the stupid commentary.
r.g.nixon,
Sep 27, 8:26am
Yes, GPS works everywhere you can pick up satellites. But does the outback have accurate and labelled roadlines on the maps?
2sheddies,
Sep 27, 8:26am
I would have guessed no accurate maps would be available, as I'm unsure as to whether a lot of those 'roads' even exist officially, but happy to be proven wrong. As far as I could gather, getting instructions out there amounted to a station owner or mine manager telling you to turn at this gumtree, go 50kms then turn left at the black stump, then after 35kms turn off by the kangaroo crossing and we'll be 10 k's further down.
gwimweeper,
Sep 27, 8:32am
Yes. "Outback Truckers " portrayed the mine giving just those type of instructions to the truckie, who then overshot the mine.
While possible it would make more sense for someone at the mine to also give the truckie its GPS coordinates.
tony9,
Sep 27, 8:38am
Used to work in Aus, across Queensland and New South Wales. I saw pretty much everything that has been on Outback Truckers. There are very remote areas with pretty primitive infrastructure.
2sheddies,
Sep 27, 8:41am
That's what I was getting at. Availability of maps. But coordinates would work. I know one thing. you'd want to ensure you had PLENTY of food and especially water! As he was saying, you're a loooooong way and many days from assistance if the truck dropped it's bundle on you. It's such a vast place and incredibly desolate. hard for us to imagine really!
grangies,
Sep 27, 8:51am
Indeed.
tony9,
Sep 27, 8:55am
No, the roads don't stay in the same paces after the wet season. Have look on google maps for Moomba in South Australia. There are no permanent roads to there.
Stock truck drivers have also been fatally injured from cattle as well.
purplegoat,
Sep 27, 7:26pm
Unless every single excuse for a road was on the GPS maps then a GPS would be next to unless . Being 200kms away and knowing destination is " over there " would be hopeless unless you know which tracks or toads to take to get to destination
lookoutas,
Sep 27, 7:57pm
I suppose it's just as bigga set-up as Auction Hunters etc, etc. More entertainment than anything. With some amazing scenery.
Look at Bear Grylls - lost in the Kaimanawa's, hasn't seen any civilisation and slides down a bank into a river at what looked like Orakeikoraka? Somehow he must have crossed SH1 with his eyes closed!
2get1,
Sep 27, 8:21pm
dead right and a point missed by many is the Aussie is very big, its nearly the same land mass as USA, but with a fraction of the population due to the nature of the land. Satalite phones have limited coverage in the outback. GPS does and will work but as has been alluded to its the accuracy of the maps or lack there and the roads not been official or surveyed mostly. Its not like the google street view van has driven the whole outback and mapped it. As example try typing in some of the track / road names in the google earth or street view and see what you get back lol its a vast bit of harsh land and you are a longtime lost / stuck / broken down.
bumfacingdown,
Sep 27, 8:30pm
And they had a digger - of sorts
macman26,
Sep 27, 8:48pm
I use to work the north of western Australia and the one time I used a GPS it kept telling me to get back on the road. Some of the roads I would drive on were multi purpose. Roads when it was dry and raging rivers when it rained. All you could do was find high ground and park up when the water started rising too high. I have helped people who have had 3 spare tyres and had put flats back on and driven untill they were shredded trying to get back to civilization. After I helped him remove the 3rd shredded tyre which also ripped off the brake line I loaned him my hilux spare for his Nissan Patrol so he could get pack to town. The thing is the producers would spend weeks to get footage to make an episode. Most of the time would hopefully be uneventful trips. I was quite surprised truck drivers in NZ call a mechanic when they breakdown and don't even change their flats. But I realize everything is close here so they don't need to as much.
pestri,
Sep 27, 11:17pm
Rubbish. they operate on satellites not rural repeaters.
The first time I travelled through the Simpson desert, was about 1999, no roads just a few oil company exploration tracks with a corner junction turn indicated by painting an arrow on a tin lid. We had a hand held Garmin GPS, one of the early units , programmed a few essential way points and off we went. By the time we got to Birdsville Police station we were a whole 6ft out. Not only very useful but really quite accurate.
pestri,
Sep 27, 11:20pm
Been to Moomba past the Santos facility there. guided by GPS.
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