Gear list 8 days 7 nights South Coast Track

[Andrew]

Thought I would post my gear list for solo fly-fishing trip from Cockle Creek to New River Lagoon on South Coast Track return 8 days 7 nights. Hopefully won't need all the food as will catch some fish.

The plan January 2009:-
Tue 6th drive 345km/4 hours to Cockle Creek and walk to South Cape Rivulet 3.5 – 4.5 hours 11kms
Wed 7th walk to Granite Beach 6 – 8 hours 9kms
Thur 8th walk to New River Lagoon 5 – 6.5 hours 12 kms
Fri 9th fishing New River Lagoon
Sat 10th fishing New River Lagoon
Sun 11th walk to Granite Beach 5 – 6.5 hours 12kms
Mon 12th walk to South Cape Rivulet 6 – 8 hours 9kms
Tue 13th walk to Cockle Creek 3.5 – 4.5 hours 11kms and then drive home

The gear list:-
MAIN GEAR - 6.549kg
2059grams Aarn pack Natural Balance with balance pockets and dry bag
2130 Aarn Pacer 2 person 4 season tent with 4 extra pegs for wind
853 Western Mountaineering sleeping bag
460 Insulmat Ether - Thermo6 2/3
425 Jetboil Gas stove
192 Jetboil 100g gas
28 knife
28 spoon/fork
20 plastic bowl
65 cup
49 map
5 notes
90 toilet paper
80 head torch & batteries
40 Platapus Two litre water container
25 Platapus One litre water container

SPARE CLOTHES 1.669kg
193 short sleeve thermal
494 fleece (must buy a lighter one)
780 gore tex 3/4 coat (must buy a lighter one)
105 balaclava
97 socks

EXTRAS 233g
6 Salt for leeches
137 Book
20 Paper
5 Pencil
8 Antifungal cream in zip plastic bag
17 Tea Tree Oil in small plastic bottle and in plastic bag
18 Toothbrush & paste (airline one)
14 soap
4 ear plugs

FLY FISHING GEAR 424grams
167 Sage 4 piece rod in bag
170 Sage reel/line/leader
11 flies in blueberry punnet
69 polaroids in foam packet
10 Three spare pre-made leaders
19 Gink (grease to help float)
11 One metre of foil to cook fish

FRESH FOOD 386grams
125 Broccoli
80 Capsicum
73 Snow Peas
108 Mushrooms

OTHER FOOD 3.626kg
297 Seven Uncle Toby's Temptations Oats for breakfast
357 Seven Carman's Muesli Bars for snack
654 Six Mixed Nuts with some Sunflower and Pumpkin seeds
207 Six Packet soup
225 Three*75g Mung Beans to sprout
13 Plastic container for sprouts
13 Eight multi vitamins
1380 Seven 2 serve Freeze Dried Meals (sometimes split for lunch/dinner & then split nuts lunch/dinner)

LIST FOR CAR:-
1st aid kit
water
food
phone
money
change of clothes
towel
facewasher
soap
shampoo
deoderant

Total at the start 12.44kg
without fresh food 12.05kg
without any food 8.91kg

Cheers,

Andrew

Last edited by Andrew on Fri 16 Jan, 2009 12:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[sirius Tas]

Hi Andrew,
Carrying any first aid gear....if so...what's in it??...or compass?
Cheers...sT

[Earthling]

Thats a pretty good list .
1st aid gear, compass and map as sirius said, are the only things I can see missing.
Im always wondering how people are not hungry when I see such little food taken...unless your hoping that fish with supplement your meals : .
I tent to average 1kg per day of dried food and I still lose weight...not that Ive got much weight to lose, but I become very lean anything over a couple of weeks.
Good luck with the fish.

[sirius Tas]

Hi Andrew,
Didn't see the date you're setting off...so by now you're on your way. I reckon you were pretty set given the amount of people likely to be coming through...so hope you catch heaps and have a great trip...regards...sT

[ivantheterrible]

hi andrew,
how did the hike go? my fly fishing gear weighs twice that, how did your rod survive without a case?

Fishing rod and tube 587 3wgt
Fishing reel , line & leader 173 3wgt
Flies 75 assortment of dries and nymphs
polaroids about the same as yours
gink & clippers 30
forceps 33
spool of tippet 10
2 spare leaders 6

[Andrew]

Well I'm back and had a great trip. It is fantastic country down there. I have amended the above list to reflect what I actually took as changed a few things. Spreadsheet says 12.44 kg but pack weighed 12.60 kg so pretty close. Didn't catch any fish but saw a few. Few in South Creek Rivulet and some people caught 2 around 1lb there on a lure they just didn't fancy my flies. Tried a few dry and even some wets but no luck. Only saw two at New River Lagoon. One at 5:30am in close and it was big. Some guys said they caught 2 sea runners there on lures.

Hi Sirus & Earthling, I didn't take much 1st aid gear - just tea tree oil, anti-fungal cream and 3 bandaids. Probably should have taken some more and usually do but I use 2 walking poles and only go steady. Also have heaps of snakes on our farm so careful with them too (saw 4 snakes, 1 tick, 1 leech but no bites). Would take more if tracks not so well marked and less people around. I was walking 1/2 the trip against the flow of South Coast Trackers so I met people every couple of hours. Then was stationery at New River Lagoon. On the way back there were a group of 7 from Brisbane Bushwalking Club and a group of 4 from Melbourne walking in the same direction. So I was surrounded by sat phone and EPIRB's etc. for most of the trip. I left at 6am on the tough day so had them behind me.

Earthling I did have a map and usually take a compass but didn't for this trip as well marked etc. Food was pretty good each day I had 1 packet of Oats, 1 Muesli bar, 1 Soup, 100g Nuts/seeds and a 2 serve FD meal with some fresh for the first 3 days (sno pea, caps, mush, broc). I just put the fresh in the cold water and once boiling tipped into FD meal and was perfect. Had sprouted mung beans last few days when fresh food finished. Could have eaten a couple more muesli bars I guess. Split FD meals into 2 some days.

Hi Ivan, The Fly rod survived - no worries. I have a 4 piece sage rod and it came with a cotton holder and metal tube but metal tube weighs too much. I put the big ends of each piece in the same direction and then when I roll up the cotton packet I make sure the reel piece with the cork is on the outside and it encases the smallest piece. Then I put down the side of my pack with big (cork end up) and it caught a few trees etc. but was lower than my head. It had about 8in of movement if necessary so I could just duck and then reposition. It was quite overgrown and rough in places and I am confident it will be fine like that in all conditions. If not the lifetime warranty covers any breakage. I did take the foam polaroid case in the end as would hate to scratch them.

Summary - Great trip happy with my packing list except should have considered 1st aid more. Didn't read much of book but may have if less people or tent-bound.

Haven't had Aarn body-pack long and haven't done a week long trip with it. It was fantastic. The best pack of the 10 I have owned/borrowed by an absolute mile. The Natural Balance pack has 2 dry bags and I just stuffed my wet tent in the bottom one with my coat. All the rest in the top and not in plastic bags etc. No need for a pack cover. Heavy stuff in the balance pockets on the front. It is brilliant. Could access everything so easily. Water on front of balance pockets, stove in balance pockets and lunch food, coat in bottom. Balance pockets don't get in the road and make it so pleasant to walk upright with great centre of gravity. Just ordered a Featherlite Freedom for my wife.

Jetboil was great. Have had it out a few times now. Boiled 26 cups (250ml) of water on 84g of gas so had 16g spare. It used 3.22g per cup so would boil 31 cups or 7.7 litres per 100g canister at sea level. Water was cold but may need a bit more for high altitude where gas is less efficient although I calculated a bit over 32 cups per can for our last high country trip so maybe altitude not as critical. Each day I used 1/3 cup for oats, 1 cup for soup, 1 3/4 cups for FD meal plus I warmed the water to soak the mung beans so they sprout better. I boiled a bit too much water for FD meals until I realized my cup was 380ml not 300ml. I didn't have tea/coffee but would easily get by with 2 cans for a week or 10 days if I did.

Now time to plan the next trip.

Cheers,

Andrew

[sirius Tas]

Hi Andrew,
Great to see you had a fantastic trip....sounds like a great experience. Certainly wouldn't have thought there would be much of a safety concern with so many people about...at least your published gear list was %100 honest...and the weights also. It intrigues me a bit when others try and get weight down to impossibly low stated levels...as you know they must be leaving things behind.
Many thanks for the update...it was a good read. I can see you're busting to go off again...and good onya....better take some lures next time... .....no fish...but who cares...it's being there that counts...as you can see I'm pretty envious.
Cheers...sT

[Andrew]

Thanks Sirius,

Yes keen to get out again. Went to Launceston Walking Club meeting on Wednesday night. Have been a member a few times. First time was 28 years ago which makes me sound old but I was only 18. Think we might join again as it is a good way of seeing new places.

I remember one trip when I was 18 that left on Friday night and the plan was to climb Pelion West in winter via the Wolfram Mines track. We got to the start of the track sometime before midnight and I couln't believe it when we all started walking up the hill in the rain. My torch ceased to work after a dunking in the first river and it was a very stressful night. We camped half way up the hill and then arrived at Old Pelion hut fairly early with snow up to our knees ready to climb Pelion West.

Cheers,

Andrew