Della: ‘Milo wanted to show me one of his favourite places today: the Traralgon Railway Reserve, where he loves to feed the ducks. The ducks and pseudo-ducks were very happy to see us!’ So many magical places hiding just around the corner! PS: Isn’t it great to have a grandson with the same love of […]
Knee problems are probably the (older) hikers greatest enemy. My own left knee has had pain for five eight years (arthritis) but has suddenly given out this week. The MRI says ‘severe arthritis’, ‘macerated meniscus’ and ‘burst Baker’s Cyst’. My GP says there is probably no alternative except a knee replacement. But now (2021) there
I recently bought one of these for $A20 (July 2018) from K-Mart to play with. I wanted to practice some seam heat-sealing with something available and cheap before I began modifying an expensive hiking pad: http://www.theultralighthiker.com/axl-air-down-pad/ . I had in mind that I would probably be able to make an inflatable pack frame with one
I have been busy building a new wood shed and stocking it with rather more than my favourite poet Edward Thomas’ ‘recommended’ ‘Fifty Faggots’. I can get the wood to this one no matter how wet the paddocks are, and simply throw it straight off the tray and into the shed. It has plenty of
My thanks to reader (Belle) for alerting me to the Exped Synmat HL Winter M (I had overlooked) which weighs 430 grams and has an R-rating of 5.0 at 183 cm long 52 wide (35 cm at the foot) and 9 thick. This weight includes a 60 gram bag to blow it up, but this
I like the spreader bar on this new hammock from Rei. This would stop that annoying thing where the hammock fabric compresses the insulation of your sleeping bag at shoulder-to-elbow and creates a cold spot. There are several other ways around this eg a wider mat, a pad extender, etc, but I feel that this
Steve Evans at Suluk 46 has a really cleverly designed adjustable titanium windscreen. You especially need a windscreen if you are cooking with alcohol or esbits, but in any case the wind will steal as much as half of the heat your stove is generating. That wasted fuel will weigh much more than this neat
Massdrop now have some of their great specials in stock – so you don’t have to wait for a drop. For example, they have the Enlightened Equipment Quilt I recently posted about for US $219.99 (Jun 2018). Their excellent Fizan compact hiking poles I wrote about here are just US$59.99 a pair. The Massdrop Klymit
This autumn we were in Scotland when our fields were alive with field mushrooms, alas. Mushroom time is one of my favourites. I always collect heaps of them, fry them up with lots of butter, onions and bacon then smother golden toast or pasta with them. I guess my waistline isn’t missing them. This evening
Most evenings if we go for a walk at the back of Yinnar a huge flock of yellow-tailed black cockatoos comes in to roost after spending the day dispersed sowing destruction on innumerable hapless plants all about (as is their wont). I guess there has to be at least a thousand of them. Their raucous
