Bushwalk Australia

Tortoise wrote:

Warin wrote:Zippered pockets work .. but only if you do up the zippers

And if they don't develop a hole.

And if they don't become permanently stuck in the closed position.

It was extracted from a Velcro sealed pocket.

Warin wrote:Zippered pockets work .. but only if you do up the zippers

They work fine, until the seams are split by the keys because you're being a little overenthusiastic scrambling around on those boulders.

Last wrote:A friend who grew up in Launceston says that the best view of Launceston is in the rearview mirror going up the outlet, though I lived there for a year and quite liked it.

The best view of Launceston is from a plane, at cruising altitude... a plane that is NOT landing anywhere near Launnie.

Forgive my curiosity, but
What is the matter with Launceston?
(I live in Sydney)

Cheers
Roger

rcaffin wrote:Forgive my curiosity, but What is the matter with Launceston?

To quote The Goons "Just about everything'.
My first experience with "Launceston hates me" was the first time I drove there, somewhere back in the late 70's. It was a Sunday morning with little traffic but I was still being cautious. Checked the signs and turned down a road that, according to the maps, would get me to where I wanted to go. Half a block later, I was confronted by a wall of cars, all coming towards me. Yes, it was a one-way road but - and I double checked this later, on foot - there were no signs or markings warning of this on the cross roads or, indeed, on the road itself except at the far end.
They have since rectified this, but the place still has the stupidest one-way system I've ever come across, not just in Australia but overseas as well. Hobart's system is simple, logical and consistent - it's always been properly signed and marked and they instituted synchronised lights at a time when the average Launcestonian was still struggling with the concept of "red = stop, green = go".
There are a lot of other issues, some related to trying to drive through it and some just the place itself. Don't try to find food there on a Monday; there's s*&^%$#a available. The air is always smoky, the river usually stinks and ... enough ranting for one day. The only reason that Launnie isn't permanently at the top of the list of Australia's poo... Towns is that Burnie exists (although that place has cleaned up its act in the last 10-20 years and is becoming almost bearable).

Thing that I have learnt is not to be too influenced by other’s impression of place. Some I’ve heard say is that Tassie is not worth visiting as a whole due to a negative experience, usually from a tourist point of view but as “WE” know this is entirely without foundation.

This week I learnt that cold-soaking a freeze-dried meal for 2 hours results in a better taste and better texture than adding boiling water and soaking for 15 minutes as recommended on the packet.
Particularly for freeze-dried meat, the difference is astonishing.
And on the same trip I learnt that freeze-dried cheese is a thing!

Fortunately didn't learn this lesson the hard way. Always make sure your gear can handle the cold and then some, in case you come down with a bug.
I was feeling crook and very glad I could stay warm. It helped a lot, and made getting home the next day a lot easier.

It's embarrassing how long it took me to realise this:
For those people with an XMid who have trouble getting that first corner square in order to have a good pitch, take a lightweight (Tyvek or whatever) groundsheet with you, making sure that it has been cut with 90° corners. Peg out one side of the tent and then use the corner of the groundsheet to make sure the tent corners are pegged square. Voila! perfect pitch, every time.

Ah! I hadn't thought of that. It might be enough to push me to sell my Notch Li in favour of an Xmid V2, now that you've solved the issue for the pitchily-challenged. But then there's the new Scarp. I did love my old one until it developed hundreds of tiny holes in the floor. I think this deserves another thread, though...

tasadam wrote:Don't trust a wobbly rock.

There are two caveats to this. First, it''s a matter of degrees - of both wobble and trust. Second, sometimes you don't know there's wobble until you've trusted.
A bonus lesson: the same points apply to crumbly rock, which is why I'm spending a period of lovely walking weather at home, recuperating.

I learnt that Mt Buffalo (not sure if it's The Horn or The Hump) lines up exactly with Mount Speculation when viewed from Mt Magdala

scroggin wrote:I learnt that Mt Buffalo (not sure if it's The Horn or The Hump) lines up exactly with Mount Speculation when viewed from Mt Magdala

It's the Horn according to google (if you were to zoom in on this).

Yes, the triangular peak

Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Before spending five minutes trying to scrub that patch of dirt off your arm, consider whether it might be a bruise.

Leech bites itch quite a bit, a few days after.

There's quite a difference in weight between items that seem to be similar. An empty 5 litre wine cask is lighter than an empty 4 litre cask.

Baeng72 wrote:Leech bites itch quite a bit, a few days after.

In my case it can be a couple of weeks after before the itch subsides.
Mildly allergic reaction that drives me nuts. Tea tree oil helps.

Don't use a brewing keg cleaner to clean burn marks off a hard anodised pan... It works too well...

north-north-west wrote:It's no use taking the tripod when you have the wrong quick-release plate on your camera.

I have done that on a Frenchman’s Cap walk. On the second day I had a break at Barron’s Pass. Pulled the camera out of my backpack, then the tripod. Then attempted to put the camera on the tripod and realised the plate was on the dining room table at home. I very nearly hurled my tripod into the abyss.

Gaiter don't stop leeches, they just come in from top..
And their bites still itch!

Baeng72 wrote:Gaiter don't stop leeches, they just come in from top..

Need a 'chemical' replant to stop leeches. Some 'essential oils' tested..
https://core.ac.uk/reader/333721449

Looks like Cinnamon is best .. concentration of 25%, Spearmint, Pine next @ 50% concentration .. all 100% effective.
Runner up Eucalyptus @ 50% concentration 97% effective

They did not test tea tree oil.

Warin wrote:

Baeng72 wrote:Gaiter don't stop leeches, they just come in from top..

Need a 'chemical' replant to stop leeches. Some 'essential oils' tested..
https://core.ac.uk/reader/333721449

Looks like Cinnamon is best .. concentration of 25%, Spearmint, Pine next @ 50% concentration .. all 100% effective.
Runner up Eucalyptus @ 50% concentration 97% effective

They did not test tea tree oil.

Interesting. I'll be battling leeches soon, so might be worth finding cinnamon oil.
Do you know if any of the commercial repellents there are DEET? I have found that to be helpful. I searched the active ingredient but didn't seem to align with their acronyms, so I'm guessing not.

The old old remedy was iodine paint

Pants tucked into long socks. Very unfashionable these days, but there was a reason why people did that back in the day.

crollsurf wrote:Pants tucked into long socks. Very unfashionable these days, but there was a reason why people did that back in the day.

Then pantyhose over the top. Apparently they can't bite through the nylon weave, but do get through socks, around gaiters, through some shoe fabrics, can bite through tights too I think, but I only wear those paddling.

crollsurf wrote:Pants tucked into long socks. Very unfashionable these days, but there was a reason why people did that back in the day.

The cure is worse than the disease.
Nothing to do with fashion.
I tried long pants, had to use braces to stop them drooping down all the time.
The braces would fail nearly every time I lifted the leg on a big step or bent over.
And just more covered skin, making me hotter, and I'm run hot as it is.
I guess I'm too fat for this caper. Or I need to avoid leech territory.

When you've spent four days drinking out of yabby holes, water from a creek (or river or lake) is a taste so exquisite that not even the most verbose oenophile could put it into words.

I did a walk immediately after a short very heavy shower. At lunch the creek was not running, but there were clear rock pools with leaves from the storm floating on the top. I filled my water bottle, but the rest of the party did not like the pools - they said that it was not running and hence should not be drunk. Surprisingly, the campsite creek was also not running, and again there were rock pools like at lunch. The party obtained water from the pools, no real complaints and nobody died. Accepting or rejecting the water depends on the context.