It has been quite a while (over two years) since I first posted this. Time for an update. There are now over 179 ‘ideas’ to try out. Most will save you money or at least improve your outdoors experience; nearly all of them are my own ‘inventions’. Hope you find something useful to you. 181: […]
A friend of mine coined the phrase ‘APC’ being a play on words for a major patent medicine of the 50s and 60s. Instead of the three chemicals which were its constituents (Aspirin, Phenacetin and Codeine – you just can’t get good pain relief cheaply any more!), her expression stood for ‘Armpits and Crotch’. A
My friend Gerard White walked the Upper Yarra Track last week – from Waburton to Walhalla. With his kind permission here is his account of the trip: Day 1: Big Pats Creek to New Federal Mill (21km) (4 people) Last week (Sunday) I set off from Warburton headed for Walhalla on the Upper Yarra Track.
Just one of the reasons posts are light at the moment is all the fire activity around. There is a big fire (less than) 2 km to the South of us. It has so far burned out nearly 2,000 hectares! Such things seem to only ever occur when the wind decides it will blow from
(or hunting). Too many people are ‘gear junkies’ or ‘gear snobs’. However, remember this: Grandma Gatewood completed the Appalachian Trail (twice – at 67 the first time!) equipped with a shower curtain as a raincoat, a home-made duffel bag (& etc). I’m sure John Colter and Daniel Boone crossed the continent with considerably less –
For the ‘budget hiker’ the sleeping pad and bag are no doubt the most expensive items. Such a pad need cost no more than US$13! If your expeditions are likely to only occur in the warmer months you can improve the insulative ability of a cheaper pad enough by simple expedients. In this post I
This is a wire variation of the Spanish Windlass whose name harks back to the C19th days of Chris Cobb and his wonderful coach service which opened up outback Australia. Do you remember the 60s TV programme ‘Whiplash’ based on his adventures? Surprising they haven’t remade that one. I can imagine he or his coach
My father, Lawrence used to use this trick sometimes to pull stumps out of the ground. He would wrap a rope around a crowbar (as shown) then wind the rope up with a stout branch. This windlass applied enormous force and was enough to pull quite large stumps out of a line of fence, for
Posted this day in 2014. (Oh, I wish I were there again. I am going to miss Fiordland this year. Hopefully I enjoy Scotland as much!) ‘The Fiordland South Coast Track is so much better than the similarly named South Coast Track in Tasmania. You can have a number of different trips there. What will
People carry too much gear. We are planning a trip to Scotland this year so we are working on how to fit everything we need into a couple of sub 500 gram backpacks such as these . For about a month away we will want to be carrying sub 20 lb (<10 kg) on our backs
How to Travel Around the World With Just a 20lb Backpack: Read More »
