Sometimes in winter on trails like the EBC etc there are dangerous patches of ice which need to be traversed. Obviously if you were expecting this as a constant situation you would be using more serious crampons. Vargo have just updated their ultralight pocket cleats (62 grams each) which can be quickly attached to your […]
This hand made cutter has successfully hand drilled many hundreds of metres of water wells. For example, on our Hazelwood flats farm we drilled 10 of 25 metre deep 100mm diameter bores which collectively provided enough water to irrigate 50 acres ie66 megalitres (660 million litres) of water annually. Compare that to your ‘normal’ domestic
This is the Morwell River somewhere neither you nor I (probably) ever thought to canoe. I present it here as an example: The great adventures are mostly over. People have crossed all the continents and seas, plumbed the deepest depths and ascended the tallest mountains – but they haven’t been everywhere. There is oft surprisingly
This is the Alpacka Scout which I bought for my wife Della (or was it for myself?) for a Xmas present – here modeled by my daughter and grandson in the farm dam. Pack Raft Australia are the Australian agents. Their prices are as low as you could possible get it from the US anyway
I was just working on this idea. Here I have epoxied a copper flange to an old can of powdered milk and attached 1 metre of old silicone tube. I was catching the water in a Vargo 450 ml (cool lips) titanium mug. I was just cooling the steam with wetted down tea towels. I
Some tips and tricks on how to stay clean and healthy on the trail, how to wash and dry your clothes and more. I have been doing this for nearly seventy years so I must be doing something right! Some of these issues are a bit of a ‘No No’, but someone needs to bring
There was 2.05 metres of lovely water on the Waterford gauge and 1.60 on the Crooked River gauge and several above 30C degree days to look forward to so we filled the 15 litre Esky keg with ice (and some celebratory cans of champagne for Della) tossed all our gear into two cars and headed
I already mentioned cooking falafel in the leftover fat from Chinese Sausages in Hiking Food: Protein (the first for dinner, the second for breakfast), but you can carry a pack of falafel mix and approx 60 ml of eg olive oil in a small plastic bottle (but this is better Out of the Frying Pan.
As I have mentioned before over at my older website Ultralight Hiking I have many other smaller posts too which might interest you. Here are December’s offering. Merry Xmas: 23/12/2021: 23/12/2021: Mowgli’s friends attack: https://donsurber.blogspot.com/2021/12/monkeys-kill-puppies-libs-side-with.html 22/12/2021: Time for a good news story about a magpie and a dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BI_ivMZUEQ&t=66s 22/12/2021: 7500 miles across America by canoe:
Some times I feel like the character in Spike Milligan’s Bed-Sitting Room who was in love with rubber – only for me it is titanium. I see beautiful objects crafted in this lovely metal and feel the need to lust after them. I understand that in many ways the dispute about which is better titanium
