I'm not much taller than you. Had no problem washing or waxing the top of my X5. For rear part, I stood on rear wheel. The pole shown in this thread looks like a good idea though.
You want good terry cloth or micro-fiber towels to dry. You can find those from many auto or online (Amazon) store. You want to look at the
www.detailersdomain.com who is a sponsor of this board --- they have a lot of product.