A complete topographical map of Australia is available free in 1:250,000 scale. This is quite adequate to find your way and prevent your getting lost. You can download the maps, copy them to a storage file on your phone and then open them with PDF Maps Or Avenza – if you want to be restricted …
So long as you have a smart phone (with GPS and Compass – be sure it does before you buy it!) you don’t need a Garmin or any other GPS device, and you don’t need to pay for any maps or Apps. You can organise your phone so that you need never get lost. However …
Obviously you can light a fire on the snow but it will quickly melt the snow, sink into it and go out. And this is just when you most need a fire, so what to do? Find somewhere clear of snow is the easiest choice: often there is little or no snow under trees. It …
My wife, Della and I used to carry two complete cook sets but we have shrunk that down a bit. Mostly we carried two pots because it simplified heating water for a shower, but as Della almost always takes a sponge bath and as all the food we cook will fit in the one pot …
Although they are not (at present) ultralight, I really like the concepts behind these wonderful lamps. Lumir-k: Cooking oil fueled LED lamp: & Lumir-C Candle Powered Led lamp: Lumir C: Lumir K: This is a similar concept, power from heat: https://drop.com/buy/biolite-campstove-bundle#overview & this: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2015/07/20/power-from-heat/ PS: You should be able to make this system work with …
This cup has been officially classified as a work of art in its home country, Sweden – which it certainly is. It is a folding coffee cup which folds down to just 1″ (2.5cm) high but it weighs just 25 gram (which is well-nigh impossible to beat for hiking). It holds 237 mls just shy …
While you are over at Tier Gear…This one has to be a bit lighter than the old coffee pot that John Wayne boiled over so many Western campfires. In Polypropylene Munieq’s Tetra Drip coffee filter weighs a mere 12 grams and it folds flat making it a very solid competitor to Vargo’s 36 gram titanium …
This brilliant 14 gram windscreen by Munieq of Japan (and available at Tier Gear Tasmania for A$39.95 (Oct 2019) has to take the prize. You can use one eg with an alcohol simmer stove such as Tinny’s that I wrote about here or you can join two together eg to use solid fuel. ‘Flame visible …
They have a variety of ultralight rechargeable torches, as well as this excellent charger/powerbank which is all you need to charge them (and anything else!) I already wrote about their remarkable Tube torch here and here. Now they have much brighter models available such as the: Thumb (85 lumens + 25 grams with rotatable head …
Tiny Containers: The search for small receptacles to stow various necessities is ongoing. My friend Meg loaned me these lovely aluminium ‘tins’ to evaluate. She uses them for some of her tiny art works such as her fabulous ear-rings & etc. The smallest one here is perhaps a 10 ml model (and weighs less than …
This is a genius idea of Rowan Reid’s for cheaply planting trees in sheep paddocks. It will also protect them from wallabies. You can plant cuttings of willow/poplar for example in situ and clearly you will have a pretty decent sized tree in twelve months time particularly if you start with a large cutting in …
This section and the next (to Hut Creek) are the best family canoeing opportunities on the river. When our kids were little (just a quarter century ago) we must have canoed them a hundred times. In the morning you can drop in at the Kingwell Bridge, spend two delightful hours on the river (much more …
Wonnangatta: Kingwell Bridge to Black Snake Creek Read More »
Corner Inlet (above Wilson’s Prom) is such a treasure. If you are walking from Phillip Island to Eden along the coast (which you must, one day) you can wander along its amazing foreshore bird watching etc for days and if you have a pack raft you can even manage to get across the few spots …
Yesterday was the first decent day of Spring: 28C and with enough water (1.73 at Licola – ideal) for a decent trip down from Basin Flat to Cheyne’s Bridge. This is one of the few sections of river that you can canoe alone (as you can readily hitch a lift back to your canoe after …
I am after some light waterproof fabric to make one of my new 10 x 10 Tarps and new versions of my Pocket Poncho Tent and my Deer Hunter’s Tent. I would like to source the fabric out of China (where most of it is made anyway) and have been trying and trying (with Alibaba) …
I guess every hunter dreams of some secluded valley where it feels like you are the first person to have ever trod – at least where the deer are as plentiful and tame as rabbits and there is no competition from other hunters. Where you can arrive at your camp after a couple of day’s …
I sewed the tie-outs onto the Tyvek tarp on Friday night and headed up the bush to give it a try-out on Saturday morning. Completed it weighed 610 grams. An acceptable weight for such a commodious and versatile shelter. In silnylon it would weigh under 350 grams. To reiterate (just in case you have not …
(Della) ‘yesterday revisiting Tongue Point and Fairy Cove at Wilson’s Promontory with friends. The beautiful spring weather, the good company and the 8 km walk were all very pleasant indeed, and we were warmly welcomed by the appearance of some winged luncheon guests at Fairy Cove (not actual fairies) as well as a killer whale …
It has been quite a while (over two years) since I first posted this. Time for an update. There are now over 100 ‘ideas’ to try out. Most will save you money or at least improve your outdoors experience; nearly all of them are my own ‘inventions’. Hope you find something useful to you. 101. …
Cheap, light, quick, simple and tough – and almost self-inflating. What’s not to like? Here are the two most outstanding features. Wonderful. 15″ x 5″ when deflated. 33″ x 72″ inflated. 3 lbs. Tubes 200 denier. Floor 400 denier. The nearest competition I guess is the Ultralight version of this one: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2017/01/02/new-diy-pack-raft/or Klymit’s Pack Raft: https://www.theultralighthiker.com/2016/04/23/klymit-packraft/ …
