Steve’s back prevented many planned activities in 2010 but it has improved a bit so we have been more active this year. For example, in early March we walked the South Coast Track in Tas with a friend, Kerri Cleaver. This was to be a shake-down for the Dusky Track in 2012 but it was […]
Must have for Xmas? Look at this new torch: 788 lumens from a single 3.7V battery! Twice the best torch of last Xmas! Things just keep on getting better. My favourite pocket torch is the Fenix LD01 which takes a single AAA and outputs 85 lumens. If you (carefully) screw off the lens cover (it
Well, we have tried our faux packraft against our Alpacka raft on a four hour Grade 2+ section of the Wonnangatta River on an overnight trip (during which we saw 9 deer!) and apart from some slight abrasion to the lamination of the poly tarp (nappy) the $40 raft stood up splendidly. I found a
15/12/11: Other great inventions: the (1) Themarest Neo air (regular 370g) shown made into a chair using the (2) Big Agnes Cyclone Chair (150g) in the photo: ‘Tyvek wigwam’! All that is needed to make this scene perfect is Bacardi 151 (and Della, of course!) 15/12/11: The faux & real pack raft & the Tyvek
When we lived at Tarwin Lower we once hunted a house-sized dead whale on the shore of the inlet with hounds. We put foxhounds and bloodhounds right INSIDE the whale and shot nearly twenty foxes, some of which even came out the blowhole. Whether they were vixens making the traditional cry, ‘Thar she blows’ accurate
A friend thinks that reports of ‘black pumas’ etc may well be ‘thylaceo leo,’ the marsupial lion (there being no large black cats anywhere in the world only spotted ones) but this is a VERY long bow, though it would be nice. In 50+ years in the bush I have never even seen a large
Crepuscular birdsong why? Interesting to see this question answered in the latest New Scientist: it is because there is a temperature inversion then and sounds transmit better. Hope to live long enough to hear it again in our silent bushfire-ravaged forests. Bee-eater Wonnangatta River just above Waterford Bridge (Jan 2018). Update: Further to my post
I am currently trying Ainsley Harriott’s Southern Cajun Gumbo Cup of Soup for breakfast. Yum! Some people ask what food I take hiking. This is too hard a question for ONE post but here’s a tip which also works well for a snack or lunch. Combine a sachet of 2 minute noodles sans flavour sachet
Cooking oil fire: really important lesson. Who would have thought it could so easily be turned into something like a nuclear explosion? Only 34 seconds, please watch:
There is a ‘new’ tomato called a ‘kumato‘ apparently originally from the Galapagos Islands which is interesting – though this may be spin. It is deliciously sweet. I recommend you try some, & save and plant the seeds. it is a small tomato so you should still get a crop if you are quick.
