Police have said the portaloo was never used.
I can't believe I'm asking this but: do people use portaloos for number 1 and number 2?
People that have caravans with toilets complain about having to empty the toilet. It's a gross job apparently.
So they tend to use public facilities where possible or wee behind a bush and only use the van toilet for emergency number 2.
I wonder if it's possible that Hill & Clay were asleep but did their night wee behind a bush.
I think this might be one of the pieces of information that led police to believe Mr Hill and Ms Clay were killed in the early evening.
Police have stated that Mr Hill and Ms Clay set camp "late in the day".
Mr Hill was speaking, via VHF radio with his radio mates from 18:00 - 18:40. I saw one report that he made the call from high ground, not his camp site. He said to his mate that they had made camp but that it was getting dark. Sunset on that day was
19.31, but Mr Hill was in a valley so it would be earlier, likely about 19.10.
However, on the ch.9 program I mentioned in an earlier post, a blackberry sprayer claims he saw Mr Hill's drone in the early evening, so that is around 19.00. [How he knew it was Mr Hill's drone, or if he thought that Mr Hill was operating it, or where he saw it, is not clear. Police would know.]
The VHF call suggests they had not yet eaten. So, they go back to have something to eat and prepare for bed.
However, the portaloo had not been used. Of course people just duck off into the bush but we do not know if Ms Clay was not prepared to abandon all the refinements of civilization. The fact they took it with them suggests intent to use it.
The next piece of information is that people heard a vehicle leave the valley around midnight. Interestingly, absence of reports suggest that noone saw the flames from the tent fire or smelt it.
From my friend's chronology:
March, 20, 2020, around midnight: a vehicle described as sounding like a petrol motor towing a trailer, was stopped by the Myrtleford gate. This is a locked gate on one of the valley’s ingress-egress points. Police say the vehicle had to perform a 20 or 30-point turn on a narrow track and was there for some time just trying to turn around.
So, that gives a possible time of death between 19:00 and Midnight. I did see a comment that suggested a time of death between 19.00 and 21.00. That is why the portaloo might be important: if it had been used that would suggest sometime later in the evening.
Note: how people can tell if a vehicle is towing a relatively light trailer is not clear. Or what gate. However, the gate (and evidence of the turning) could have been discovered in later searches after witness said they heard a vehicle leave around midnight. Web comments state that the gate is at intersection of Wonnangatta, van Damme and Harry shepherds track. It is about an 18 km drive from the campsite (about 8km as the crow flies), about 40 minutes without a trailer. There is a hairpin bend about 600m from the gate. The 24th was a new moon and the 20th would be a waning crescent, meaning a fairly dark night.
The police speak with such confidence about many of the things they have been saying that I suspect they have extensive witness statements and also, even before the arrest, technical information.
Sound does carry, but over that distance in that terrain is unlikely. There may have been campers in the area. We will need to wait for the trial/book/miniseries!
Edited to amend incorrect sunset time.
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