How to pack a food drop?

[under10kg]

I am planing 14 day walk to do Fed, WA etc.
I have never done a food drop and I was wondering what is the best way to pack for a food drop to avoid animals attacking and niot carriing out heavy packaging?
Hiding the food drop sounds like a good option just in case someone whats my Chocolate!

[phan_TOM]

Mmmmmm, chocolate....

I'm sure there are a number of suitable containers out there that would happily do the job, might be worth going around to some food wholesalers/distributors and seeing if they have any spare. I used to work at an organic food distributors and there was always a few differing types of ~10-20 litre containers getting around, either tin ones with the ring that locks around the top or heavy duty plastic ones that had a screw on lid, I'd just be careful to wrap the contents in in some nice secure and robust plastic bags first. I guess it really depends on what size you're going to need too...

carriing out heavy packaging

But.... maybe my suggestion is going to be too heavy to carry out? Only other thing I can think of is one of those lightweight bear canisters from the US

Heres a couple of links which may be handy http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=19743
and for the ursacks http://www.ursack.com/ursack-catalog.htm which seem pretty amazing, made from "bullet proof spectra", 200 or so grams for 10.5 litres, etc
and a shot of the sack being tested http://www.ursack.com/product8.html

For interest sake I recently finished reading a book by Steve Tremont about a walk he did with Barry Higgins following the watershed of the Great Divide from near Adelaide to Cape York. It lasted about 375 days and Steve spent the 3 months before the walk driving a 4WD van to locations along the Divide burying caches of supplies, the book's called 'the never ending bushwalk' if you're interested, there might be a few nuggets in there for you.

[doogs]

I would suggest befriending a chef as they have access to all sorts of excellent empty plastic containers. I have 2 at home earmarked for such a purpose, an empty 5 litre sour cream bucket and a 10 litre gravy powder bucket both with lids that snap firmly into place. Food in zip lock bags in one of these would be amply safe I should think

[Moondog55]

My favourite is the steel drum "Frytol" cooking fat comes in 20kg container tho, one of these is still under Charlie Derrick hut, yours if you want it, may even have a bar of chockolate still in it

[Azza]

errr... some interesting ideas here..

Traditionally the way its done in Tassie, and I've come across food drops before at the bottom of the Eastern Arthurs..

Get a suitably secure bag like a small waterproof pack liner. Fill with stuff. Hang in tree.
If I was doing I'd vacuum seal food into bags and try to make it as difficult as possible for animals to get into.
All you can really do is try to make it harder for the mice, rats and possums to get into it.

Fool proof = heavy.

Hiking in large plastic containers is probably not a sensible idea.
Realistically there probably isn't that much in the ways of animals that will rip into your food down there.
You don't hear stories about too many people having their tents ripped apart by animals look for food around the Arthurs.

South Coast track is a different story though.

[Moondog55]

Rats and mice ( both native and feral ) are why I prefer the steel drums, nothing you can do about two legged rats except make sure it isn't too obvious.
Some bugger stole a food drop of mine from Johnsons hut once , meant the kids and I had to return to Falls Creek village on short rations, ruined a planned ski tour holiday for all 4 of us

[Azza]

You might as well just leave a big food drum called a car in the Scotts Peak Car Park.

The normal food drop approach for the Arthurs is to carry everything into the base of the Eastern Arthurs (~25-30km) - make your food drop.
Walk to Fedder and back track to get your food and walk out over the Western Arthurs.

Not the terrain to be carrying steel drums... just not practical for this particular walk IMHO and when your username is under10kg I suspect they are probably not wanting
to be carrying too much extra weight.

[Nuts]

Yer, we have just used rafting barrels in the past, not rat proof but it shouldn't matter away from well used campsites and ratty areas. Metal coffee tins are light for small amts..
I think they (food caches) are actually 'illegal', though ive not seen anything formal (yet) so guess its at the usual regulation by frowning stage??
Keep eveything clean (of food smells) while packing however you do it. Go back and get the cache, whatever pans out... In popular places the bush is littered with old caches

[under10kg]

The normal food drop approach for the Arthurs is to carry everything into the base of the Eastern Arthurs (~25-30km) - make your food drop.
Walk to Fedder and back track to get your food and walk out over the Western Arthurs.

Yes this is what we planned. We might have someone that would carry in food for a cost! Nice fresh vegetables etc would be pretty nice in the middle of a 14 day walk!

Thanks for all the tips! I go pretty light so I was hoping not to do a metal tin or plastic bucket.

[Mark F]

Some of the lightest steel drums around are the square section drums used to transport nuts. These used to be the standard for aerial food drops in SW Tas. If you just want a little drop then olive oil tins are pretty good. Can open the top and when packed secure with 3 or 4 wire ties and seal with silicone. I find for my solo requirements I need about 1.2 to 1.5 litres capacity per day of food in the drop (from my AAWT experiences).

[Out_Walking]

Hi all,

Instead of starting a new thread I thought I'd jump on here as this sort of applies to my enquiry! I've got the following scenario which I'm hoping some local knowledge might help me out with.

Two of us are flying into Melaleuca in mid February to walk the circuit of South West Cape. Upon finishing back at Melaleuca we're then going to hike the South Coast Track back to Cockle Creek. It sounds a bit over the top, but I'm sure this has been done quite a few times in the past?! Anyway, instead of lugging food for at least 16 days walking we're considering a food drop to be left at Melaleuca when we first fly in. I know the huts are there, but I'm a bit apprehensive about leaving food there. It's not even allowed anyway is it? Is that a rule with the huts? Is there any suggestions other than putting it in a sealed container somewhere in the bush? Carrying a container around is not ideal, but neither is the entire plan!

There's the option of lugging the lot for the entire trip which I can't say I've done before. I think 10 days food is my record, but I suppose there's always a first time. Any ideas would be much appreciated

[Nuts]

G'day O_W...Whoever your flying with, give them a call, you may be able to leave it in their lockup?

Another point, greenie beanie on ( lol) (in the absence of parks interest in the topic), is to label any food drop (if they Have to be left in the bush..) with name and pickup date.

[Out_Walking]

Hey Nuts, thanks for the quick reply! I'm about to start the flying aspect of organising over the next few days. I'll definitely enquire as to what you suggested, but my aim is to not be pushy about it although I'm sure extra money could persuade them?!

Yeah, it does makes sense regarding the labelling. I'll keep that in mind as well!

[Mark F]

Any food drop should be labelled with your name and a date at which the drop becomes common property, usually a week or so after you expect to use it.

[Azza]

G'day O_W...Whoever your flying with, give them a call, you may be able to leave it in their lockup?

Another point, greenie beanie on ( lol) (in the absence of parks interest in the topic...(roll)), is to label any food drop (if they Have to be left in the bush..) with name and pickup date.

From memory there is a little building out near the runway that is where Par Avion and Tas Air drop off food for people.
You can either fly it in with you, or get the airlines to take it in a week later. I think the rates are fairly reasonable.

I suggest talk to them. They do it all the time, from memory there was heaps of gear and stuff stashed in the shed and I wouldn't worry about anyone breaking into your food. The huts are full of half used gas cylinders. Something I discovered was that I could have probably gotten away with taking no gas.

Would I recommend relying on it? probably not.

[stepbystep]

G'day O_W...Whoever your flying with, give them a call, you may be able to leave it in their lockup?

Another point, greenie beanie on ( lol) (in the absence of parks interest in the topic...(roll)), is to label any food drop (if they Have to be left in the bush..) with name and pickup date.

From memory there is a little building out near the runway that is where Par Avion and Tas Air drop off food for people.
You can either fly it in with you, or get the airlines to take it in a week later. I think the rates are fairly reasonable.

I suggest talk to them. They do it all the time, from memory there was heaps of gear and stuff stashed in the shed and I wouldn't worry about anyone breaking into your food. The huts are full of half used gas cylinders. Something I discovered was that I could have probably gotten away with taking no gas.

Would I recommend relying on it? probably not.

No gas canisters lying around on my last 2 trips down there.
Not sure about Tas Air but Par Avion have secure storage at the airstrip, not sure if there is an additional charge or not, best to call them.
When I was there recently and left the huts for a couple of days I simply tied my excess food bag from a beam for 24 hours but it was a quiet time and no-one else was using the huts.

[MartyGwynne]

When I was last in at Melaluca we did the food drop thing and left a big container in the hut with lots of food for 6 people plus two or three goon bags of wine.
We did the south west cape then back to re stock our food and drink supplies.
Nothing was touched but we had our name and expected date on it then wrote on the remaining food/box that it was free for all.
There was a lot of half used metho and gas containers there in the huts - they may have been cleaned up by now (since 2007).
I have also used the round white plastic containers/buckets (you can buy them new with lids) these seemed to be rat and mouse resistant stashed in the bushes off the road/track. Even carried a 5 litre bucket with lid on the West and South cape trip with me as a had food container/washing machine/seat and still have it to use...
Interesting to use a steel tin (milo) as this will be lighter than bucket I would say and much more resistant to rodent attack.
Marty.