Discussion: Bottled water

Tash had to stock up on 'spicy water' (hers is an affected area) because of the same issue. Human nature though means people think the problem of contaminated water will spread like a virus because that's how it works.

Indeed. Even if it had affected our area, I wouldn't have been in need of any new bottled water for some time - I've still got multiple containers in the garage left over from my last outback trip.

I wonder if this is making people realise that they should always keep a small stash of essentials in the house - water, toilet paper, non perishable foods.

Back in the days, you use to always keep enough supplies in the house to keep you going

That's because it took a week for the horse and cart to get to the nearest trading post.

I'm currently reading Kings In Grass Castles, about the Duracks' settlement of first Cooper Creek and then the Kimberley. It utterly astounds me how in the late 1800s people did just head off into no-man's* land to set up a cattle station or 3, accepting an astounding level of attrition of livestock and menfolk along the way...

*oops, I've done it again, being casually racist without even thinking about the words I'm using. Dame Mary Durack certainly does acknowledge the displacement of the Aboriginal peoples while also acknowledging the attitudes of the time.

Like many outback tales, its not black and white, or perhaps it is both black and white.