Who needs an air conditioner? Go up a thousand metres and you lose approx 8C. The Baw Baw Plateau this week has been beautiful with maximums in the low twenties whilst folks below in the Latrobe Valley or Melbourne sweltered in the high thirties. We are so lucky we have the Upper Yarra Track (http://www.finnsheep.com/THE%20UPPER%20YARRA%20WALKING%20TRACK.htm) […]
Over the years we have made lots of hammocks, but we would have made a better job if we had followed some expert instructions. The following instructions and photos were kindly provided by Simon McGuire at Tier Gear, Australia’s own Hammock and Tarp manufacturer and Outfitter. See them for all the materials needed to build
As part of a series on economy backpacking, I bring you my new poly tent made from a ‘standard 8’ x 10’ poly tarp bought from the local Churchill Australia $2 shop. This one cost me A$7.99 and took only minutes to make. Mark out the tie-out positions as shown. Use Tarp clips (eg http://www.theultralighthiker.com/easyklip/
Tier Gear DIY Guides: Aussie Outfitter Tier Gear has an absolutely wonderful page of instructables here: http://www.tiergear.com.au/28/diy-guides which show in profound detail how to eg make your own superb hammock &/or hammock tarp – amongst other things. You can also buy all the materials from them. They deliver incredibly fast Australia-wide from their home in
Have you tried camping two up in a hammock with a single tarp? There are significant weight savings to be made… This is an 8’ x 8’ (2.4 x 2.4 metres) cuben tarp to which we sewed two 4’6” x 8’ (1.35 x 2.4 metres) ‘wings’ so we could close it off as a tarp
This pad is available on Massdrop (https://www.massdrop.com/buy/klymit-insulated-static-v-lite?referer=EJ89BQ) for US$59.99 (so about A$100 delivered) just now. It has a very good 4.4 R rating and is 23” wide! Just what you need to keep those elbows warm! I do not need it to be so long as this but can probably cut approx 6” (15 cm)
It’s summer already, so time to get out and about and get wet all over. I want to suggest some interesting pack rafting that you can do by public transport (eg from Melbourne). Some of the following you can mix and match a bit, but I hope they give you some ideas. I need to
Some sound advice from the introduction of Ray’s excellent ‘The Survival Manual’. If you have not caught up yet with Ray, you should. He is the original of those poor copies such as Bear Grylls having trained the SAS and others for many years in survival skills. You can get a taste of his style
Reader Jenny wrote to tell me about these wonderful chairs she makes when hiking. She thinks she could get the pack weight of her chair down to 50 grams. She writes, ‘The material is just a rectangle of fabric, with big seams top and bottom (bottom for the cross piece of wood to thread through;
Hugh Glass (‘The Revenant’, ‘Man in the Wilderness’): ‘Although I had lost my rifle and all my plunder I felt quite rich when I found my knife, flint and steel in my shot pouch. These little fixens make a man feel righ peart when he is three or four hundred miles from any body or
I felt quite rich when I found my knife, flint and steel in my shot pouch: Read More »
