Spent yesterday traipsing (16km) around the Upper Jordan catchment, once the richest alluvial goldfield in the world (the average 3.6 metre square ‘paddock’ yielded 200 ounces of gold!) with Spot and my two ‘boys’ Bryn & Matt. We found an old boiler surrendering itself to the forest amid a welter of other old mining equipment, […]
Kobo Mini: I just bought one of these for hiking. Without the snap-on decorative back it weighs 117 grams, (48 grams less than my Sony) so I will certainly choose it as a dedicated hiking book which I can leave in my pack all the time. The ‘Mini’ has a 4 gig micro SD card
This is a great set-up for an overnight hike/hunt: This is a Trail Designs Caldera Cone with a Toaks 1100ml pot & frypan lid. The ‘cone’ plus two titanium pegs weighs 44 grams. A ‘floor’ to prevent leaving a burn mark, if you care – & to facilitate lighting – weighs about 12 grams.
My Father’s Day Suluk 46 TDW titanium double wall wood stove (78 grams) in operation. (Notice how cleanly it burns). WHAT a beauty! I wonder what adventures IT will share: http://www.suluk46.com/products%20%20-%20P14%20TDW%20Stove.html See Also: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/suluk-stove/
Hiking Music: I had despaired that everyone had stopped making lightweight mp3 players with speakers, let alone ones which take AAA batteries, but had not considered a digital voice recorder, like this little beauty (http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/ws-802.html) @ 51 grams! They have another model which also has an FM radio. Another maker even has one with an
Swingler’s ‘Portal’ on the Upper Thomson River: This is the type of weir which could be built CHEAPLY on a number of other rivers (Aberfeldy, Macalister, Barkly, Moroka, Wonnangatta, etc) to increase (Read: ‘DOUBLE’) Melbourne’s water supply by diverting some of the surplus winter flow. As you can see it takes up only about an
The Thomson Dam is nearly full right now. Only a couple of years ago the river/gully was just a trickle along its bottom and I was contemplating a once-in-a-lifetime canoe trip along the length of the empty dam (I only wish I had!) I did hunt/hike it though; the photos I took of the stream
Envy: A friend of mine is in Africa hunting and shooting things; sounds like he is having a wonderful time. Every day there is talk of a new successful stalk, an impala or warthog taken, etc. Wonder how much it costs…Oh well, there are plenty of sambar deer here in Vic yet. May be time
Yesterday we spent 9 hours driving (mainly) and poking about in a (partial) circumnavigation of the Thomson and Jordan Rivers, one of my old hunting grounds. It still takes nearly 3 hours to drive each way (eg) to Mt Victor Spur Track (allegedly the site of a ‘Sweeney Todd’ hostelry during the 1860s) where I
Some fathers ARE spoiled! Yesterday I received this excellent gift: http://www.suluk46.com/products%20%20-%20P14%20TDW%20Stove.html It will save nearly 3 oz from my pack weight! Yesterday morning I tried boiling the billy on it…and, it is a BEAUTY. I thought NOTHING would surpass the Bushbuddy Ultra (http://bushbuddy.ca/indexs.html) but I was wrong (as usual?) The saving in weight is enough
