Preparing for the next walk

After a glorious 2 weeks of skiing powder, deep glorious powder, I returned to warm sunny Sydney and jumped straight on a bus down to Canberra. Waiting over half an hour for our ski bags to be produced at the oversize baggage pickup counter, a rush through customs and out the door, over to "Express Pickup" to retrieve my bag of camping gear that I'd left in Coledale - Kathy's partner Graham had brought it up with him - then back around to the bus bays to catch my 10:25am shuttle to Canberra..... needless to say I was a wreck! Luckily the bus was running late due to luggage issues, and so I didn't miss it. Then surprise surprise, the bus driver happens to be someone I'd been skiing with a week before in Niseko! Small world...

I hadn't actually told mum I was coming, and had only just told my brother, so he could come pick me up from the bus station. Doing the school pickup of my nieces also caused a little surprise! It's been a year since I've been back in Canberra and this time I had a little time on my hands. I needed it.

It's coming up to the anniversary of our first section walking the Australian Alps Walking Track. You can read about that here. We decided back then that we would do the next section this year, so the three of us have been communicating a little over email sharing maps and discussing the itinerary. This time we will be walking from Thredbo to Kiandra, officially a distance of 108 km.

The official route avoids the NSW main range, veering off it after visiting Mt Kosckiusko, and detouring along roadways. Why being in the NSW High Country would have unacceptable risks doesn't make sense, as the Victorian High Country walking is even more remote and just as inclement. Needless to say, we will be following the unofficial route across the tops, as detailed in the actual guidebook. And the weather forecasts are looking good....

We'll also be detouring off the fire trails further north through The Kerries and Jagungal Wilderness. Staying in the high country offers more views and the option to climb more summits as we head north, but it's also more exposed to high winds and other unpleasant meteorologic phenomena. We just have to hope the weather obliges.

Because I've been overseas I hadn't done any food preparation, and with a week to burn before we leave, I offered to prepare the lunches and dinners for Matt and myself, he's organising his own breakfasts. Mum has a food dehydrator lurking on a top cupboard (thanks Uncle Mel), so all I needed to do was purchase a vacuum sealing machine, buy some food, and cook up a storm. Poor mum lost the use of her kitchen for the week, got to smell awesome food being prepared, but then didn't get to try them out. Meany aren't I? I shall cook some of the meals for her when I get back.

This trip I tried something new, which was to prepare full meals beforehand, dehydrate them, then vacuum pack them. My mate Bill did this on his Bibbulmum Track walk, with great success, so I am emboldened to do it myself. I've also made a big stash of beef jerky. Yum!!

Our evening meals will be: Spaghetti Bolognese, Mongolian Chicken, Green Chicken Curry, Beef Stew, Palak Paneer and Creamy Salmon Pasta. Don't worry, there are lots of vegetables amongst the protein!

For lunch there's beef jerky, dried tomatoes, hummus, cheese, salami, tuna, and pesto. Any combination of above on crackers or wraps. A girl has to eat well on the trail! Aside from salami and cheese, all the others are dehydrated for reconstitution on the trail. We will be taking 10 days worth of meals, so reducing our carrying weight is essential. And in case you didn't realise, I've done this before!

I'm taking pretty well the same things as my last trip, with a couple of new additions: the you beaut dunny-roll holder, and down trousers. I shall be toasty, and so will my toilet tissue!

Even though Matt and I will be sharing meals I'll still be bringing along my stove and pot, because neither takes up much space or room, and the extra pot actually comes in handy. Plus I don't fancy waiting around for hot water for my morning coffee! Grumpy morning me: not nice...

Getting 10 days worth of food into my 44L backpack has been an accomplishment. Matt has a 55L bag so he has a little more room, but he also has a few more bulky items of camping gear than me.

So I'm all packed and ready to go. We are off to Thredbo tonight, and begin walking in the morning. You can follow our walk here.

Ciao....

Planning for a long distance walk

I actually wrote this post an entire year ago, but failed to publish it. When I got back from my trip a couple of friends suggested that there wasn't much out there on trip preparation so I'm revisiting this post and adding extra information as I go. The original post is in italics, my comments after the fact in normal font:

As I mentioned I'm planning to walk The Bibbulmun Track this year, beginning early October. For those not in the know, this is a 1000km walking trail which traverses wilderness areas between Perth and Albany in the Southwest of WA. It is not a technically difficult trail as there are no wild river crossings, rock climbing or need for advanced orienteering skills, and there are overnight shelters at reasonable distances that have toilets and water tanks to replenish supplies. If travelling at less busy times of the year (like when I plan to go) it's extremely unlikely the shelters will be full meaning it's possible to travel without a tent. But the track isn't an easy stroll, there are very rocky, slippery sections, it's possible to get lost even though there are trail markers, and then there's the harsh Australian climate with its myriad beasties. Yes, there are lots of poisonous snakes, the likelihood of not encountering snakes on this walk is zero. Hence: gaiters!!

Due to the long wet winter and the fact that the track had multiple diversions for most of the last 18 months due to bushfire damage, 2017 ended up being a very busy year for end to end walkers on The Bib. On my first night, despite it being cold, rainy, and Grand Final Day, there were 19 people at the shelter. I had my first night camping alone on Day 45, it was a lot more social than I expected.

Next time I would bring a tent. The weather was quite cold, and it would have been warmer in a tent as the shelters are open on one side, sometimes two sides. In a tent you can keep your body heat contained, plus you can camp away from the early risers who really interrupted my enjoyment of the dawn chorus. There weren't many bad snorers (earplugs are worth taking), but some of the newer air mattresses on the market are very noisy when the sleeper moves around on them. I reckoned, after listening to the noise of these mattresses, that I would find the noise quite intrusive, and was very happy with my older style air mattress which only weighs 277g.

It was really easy to take a wrong path, particularly in the early sections nearer Perth. You had to stay focussed, and look for the Waugals, as there were numerous other tracks that could send you the wrong way. Pretty well everyone I met had a story of going the wrong way and then having to backtrack or find a way around. I wasn't immune either. I had the maps, which helped with identifying landmarks, but I didn't bring the guidebooks. I found some in Balingup and photographed the relevant pages, and found them extremely useful at times. You can do the walk with neither, but I'd actually recommend taking both.

I wore gaiters every day. I didn't need them in the early part of the walk as it was too cold for snakes, but they were useful for keeping your legs protected from sharp grasses and it was easier to wear them than carry them in my bag. Once the snakes came out in abundance, I felt much more secure having them on.

My original plan had been to do the walk in 2015, but bushfires in February closed large sections of the track, destroying bridges and camping shelters, and making it impossible to complete an end to end. By now it's possible to do an end to end again, but there are a lot of diversions in place whilst infrastructure is rebuilt. Delaying by a year gives the bush time to regenerate, and there is nothing more spectacular than the Aussie bush flowering in abundance after a bushfire and a whole bunch of rain. Which, as long as there aren't more devastating fires this summer, next Spring should deliver.

It really was a spectacular season for the flowers, including the orchids. Many plants flowered later than usual because of the long wet winter, which worked well for me as I only began my walk on the 1st October. I was incredibly lucky to be able to walk the entire published track. Sure the Dookanelly to Possum Springs section wasn't officially back in action, but the Murray River was able to be waded easily and I avoided a very boring diversion along Harvey-Quindaning Rd. We were also extremely fortunate to time ourselves with the reopening of the Lake Maringup section, one of the most tranquil campsite locations along the entire route.

I might comment that a lot of people were complaining in the books along the way about the rain, or the cold. Be prepared to be wet and cold. It's the south west, not arid Australia. Pack accordingly. I decided at the last moment to bring a proper rain jacket, not just a poncho, and despite not needing it all the time, I was extremely glad of it on many occasions.

I had already begun the planning stages, having joined the Bibbulman Track Foundation, been in to get some hands on advice about my itinerary from the experienced volunteers in the office, and purchased yet more lightweight backpacking gear. I'm actually glad for the delay, because the planning is a lot more involved than I originally realised.

I met a lot of poorly prepared walkers. People who didn't pack enough food, or had excessively heavy packs a la Cheryl Strayed in Wild. I've probably spent a small fortune on lightweight gear, but I don't expect The Bib to be the only time I use it. I also got some great tips and advice from other walkers about gear for future trips.

The first step is to peruse the maps and guidebooks and website and decide on an itinerary. With a little advice from the volunteers (mainly agreeing with my choices of which sections to double hut), I have settled on a 60 day itinerary which includes a full rest day in each of the 6 towns I pass through. All have good accommodation choices and places to eat out. Nothing quite like a pub meal after a week eating out of one pot. Not to mention a cold beer! There's opportunities to arrange food drops at 10 locations so that I don't need to carry more than a week's food supply at any time. Less weight in the bag makes me very happy!!

My itinerary was at the long end of the spectrum. Most people walked the track in the 45-55 days range with the crazy ones all trying to do it in around 30 days. There were many times when I could have physically walked faster and done more kilometres per day, but I loved exploring each campsite, giving myself time to take some side trips, and of course stopping for photo opportunities. I could happily spend a few hours climbing the rocks behind a campsite, with my cup of tea in hand, and enjoy some views, a few rays, and a little solitude and meditation.

I also appreciated the rest days in each track town, though usually I spent most of that time writing my blog. Using a phone rather than a laptop to blog is a right royal pain in the arse. Period. I got better and faster at it over the time, but it took up a huge amount of my rest days. As it turned out there wasn't much to do in most of the towns themselves anyway, and a rest day is supposed to be just that. What I can report is that there are some really great coffee shops and pub meals to be found in some of those towns. Dwellingup Pub took the crown for best evening meal (both nights), and Collie had some great eating options. The Blue Wren (also Dwellingup) gets my vote for best breakfast. Ravens Cafe pipped Mrs Jones (both in Denmark) for 2nd best breakfast, though I reckon the bacon and eggs I cooked myself in Pemberton were up there too!!

The 10 food drops worked out really well. I purchased 10 prepaid satchels and sent them to myself along the track. I sent them to my accommodation in track towns, or to a tourist office (which are usually open 7 days a week unlike the post office), as well as North Bannister Roadhouse and Peaceful Bay Caravan Park, having rung each place beforehand to confirm I could send my packages. Each package was addressed to me, with expected arrival date on it, and they all arrived on time. My friend in Perth sent them off for me to a timetable I had given her, allowing 3 weeks for the postal service (it can be very slow in regional WA, I was taking no chances), but I could have easily sent them all myself before I left.

Deciding on the food to bring is the most logistically challenging part of the planning. I need to carry 48 breakfasts, 54 lunches and 46 dinners, plus snacks and desserts, spread out over 10 resupply stations.  I began food planning a year ago, by dehydrating a number of items, and storing them in the freezer. But these foods won't last another year, so I've had the opportunity to rehydrate and trial them. I'm extremely glad I have gone through this process, because reconstituted dried eggs aren't that nice, nor is rehydrated yoghurt. So it's back to the drawing board. Homemade muesli with reconstituted powdered milk is actually more palatable than the remade yoghurt, and much less hassle to prepare! I'm working on an alternative to eggs for breakfast: buckwheat pancakes with apple sauce and sultanas. Yum!

The buckwheat pancakes ended up being my biggest cooking failure of the trip. Not only were they messy to cook, but they didn't provide me with enough energy to get through until lunch. Once I bought some nut butter in Collie and added that to the apple sauce topping, it was much better. My other cooked breakfast, a recipe involving cooking cracked wheat with onions and spices, then adding soy sauce and cheese, was my favourite breakfast of all. I'd also recommend adding more milk powder than less to your muesli premix. The extra fat and protein is appreciated.

I've been busy designing and trialling recipes. First to see whether they are easy to make and taste good, and secondly to trial making them with the limited cooking implements I'll have on the trail. I don't intend to resort to noodles, beans and rice for a full 2 months, but there has to be a balance between eating well and the amount of weight I am willing to carry. The trail towns all have supermarkets, but they are small places, so some supplies may be limited. Doing most of my food preparation before hand, and just buying staples in the towns, is a more practical strategy.

I had some fantastic meals on the track, and yes I'm happy to share my recipes. The portion sizes were adequate, and although I did lose some weight, I would have been happier to have lost more!! Dwellingup and Balingup were particularly sparse for resupply options, and North Bannister Roadhouse was abysmal. The other towns had quite large supermarkets, but being able to buy dried food was limited. Northcliffe, however, had a great little bulk food co-op that would package even small quantities for walkers.

There are two options for trail meals. One is to prepare meals, dehydrate them and then reconstitute them on the trail. The second option is to bring the ingredients along, preferably in dry form, and cook them from scratch. Of course a third option is to carry fresh food, but as that means carrying extra weight in the form of the water within the food, I only intend to do this for the first day or so of each section.

Many of the fast walkers didn't carry stoves, and did their resupply in each town. Their food probably weighed more than what I was carrying as it wasn't dehydrated. None of my food packages, including the 8 day package, weighed more than 3 kg, most were well below that.

Many people purchase prepackaged dehydrated meals. Since I'm a bit of a food nazi that's not an option for me, plus they're expensive, the portions are quite small, and I've heard mixed reviews as to tastiness. Anyway, I already own a dehydrator so it seems wasteful not to use it!!

It appears that the dehydrated meals have improved and there are more companies making them so there's lots of variety. Most people were very happy with the taste and portion size of their prepackaged meals, and I think it's a good option for a short trip, but too expensive for an extended trip. The other thing I noticed is that the packaging is excessive. My smaller vacuum packed meals took up less packed room, and less garbage afterwards. Your garbage bag can get quite large after a few days...

The general consensus, from the books I've been reading on trail food, is to settle on a choice of 2 or 3 different breakfast options, snack type lunches that require minimal cooking, if any, and a selection of 10 or so dinner choices. Along with a few judicious spices, the menu shouldn't get boring. And even though I don't normally eat desserts, planning for a few sweets along the trail as little treats is also recommended. Let's face it, when you spend all day burning calories, a little dessert won't hurt will it?

This was my best piece of advice and I am glad I heeded it. I ate really really well on the track. I loved my meals and enjoyed choosing what I would eat each day. My lunch choices were also really yummy and I would always be looking forward to each meal. I also had a few jealous fellow campers eyeing up my meals.

It's actually quite a lot of fun making up these little one pot wonders. I'll be travelling with a single pot and a frypan, so I do have a little flexibility. Getting the dried ingredients together, packaging meals in single serve portions, and weighing them. Then rehydrating and cooking them on my little alcohol stove to make sure they work out OK, taste good, and most importantly to get an idea of fuel usage. Yes, I am getting very anal about this trip....

Bringing a frypan along gave me a little more flexibility. Yes I could make pancakes, and my cracked wheat breakfast, but it was a bit of a hassle as I had to bring a separate tripod as my cooker was too small to balance the larger diameter pan on it's inbuilt pot stand. This may have been the cause of the burnt fuel tubing that occurred one morning when I was cooking breakfast. When my home made savoury energy bars started to get a little mouldy, I fried them up for breakfast rather than throw them away. They tasted great, and I had no repercussions in the intestinal department.

So yes, preparation paid off. I'll share my recipes in another post.

Two weeks to prepare

In between returning from Indonesia and jetting off to New Zealand, I had two weeks to finalise my preparations for walking the Bibbulman Track. Because 4 days after I return from New Zealand I begin.

I'd already decided my packing list and my itinerary, but much still depends on whether a new bridge over a major river will be built in the next three months. If not it's a 30km plus diversion, which is a rather long hike to do in one day. The old bridge burnt down in Feb 2015 and they've just raised the money to rebuild it.

So for a good week I spent all day every day dehydrating food, packaging it up using ziplock bags or a vacuum sealer into individual servings, and distributing meals into the 10 food drops I'll need for the 2 month walk.

This turned out quite good, because Australia Post sells prepaid 3kg satchels in packs of 10. Perfect!

I got mightily sick and tired of the high pitched whine of a glorified hairdryer in the background, and couldn't bear to hear it going all night, and then it died. Luckily, a friend stepped in to lend me hers, plus I began using my oven as well, and then my dehydrator began working again. So for a day or two I had all three going full bore. I shudder to think what the electricity bill will be...

I learnt how to make beef jerky in the oven. It's extremely easy, and so awesomely tasty that I had to immediately package it all up before I ate it!

I experimented with a few instant pudding mixes, because camping without dessert options is just plain criminal!

I made my own quinoa savoury protein energy bars, which also got quickly wrapped and popped in the freezer before I demolished them.

And then I packed my backpack, minus a couple of items of clothing (some thermals I'm taking to New Zealand first), and weighed it, complete with all the food for the first 8 days, but minus water and a few electrical items which I'm still undecided on taking.

8KG!

I think the preparation has been worth it.

Now to go skiing.....

Nusa Tenggara route planning

It seems really weird to be so deep into planning a 3 month trip to Indonesia in March when I have a big exciting ski trip to Japan in just over 2 weeks time. But aside from a mere detail like all the documents for the trip still outstanding I'm all packed and ready to go. I rang the travel agent last week and explained that sending stuff to me in deepest darkest regional WA is fraught with the real danger of it not turning up in time. Turns out she can indeed email me everything except some vouchers, and since she's joining me on the trip she can courier them to Japan herself. Sorted!!

But see, once I get back from Japan at the end of Feb I only have 2 weeks to get an Indonesian visa and pack the backpack (mostly packed already anyway), and absolutely no time to plan my route.

The scenario is this: Visit the string of islands at the eastern end of Nusa Tenggara Province and explore them extensively. Allow myself 3 months to do this. But: I need to be in one of three places within the region that has an Immigration Office after 2 months so I can renew my visa. Some islands I will be visiting only have weekly ferries, and I don't want to do too much backtracking. I also want to avoid the high season for tourism, which is June to August, but since most places I'm going are well off the beaten track the only place I expect to see other tourists is Flores.

At present I have a one way ticket to Maumere, in the eastern portion of Flores. Here's a little map so you can get an idea of where I'm going. Australia, BTW, is not too far south from Rote, but unfortunately there are no longer any flights between Darwin and Kupang.

The reason I am beginning in Flores is because at the very eastern tip is a town called Larantuka which has a 500 year history of Portuguese Catholicism and holds a really fascinating Easter Procession on Good Friday. Which will occur about a week after I fly in, giving me time to check out the Maumere region before heading up there. There's some interesting villages, many markets, ikat weaving, snorkelling and diving, and even a couple of volcanoes to climb.

After Larantuka I'll be ferry hopping my way through the Alor Archipelago to Kalabahi. There are traditional villages, pristine beaches, world class diving, at least 2 decent volcano climbs, and a village that still hunts whales traditionally.

From Kalabahi I'll be taking a ferry to Atapupu in West Timor, allowing me to make my way slowly by road eastwards to Kupang. More traditional villages, ikat weaving, lots of markets and another mountain to climb.

From Kupang plans get a little sketchy as they are totally dependent on ferry timetables which are notoriously unreliable due to the treacherous oceans the boats have to negotiate, and why so many surfers visit this region. Dependent on ferry schedules I hope to visit the islands of Rote, Savu and Sumba, but will probably travel from Savu to Ende on Flores, explore the rest of Flores in an eastwards direction, pick up my visa extension in Labuan Bajo then jump on a ferry to Sumba. That way I'm not sweating on getting back to Flores for my visa and can enjoy taking my time on Sumba. From Sumba there's a boat to Sumbawa, the next island to the west of Flores.

OK, I missed the Komodo islands somewhere in there didn't I? Been there, done that, on a dive liveaboard back in the mid noughties. I'm interested to see what Labuan Bajo looks like these days, as it was a dusty little frontier town last time I was there. I've heard it's gone upmarket, got flash hotels and restaurants and just a little bit "Bali". Ah well, after the privations of 2 months in the sticks it'll be a welcome respite for a few days.

Once I'm in Sumbawa I'll be winging it depending on how much time I have left before my return flight mid June. I'd dearly love to climb Tambora, we shall just have to see...

So, now that I have pencilled out a route that will fit my criteria, I've got little else to do as far as travel planning.

Now I can start to get excited about my upcoming ski trip to Japan. A full month of powder skiing, it's gonna be awesome!!

Needless to say, I am limiting my heavy lifting (though there are a few big rocks I need to manoeuvre around to get the pond and waterfall finished before I leave), I am madly doing squats, lunges and balance/core exercises, and I am being a little frustrated by this totally weird weather we are having here - there has been NO WIND this year and there's NO WIND forecast for another 3 days, and then only for one day then more hot weather forecast. Geez I'd be pissed off if I'd chosen these 2 weeks for my windsurfing holiday, something many overseas and interstate visitors do!

Then again, if there'd been wind, maybe I wouldn't have had time to do my research. Now I feel ready to head off!

Time to start the countdown......

2016 here I come!

With only a mere fortnight or less until the New Year, it's time to sum up the past and look forward to the future. Well that's the way I run anyway…

Aside from one tiny adaptor screw and a new set of skis, I've done all my shopping for gadgets and doodads needed to get me through my next 12 months of adventures. Which are going to be many and varied.

I've 5 weeks until I jet off to Japan for a whole month of skiing. 20 days on Hokkaido, 10 days in Honshu. I've a new ski jacket and pants which I bought in NZ in September and I'll just be taking my powder skis along, so I may manage to get away with just the one bag like last trip. There's no mad train travel involved, so minimal luggage isn't an absolute necessity. Just gotta stay within the baggage limits….

Lambie won't be joining me next year, as I have a new travel mascot. You shall be introduced soon enough...

I've a windsurfing friend house sitting whilst I'm away. He'll have chooks to look after this time as well as the garden. I don't think it's going to be a struggle..

I return late February, in time to drop the passport in to the Indonesian embassy for a 2 month visa, then I'll be jetting off again mid March to go backpacking in Nusa Tenggara. That's the string of islands east of Bali right through to Timor. Aside from a smattering of tourists who take a week or so travelling in Flores from one end of the island to the other, and a few luxury dive resorts, the vast majority of tourism in this area is based around Labuan Bajo and the Komodo region, and Lombok and the Gilis, close to Bali. Since I'm planning on spending an entire 3 months in the region ( I'll be extending my visa in country) I expect I'll be relying on my Indonesian language skills to get by. Even in Java I met few foreigners, so I'm not at all concerned that I'm likely to be the only foreigner most places I go.

As usual, I've been carefully considering what to pack for the trip. I'll be doing lots of walking again, but camping is unlikely, so I've less stuff to put in the bag. Which means just bringing the 33L backpack and well and truly making the 7 kilo baggage limit for carryon. I've also got a lighter camera and have a very nifty lightweight tripod setup which I'll share once that pesky little adaptor screw turns up in the mail.

I return to Australia mid June, and will have 2 weeks to do some cooking and dehydrating and organising meal plans, before I fly out to New Zealand at the end of June. I'll be based in Wanaka again for the full ski season, whilst I train to be a ski instructor. For this, I need new skis.

Currently I am skiing on fairly wide twin tip rockered skis. These make skiing most conditions rather easy, but getting a good edge on piste requires a lot more work, particularly on the ankles, because they just aren't made to do carving on groomed runs. But when you are planning to be a ski instructor, you spend most of your time on piste, and you have to be a competent carver. So proper performance skis for groomers are needed. If I have time I'll go shopping for them in Tokyo, otherwise I'll need to purchase them in NZ. The positive though, is I left my other skis in NZ at Sonja's place, so I won't be needing to carry 2 sets of skis from Australia. I'm not going to bring my powder skis as I probably won't go heliskiing or touring. Just getting the qualifications will be my focus.

Once I'm through that, which should be late September, I'll be flying back to Perth, packaging up food parcels, and then embarking on my end to end Bibbulman Track trek. I've been fine tuning gear for that trip too, purchasing even lighter gear to get my base weight down to around 5kgs. Of course I'll share all that sooner to the time I set out.

That will bring me to December. No concrete plans but I think I'll just set up the camper up at Coronation Beach and go windsurfing!!

I've acquired some great house sitters, through word of mouth, who are very happy to do a long sit as they have local jobs and no plans to go elsewhere. They are both very much into gardening, so they'll also be doing a few garden chores for me whilst I'm away, like cutting down dead trees and branches, and planting fruit trees. I'm not yet ready to relinquish my house and garden to the randomness of tenants, and my ongoing costs on the house are not high anyway. It's nice to have that luxury.

I'm still planning on converting the garage into a self contained granny flat, but that's likely to take a little longer to come to fruition. Particularly since my builder has headed back up to Gnaraloo for Xmas with his partner!

So that's my year planned: windsurfing, skiing, backpacking, skiing, bushwalking, windsurfing. It's gonna be a lot of time outdoors!! Man I'm gonna be so fit!!

Right now I'm trialling recipes that I can make on the trail or on rest days in trail towns along the Bibbulman route. I have been bombarding my Facebook feed with numerous baking, cooking and other food preparation attempts, though I won't be taking papaya ice-cream on the trail, more's the pity. But it is an excellent way to preserve it when you have too many ripening papayas at once. And the dragon fruit have started flowering!!

Not long till Japan, better do a bit more work on those core muscles……..arrrghh!

Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope your 2016 is going to be as fun as mine looks to be.

Gear for an extended walk through the woods Part 1

Having now decided to walk the Bibbulman Track next year I am fully into preparation mode. At some point I intend to join the Foundation, if only to give them a little money for helping maintain such a valuable resource, but also to get a discount on any merchandising. In the meantime, I'm using on line resources, the two old guidebooks I have, and a few books on ultralight backpacking and backpacking food preparation.

The key to ultralight is to reduce the weight of your "big three" items - cooking, sleeping, shelter - without compromising safety or comfort. This requires a combination of trimming down what you bring to the bare necessities, bringing items that have multiple uses, and purchasing or finding lighter weight materials. A journey through the ultralight forums on the internet reveals many DIY solutions that don't actually cost a lot of money. For instance the penny stove I made last year!

this weighs 20g!

That's not to say I haven't spent any money, because I have. For instance I bought a tent last year, and after realising on my Java trip that a hammock has limited applications at altitude I knew I was better off with a ground based shelter. But that means bringing along a sleeping pad.

I spent a very cold windy night at 2800m in this hammock earlier this year

So bear with me here as we journey through this process. I have a great sleeping bag that I used in Java last year, which is 492g without its stuff sack and has a rating down to 2C. Which is more than enough for the Bibbulman.

ditch the stuff sack and lose 60g

Next I have a 3 quarter length (which is almost full length for short little me) Nemo Zor inflatable sleeping pad. Last weekend I inflated it and slept on it just to see whether it could handle an entire night without deflating. Also, to see whether it was comfy enough for a good sleep. It stayed inflated all night, and I used my backpack under my legs and feet to insulate them from the ground, and found I slept quite well. It's not as comfy as a thicker mattress or pad, but with my seriously low comfort needs, it's quite sufficient. I normally sleep on a hard futon, so mattress softness isn't high on my comfort needs, but warmth is. The Zor weighs 292g and 15g less if I ditch its stuff bag.

tiny little brick, takes a while to squeeze all that air out and stuff it in its bag everyday...

Ditching the stuff bag achieves a bunch of gains, not least of which is 15g less weight. Every gram saved means those luxury items I wish to bring won't hurt so much, but the real gain here is in speed,  reduced frustration and multiuse. By not packing that pad up into a stuff sack I won't be cussing away at how freaking difficult it is to get all the air out so it can fit into its teeny tiny bag, that then feels and looks like a small brick and needs to be packed somewhere. That will be an everyday occasion if I persist with the tiny stuff sack option. Instead, I'll be folding it up neatly and tucking it in as extra back padding in my backpack, and also to protect my laptop whilst trekking. A much tidier and hassle free solution...

perfect macbook size!

Which gets me to shelter. Remember I said I got a tent. It's a four season light weight tent that's perfect for cold rainy windy weather, like Scotland (where I used my last Vango tent) or South Island New Zealand. Well that weighs 1.4kg, although I can probably shave that down a bit by substituting the pegs for lighter titanium ones which is not only an expensive option but probably won't save a lot of weight anyway. Thing is, a tent's not an essential item for the Bibbulman Track, because it has sleeping shelters all the way, and it's unlikely that they'll be full. Most people just walk small sections of the track, usually on weekends, and large groups aren't allowed to use the shelters until after 6pm to ensure that the small group and solo walkers get a chance of a berth, but bringing a tent is encouraged just in case, and each shelter site has spaces for pitching tents. From my reading of the ultralight literature "just in case" isn't something that should be considered, it's either necessary for your safety/comfort etc, or it isn't. And we're not talking extreme weather conditions either...

my Vango force 10 tent, not necessary for the Bibbulman track

Bush camping along the Bibbulman track is really discouraged, mainly to try and preserve the pristine nature of most of the bushland through which the track passes, but also because large sections of the track are through water catchment areas. Usually public access to water catchment areas is prohibited in most of Australia, or tightly controlled, so free access through this area isn't to be taken lightly. And with so many shelters and campsites with water and toilets, it's hardly necessary to camp elsewhere. But down on the south coast, I'm planning to walk a little slower and stay in a couple of camping areas that don't have shelters, so yes, I do need to bring my own.

I love swag camping. For those non Australian readers, a swag is a bedroll made up of a foam mattress and bedding rolled up in canvas. You throw it down where you plan to sleep and climb in. You lie in your bed nice and toasty (the canvas provides superb insulating and waterproofing) and watch the stars as you drift off into nigh-nighs. And in our Aussie outback, the stars are amazing! In the morning you wake to the sound of birds singing as the gentle light of dawn approaches, and turn over for a few more hours of zeds!! Nah, I'm an early riser, especially when camping.

I have one of these awesome swags, made just down the road from me

I've swag camped in Central Australia, where I've had to break the ice on a frosty morning, yet I've been snug and warm inside. Of course I had my snugglebug Hazel to keep me warm back then, what an awesome hot water bottle a cuddly little dog can be. However, a big heavy canvas swag is hardly for backpacking!!

The ultralighters use tarp shelters, and if combined with a bivy bag, there's extra insulation and warmth, the option to just sleep in the bivy if there's no rain forecast, or erect the tarp if there is. The tarp can be a pillow if not being used, or set up as a sun shelter should I want an afternoon snooze. And a tarp and bivy combination comes in at 750g! Plus pegs. Trekking poles can be used to erect the tarp, another example of multiuse!

I've gone and coughed up for some titanium pegs, which are 6-9g each. Once all the gear arrives I'm going camping for a night, so I can try everything out and see how comfy I actually am. Of course I promise to take lots of photos.

Can't wait...