Today we welcome our first guest author, an Australian prepper who will henceforth be known as DUP, for Down Under Prepper. This is an introductory article, and we hope the first in an occasional series about what it is like to prep in Australia and the challenges they face there.
If you would like to become a guest author, use the contact us page to pitch us your idea.
Greetings from Down Under
by DUP
This is the first of a series of articles giving a view of prepping from “Down Under.”
I’ve been thinking about what is now called prepping ever since I saw a TV series called “Survivors” around the early 1970s. Even before that, as a child, I liked to be independent and do my own thing.
I will be writing articles on these as time allows. I can’t guarantee that these will be regular, as there is so much to do to get ready for the collapse of society, whether through a nuclear war, economic collapse, meteor bombardment or, more recently, a plandemic.
We are totally off grid and living at our bug out location in Northern NSW, Australia. We have independent water, waste disposal, electric power, fuel, gardens, animals, ham communications, honey bees and so on.
Firearms
Australians are basically disarmed, but it is possible to have a firearm as long as you have a reasonable reason. Self-protection is not a valid reason. Being a bona fide member of a gun club, a Primary Producer, a recreational hunting and vermin control are valid reasons for wanting a firearm. There are limits as to the types. For instance, full auto is forbidden. Semi auto is only for Primary Producers, max magazine size is 10 rounds. (Editor’s note: a Primary Producer is an individual or company that is in the business of raising plants, animals, tree farming, or commercial fishing.)
I think the first sign it’s all coming apart will be when they come for the guns, as they know where they are, and who has them. We, as farmers, can have semi-automatic weapons, but you need an appropriate license and every weapon must be individually registered with a Government agency. Hence, they know who has the guns, where they are, and that makes it easy to confiscate them when that time comes.
Similar Calibers
One of the most popular caliber in our area is the .22 LR round, .223 is next, and then comes a 12-gauge shotgun, followed by the .410 shotgun. Even the humble Diana 177 air rifle needs to be registered, and the penalties for not complying and having an unregistered firearm, or not storing it correctly in an approved gun safe, ammo separate, are heavy, like 10 years jail, and thousands of dollars in fines.
You need to quote your license number when purchasing ammunition, so ammunition is traced as well. Carry of any type is not allowed, except in an approved lockable box in your vehicle and only when going to and from a property, or approved rifle range.
Handguns are allowed, but only if you are a member of an approved and appropriately registered pistol club.
Petrol or Gasoline
We call it petrol, not gas. Gas is LP gas here, not propane.
The power here is 50 cycles, and its 240 volts single phase, 415 volts 3 phase, so considerably more bite than your 110.
We drive right-hand drive cars on the left side of the road. Luckily, the peddles are in the same order as yours.
The temperature drops to below freezing here occasionally in winter, but by 9 a.m. it’s 25 degrees C (77 degrees F) and jumpers come off.
So far, we have had over 2,000 mm or 6 feet of rain this year. We have just had a rain event to the north of us that resulted in thousands of houses being flooded, with hundreds being condemned. Then they went under again a few days ago, for the second time in a month. We are well above any flood level, but it still gets boggy here and squishy walking around.
