Bushwalk Australia

For those that don't know I have been posting on here for support and advice and it has been great.

Now after my first discussion and getting advice on our first overnight hike Wilsons Prom 3 nights weI have a few questions after completing a much longer challenging enjoyable amazing hike.

We did the South Coast Track, flew into Mellaluca and hiked out, we took 9 days 8 nights. Did a few side trips and also waded out to Louisa Island.

Questions I now have...... Our pack weight was 20kg each... We had enough food for 10 days. Fresh for 5-6 days, we managed to catch some fish as well... Joy Joy

1) We have an MSR whisper light and it was awesome but when we have finished cooking and pulled the cooker away from the MSR bottle a little amount of shell light seems to drip out every time, but it would add up. Do others have this problem???? Is it avoidable???

2) We got a little over cous cous and rice noodles and I have decided after having pre-packed dehydrated meals for the last four nights I won't be taking them again... Id prefer to carry fresh veggies/ dehydrated even if it is heavier.

3) Are "fresh water soaks" that are referred to in the Chapman book just areas that fresh water collects such as on the beach, we had trouble finding fresh water at Louisa Bay despite checking the drips and at the end of the river the soaks were to stagnant. Any other ways people find water I am curious?

3) What shoes do people use for water crossings? I don't want thongs to heavy no support, crocs are bulky, sandals I have seen also seem heavy.

Cheers for any support i have attached a few pictures.
thanks
Justin

Get on our Facebook page for more photos as well DiscoveryAdventure 328 cheers

I think you have done really well with 20kg and carrying all your food. Some prepackaged dehydrated food is better than others so it maybe worth trying a couple of serves from other brands before your next trip. Personally we dehydrate our own and there are threads on this forum for doing that. I hate cous cous anyway. We have a foody friend who says our camp meals are the best she has ever had. Shoes for water crossings?? Depending on the number of crossing and type I range from barefoot to a light weight salamon water shoe. My partner takes crocs and yes they are bulky but they are light and also serve as a good around camp shoe. I like to give my feet some air at the end of a summer's day. Sandals are heavy but many of the good ones you can hike in but you have to be careful of sticks. This could be helpful though if you have a few rub spots or blisters. I don't use sandals anymore though. Much of it is personal choice and what works best for you.

The little that drips from the fuel line on a whisperlite is pretty well unavoidable, its only a couple ml, and it does help clean the line to a certain degree. There are ways to purge the line with the tank on there, but I wouldn't recommend it as they are pretty dangerous.

as for food, try different things, its part of the experience. find a combo that works for you. on that many days dehy is going to be necessary, but you can keep a variety.

water, digging near a soak can get you some water over time, as it filters through the sand into a new hole, but that can involve a bit of work.

shoes, again, its a personal choice, consider a pair of Volleys, or similar. I just change socks, but I don't do many water crossings.

Agree with the previous poster, home dehydrated is the way to go, the taste is far better and whilst I don't know about how it compares weight wise I know I can get my food down to 750g per person per day. Yes I could drop this further but I'm happy with the balance of food and weight.

Re the whisperlite it's years since I used one and from memory this happened to me as well, I guess I put it down to pressure in the bottle.

For shoes I use vivobarefoot pure:

http://www.solemechanics.com.au/vivobar ... oCzWPw_wcB

They are light, provide good support to cross rivers and dry quickly, important as wet camp shoes aren't much good.

The other thing I do is sit down at the end of each hike and look at what I took, if it wasn't used it doesn't come again! Within reason of course, i don't leave wet weather gear behind . My point is it's easy to streamline your pack, gear and clothes after a hike when you can still remember the weight on your back rather than when you are planning as every t shirt etc is essential.

Hope this helps, it's great to see people getting out and enjoying the adventure.

Thanks a lot for the advice. I am going to get a dehydrator later this month : ) Cant wait.. It will stay at home however as I am travelling around Australia but as I travel ill try different dehydrated stuff and look out for health food stores..

Thank for the shoes advice, I just went barefoot this time around but would be a lot more comfortable with some nice camp shoes... Yeah we loved the hike its amazing how much you learn every time... Pretty happy as everything we brought we used, except for the first aid kit hehe..

Cheers again ill keep posting on here as we do some more hikes...

Here is a what we packed weighed 20kg before water

Not so much on beaches but, in Tasmania, in heath or sedgeland and even some kinds of forest, look for yabby holes. Carry a metre or three of plastic tubing to suck the water out. In drier times in some places it's the only water you will find.

Suck hard and you might get the yabbie too!!

You will love the dehydrator for fruit especially apples. That will cut some weight down and Broc, carrot, cauli dehydrate and more importantly rehydrate really well. Buy one of those spiral apple cutters/corer ($20) and maybe even a vacuum sealer. The sealer will be helpful while you are travelling. You can buy the bags cheaper on Ebay and sealing your meat will make it last longer at higher temps i.e. not frozen. If you are able to keep it frozen then you can stick it in some hot water to defrost. The other problem I find with commercially dehydrated meals is the serve size. I am not a huge eater and I find a 2 serve is really a bit light on for 2. There is a bit of work involved in doing your own dehydrating and a cost as they have to run for a while but you know what goes in it. My electricity is free anyway. Doing your own soups cuts out a lot of the MSG found in the supermarket ones. Rehydrating also takes a bit longer than the freeze dried commercial stuff. Careful taking honey in the squeeze bottle as they are prone to leak. Not a good mess to clean up. I wish someone would put cream cheese in a tube like the vegemite. You should weight your pack without the food and water. I think you would be surprised. I do take a comfy pillow on every walk now as I have found that I sleep better and walk better the next day. A bit old for clothes shoved in a bag. Well done again.

Checkout the foodie section - Cheap as Chips and Aldi have both had dehydrators for as little as $50; might not be as good as the $$$$ brands but hey, for occasional use....