Saturday 28 November 2009

Overland Track packing list

Cooking
  • Stove and fuel
  • Lighter
  • Saucepan, potgrips, green trangia pot lid (doubles as colander and chopping board)
  • Sponge/scourer in ziplock bag
  • Plastic orikaso bowl, knife, spork
  • Sharp knife
  • Plastic mug
Food
  • Meal 1: Pasta and sauce, salami, capsicum
  • Luxury Meal: Indian tasty bites ready to eat meal, cous cous
  • All other meals : Pasta and sauce packet, twiggy sticks/salami, dehydrated beans/peas/corn
  • Packet tuna, mountain bread for lunch
  • Cereal and powdered milk (1.5-2 cups cereal, 1/4 cup powdered milk) individual brekkies pre-mixed.
  • Cup-a-soups
  • Snacks: scroggin, muesli bars, roll-ups, le-snacks
  • Tea
  • Bottle of wine in soft pack?
Clothes
  • Thongs (flip-flops for any international visitors reading this and getting excited)
  • Down jacket
  • Hat
  • Quickdry walking pants (zip-off legs)
  • Quickdry long sleeve shirt for normal days
  • Cotton T-shirt for really hot days
  • Beanie, neck warmer
  • Small travel towel
  • Raincoat and waterproof pants
  • 2 x Top/bottom thermals
  • 3 x pairs of socks
  • Gaiters
  • Gloves
  • Walking shoes
Toiletries
  • Toothbrush, toothpaste
  • Toilet paper in a waterproof bag
  • Handkerchief
  • Sunscreen
  • Antibacterial gel hand wash
Miscellaneous
  • Camera memorycard and batteries
  • Hootchie cord for general repairs, shoelaces, or a clothesline
  • 1st aid kit
    • Band aids
    • Salt for leeches
    • Something to strap an ankle
    • Adhesive tape for securing band-aids
    • Insect repellent
    • Antihistamines
    • Travacalm
    • Gastro stop
    • Nurofen
    • Stingose

  • Tent
  • Head torch and spare batteries
  • Thermarest
  • Spare pack belt buckle
  • Iodine tablets and Steripen for water purification
  • Water carrying (3 L camelback, 1 L Nalgene, 10 L goon bag )
  • Sleeping bag and liner
  • Map and compass
  • Waterproof map case
  • GPS?
  • Waterproof packliner (Kathmandu)
  • Large (20L) dry bag for carrying food
  • Small (1L) dry bag for camera
  • Small (8L?) dry bag for each day's food and for use in day pack for side trips
  • Medium dry bag (13L) for rubbish
  • Whistle
  • Walking poles
  • Sea-to-summit lightweight day pack
  • Poo trowel - bright orange plastic variety

Monday 23 November 2009

Climbing The Castle, and the bug apocalypse in Morton national park

Last weekend we made an assault on The Castle in Morton national park, one of the best walks in Australia, and our final preparation for the overland track. It can be done as a day walk if you start early, but we wanted some practice carrying a full pack, so turned it into an overnighter.

We took the Western Distributor to Yadboro on a fairly rough dirt road. I've taken a 2wd (Hyundai Excel!) down that road before, but I wouldn't recommend it. We were in a serious off-road machine and averaged 50-60 km/h, making the trip in about an hour from the sealed turn-off. One of the long gully road signs is down, a map is a good idea.

When we arrived at Yadboro, we opened our doors into an insect apocalypse. I have never seen so many flying things in one place before - we were instantly covered in thousands of small flying bugs. Thank god they didn't bite. All efforts were focused on getting the tent up as soon as possible and then killing the hundreds of bugs that snuck in as we dived through the door. The bugs hitting the tent sounded like rain. I took a photo the next morning of some that were still hanging around.

The campsite was actually really pretty, with fantastic views to the escarpment. I'd recommend staying at this main campsite rather than the small one at the start of the walk to the Castle.

The next day we walked from Yadboro over the Castle saddle to our campsite at Cooyoyo Creek. The approach to the Castle from Kalianna ridge has been significantly improved by a track diversion around the right of the escarpment, cutting out a sketchy rope-assisted scramble.
I had forgotten how scrubby this walk was, and how awkward some of the sections are with a full overnight pack. Here's a short, nausea-inducing video of some scrub-battling.


 

The traverse around the base of the Castle is particularly awkward, with lots of high steps over tree roots and squeezing between eucalypts. The whole walk is relentlessly uphill. Em put in an amazing effort, and despite wanting to turn around multiple times, stuck it out and made it to the campsite.

Cooyoyo is a nice little campsite of little clearings hidden in amongst trees at the edge of the escarpment, with a great view from a rock slab. It has a pit toilet and good water. My only complaint is that it is a steep 500m downhill from the saddle - a stretch we covered 4 times over the two days.

After setting up the tents, we grabbed some water and headed up the Castle. There is a fair bit of rock scrambling, a natural rock tunnel, and rope-assisted climbing to deal with, but all well worth it for the amazing views. In the photo Byangee walls are in the foreground, Pigeonhouse in the background, with the Castle on the right. The path is fairly well marked with arrows hacked into rocks. After the tunnel turn right and after the large overhang look for 5 arrows pointing upwards.

The next day we walked out to Yadboro, which was much quicker than the walk up. We were glad to get out fairly early since it was perfect bushfire weather - stinking hot and really windy.

Saturday 14 November 2009

Bushwalking and Camping Checklist

This is a list of stuff I might take when overnight hiking or car-camping. I don't expect anyone to be particularly interested, I thought I'd just post it for my own benefit.

Cooking
  • Stove and fuel
  • Lighter
  • Saucepan(s),potgrips, green pot lid, and frypan
  • Bucket, sponge/scourer, teatowel, environmentally friendly detergent for washing up
  • Picnic set cutlery, glasses, plates, chopping board
  • Plastic orikaso bowl, knife, spork
  • Sharp knife
  • Plastic mug
Food
  • Meal 1: Pasta, pasta sauce, capsicum, carrot, zucchini
  • Meal 2: Pasta and sauce packet, twiggy sticks, fresh herbs
  • Meal 3: Indian tasty bites ready to eat meal, cous cous
  • Dehydrated beans/peas/corn
  • Packed lunches that don't need refrigeration (packet tuna, mountain bread)
  • Marshmallows
  • Bread
  • Strawberry jam
  • Cereal and powdered milk (1.5-2 cups cereal, 1/4 cup powdered milk) individual brekkies pre-mixed.
  • Noodles
  • Cup-a-soup
  • Snacks: lollies, chips, muesli bars
  • Salt, pepper, sugar, tea, coffee
Clothes
  • Rashie
  • Boardies
  • Tevas, camp slippers, thongs
  • Jumper/Polar Fleece/Down jacket
  • Trackies, jeans
  • Hat
  • Beanie, neck warmer
  • Towel, beach towel
  • Raincoat and waterproof pants
  • Top/bottom thermals
  • Spare pair of socks
  • Gaiters
  • Gloves
Toiletries
  • Toothbrush, toothpaste
  • Toilet paper in a waterproof bag
  • Soap
  • Deodorant
  • Tissues
  • Sunscreen
  • Wet ones or similar anti-bacterial wipes
  • Antibacterial gel hand wash
Miscellaneous
  • Camera memorycard and batteries
  • Hootchie cord for general repairs, shoelaces, or a clothesline
  • 1st aid kit
    • Band aids
    • Salt for leeches
    • Something to strap an ankle
    • Adhesive tape for securing band-aids
    • Insect repellent
    • Antihistamines
    • Travacalm
    • Gastro stop
    • Nurofen

  • Paper towel
  • Plastic tarp
  • Camping chairs
  • Tent and hammer
  • National Parks Book
  • Book to read
  • Newspaper for fire
  • Beach tent
  • Water for cooking and drinking
  • Head torch and spare batteries
  • Tent lamp
  • Thermarest
  • Spare pack belt buckle
  • Iodine tablets and/or Steripen for water purification
  • Water for cooking and drinking (3 L camelback, 1 L Nalgene, 10 L goon bag )
  • Sleeping bag and liner
  • Lightweight pocket knife
  • Map and compass
  • Waterproof map case
  • GPS
  • Waterproof packliner (Kathmandu)
  • Dry bags for wet stuff, or line with plastic for rubbish
  • Whistle
  • Walking poles

Saturday 7 November 2009

Mt. Clear Namadgi National Park


The next in the series of training walks for the overland track. We drove down to Mt. Clear campground in Namadgi national park, camped the night, then shouldered full packs for an assault on Mt. Clear. We didn't make the top - it is about 10 km one-way, if you stick to the fire trails, but achieved the goal of training with all our gear on our backs (although with less food).

We found a bizarre toilet, far from anything resembling a house, complete with cistern that had been concreted in?!?

Mt. Clear is a beautiful campground, with nice views down the valley, although it is fairly cold being a 'frost hollow'. It seems pretty popular, we shared it with one family on Friday night and a few were settling in on Saturday as we left. The dirt road approach is pretty good - our little 2wd coped without any problems. There is rainwater available at the campground.

Monday 2 November 2009

Gibraltar Rocks in Namadgi National Park

On Sunday we walked up Gibraltar Rocks in Namadgi as a training walk for the overland track. The trail is steep, but the view from the top is fantastic.


The rocks are much larger than they appear from the bottom. There were a few climbers up the top when we arrived - don't envy them carrying 60m of rope and a trad rack up that trail in 32'C. We sweated buckets with our packs loaded up with water for training. The Xanthorrhoea's at the start of the trail were impressive, in full flower, and covered with native bees.

Central Coast Mariners v Adelaide United and Canberra United


We went and saw the Central Coast Mariners soccer team play Canberra United (womens) and Adelaide United (mens). They were good games, although we didn't actually see any goals scored (who says soccer is boring?) because we were a bit late to the first game and the second was 0-0.

Bizarrely, Canberra Stadium insists on reading out the 'Spectator Code of Conduct' about every half hour. This contains such pearls of wisdom as 'patrons must not be intoxicated'. Not only are we subjected to the stating-the-obvious of the code of conduct, there's the stating-the-ridiculously-obvious of the emergency evacuation plan, which is also read out over the loudspeaker. Let me summarise for you: 'Proceed to the nearest exit when directed'. I'm so sick of this pointless, bureaucratic arse covering. Way to go, fun police.