The basics of the Menu and Food Allocation have been done. The next step is to add the Food Drops, which may or may not trigger rest days.

As I mentioned previously, Richard (in Walkers Follow Fence), is resupplying from shops in the towns The Trail passes through. That is obviously do-able, if not very do-able, but it's not really what we do (I discussed the reasons briefly here: Our Heysen Trail 2021).

What is a Food Drop Anyway?

Drop scones is not the answer, in case you were wondering. I guess the simple answer is that it's a point of resupply, but it can be anything you want, or need, it to be.

On the Bibbulmun Track our Food Drops were just resupply points for our food. On the Australian Alps Walking Track, as well as resupplying our food, they were also:

• The source of all the doings, mainly food, for a rest day.
• Our map exchange
• The halfway point, Thredbo, also included maintenance items (cleaning)
• Rubbish disposal

At some point after finishing the AAWT I realised that the food in the Food Drop didn't need to be the same as our walking food, although on the AAWT we did through in some special extras. You are not actually carrying the food anywhere, so it can be wet and heavy food. We experimented with that concept on Lawson to Goulburn hike, and discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that it's not always a great idea. For example, our UniRover day was quite difficult and getting to camp and the Food Drop after dark meant we didn't get fully enjoyment of all that lovely food. There really is nothing more depressing than looking at a marvellous spread of food and being too tired to eat it.

So, for the Heysen Trail our food drops will be a bit of a mixture:

• Food Drops with a rest day will include:

  1. Wet and heavy special food
  2. Maintenance items (boot cleaning, nail clippers, laundry doings, etc)
  3. A selection of replacement parts

• Food Drops with just an over-night will only include:

  1. The normal menu food
  2. Replacement emergency rations (i.e. food required if the Itinerary needs to be lengthened)
• Food Drops at an accommodation point will be designed in such a way that we won't need to come back during the Rubbish Run to pick anything up (hopefully)

The Food Drop Process

The process is pretty simple. I carry our food, and about the most I can carry is 7-8 days worth. We had a Food Drop on the AAWT that was for that length, and my pack was so heavy I could hardly start walking. We had to go over Johnny's Top that day, which was a morning of consistent ascending then an afternoon of consistent descending. Putting my pack on I didn't know how I'd go, but it was one of those great days.

That being said, Sandi is being as firm as she can be that I will be carrying as little as is necessary.

So, the process is

1. Identify the possible Food Drop locations from the Itinerary based on ease of access (generally needs to be accessible by car). This is added to the 'Options' sheet.
2. Scan the Food Itinerary and find the next possible Food Drop location between 3 and 7 days from the last one.
3. Add an aggregating row, which aggregates all the food required for the next section.
4. Wash and repeat…

Once the Food Drops are in, the sheet needs to be have the regular bits added, like:

• Gas. The spreadsheet calculates how much gas we'll need, but it's a manual process to add an extra canister and dispose of an empty canister.
• Toilet Paper The spreadsheet also calculates the required paper, all that's required is to add in the addition of new rolls when the spreadsheet calculates we will have run out.
• Maps The spreadsheet aggregates the map requirements from the Day Itinerary page, so they can be packed in the Food Drops as required

Our Food Drops

Once everything looks pretty good, the Food Drop Packing List collects each Drop's requirements. It can all change if required, as the Speadsheet is totally dynamic: for example, in Version 4 we moved the Food Drop from Warren Gorge to Buckaringa North, and in Version 3 we added the extra Mount Remarkable days with an extra Food Drop at Mambray Creek.

The Food Drop Packing List is probably better viewed in its own page as it is very wide, but I'll reproduce the important columns here (maybe just leaving out the actual food items).

Drop	Kg	Nights	Days Food	Vegetarian	Maps	Gas	Candles	Buckets
Wilpena Pound	8.4	5	5	1	8B;8A;7D;7C	1	2	0
Buckaringa Nth	8.1	5	5	0	7B;7A;6D;6C	1	2	1
Pichi Richi	5.8	5	4	0	6C;6B;MRNP	0	2	0
Mambray Creek	3.9	3	2	0	MRNP;6B	1	1	1
Melrose Caravan Park	6.0	4	4	1	6B;6A;5B	0	2	0
Crystal Brook Caravan Park	6.9	4	4	1	5B;5A	1	2	0
Spalding Hotel	10.7	8	8	1	3D	1	3	0
Burra Caravan Park	10.2	7	7	1	3B	0	3	0
Kapunda Tourist Park	8.2	5	5	0	3B;3A;2D	1	2	0
Scotts Shelter	5.4	3	3	1	2C;2B	1	1	1
Woodhouse Activity Centre	6.1	4	4	0	1C	0	2	0
Heysen's Rest B&B	7.3	5	4	0	1C;1B	1	2	0
Balquhidder Campsite	4.5	3	4	1	1B;1A	0	1	1
In Pack	5.2	3	3	1	8D;8C;8B	1	1	0
Total	96.8	64	62	8		9	26	4

Our Resources

The Friends of The Heysen Trail have a huge amount of resources available, which we have obviously availed ourselves of quite liberally. I'll be updating this as required…
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