Canoeing the Macalister Gorge (from Basin Flat to Cheyne’s Bridge). When the river height is approx 1.7 metres on the Licola Gauge and the weather is in the twenties (as it is later this week) it’s time to go. This is probably my favourite section of this wonderful river, and I confess I have completed […]
This was one of my father’s favourite sayings, by which he meant you must stand on your own two feet and ‘shift’ for yourself. Never delegate such responsibility to someone else. So, for 40 years I have been fixing my own cars. For example I have been rebuilding a sequence of Subarus since circa 1978
Recently I bought a couple of cheap approx 40 litre packs from Amazon for less than US20 each. I thought these would be a good recommendation to someone who wanted to begin hiking on a small budget. The first thing you need after all is something to comfortably and reliably carry your stuff in. I
When I am filling the kettle to make the morning coffee I usually happen to glance out the kitchen window just to see what wonders the day has in store for me. There are always some, a number of which you have been a party to over the years, such as this secretive rabbit which
Packrafting the Thomson River, Gippsland #1: This is probably the best weekend trip in Victoria. It may be mid-winter now but soon you should be planning your wonderful spring/summer trips – and this should be one of them! You start this just downstream of the historic Brunton’s Bridge where the road of the same name
Today marks my 1600th post here at The Ultralight Hiker. Quite a milestone. And time maybe to recall the last hundred or so – or roughly the last year. A year ago in February (2022) I finally ‘bit the bullet’ and had that pesky worn old left knee replaced with a shiny new titanium one.
Suppose you didn’t have two 4WDs, or a 4WD at all…Nonetheless, could you hitch a 4WD ride to Victoria’s most remote place, the Wonnangatta Station so you could pack raft the Upper Wonnangatta from the Humffray Confluence to Eaglevale? Sure Can! (Fridays afternoons or) Saturday mornings are definitely the best option. If you are there
Charles Kingsley was right. Imagine finding one of these in your garden. A Lewin Water Rail. We admit the garden has become a bit overgrown, but we also suspect the fox-proof fence around the farm is helping make it a haven for various unusual critters. Della now tells me that there have only been 146
Particularly when track hiking (which I mostly avoid) I have found that I sometimes need to clear a small spot to erect my tent. Often the track times do not suit such retired folks as ourselves (and many other much younger people!) so that you find yourself needing to camp where there is no campsite,
A reader drew my attention to this interesting piece of parallel evolution. The X-Boil is a roll-up windscreen very similar to my roll-up titanium stove which I posted about here a year earlier than the X-Boil. I made later modifications to it in posts here and here, though until last week when Craig alerted me
