Australia

Ultralight Pack Rafting Life Vest:

PFDs are often pretty heavy. Alpacka have this one http://www.alpackaraft.com/product/astral-v-eight-pfd/ at 554 grams which is (I imagine) about as light as they get. I discovered that inflatable PFDs you buy from boating supplies shops have an airline PFD inside them. When I stripped one down it weighed 282 grams as shown and should be adequate […]

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Gippsland Pack Rafting Routes:

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

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A Birthday Treat: Mirboo North Rail Trail:

As one of us was a year older, we took the day off for a leisurely stroll on this lovely nearby walking/riding track which stretches between the delightful Gippsland towns of Boolarra and Mirboo North. You can park your car at the beginning of the trail between the Brewery and the Recreation Reserve in Mirboo

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Pneumonia: Running Out of Puff: Everest Base Camp Trek #6

Three weeks ago now since I left Namche Bazar for Everest with this awful life form growing in my chest like some incubus from ‘Alien’. Since then it and my body have waged an uncivil war back and forth with my life for stakes. Sometimes one has the ascendancy, sometimes the other. The medicos have

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The wildlife seems to get wilder every day: Giant Echidnas & Other Strange Things

Yesterday afternoon on our walk two four legged critters crossed the track at speed and at a considerable distance such that I could not quite work out what they were. The only giveaway was the white spot I noticed on the rump of the second one. When I arrived at the place they had crossed

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