Bushwalk Australia

Hi all,

I go camping regularly and lately I have and watching lots of Bear Grylls has really made me want to get into hiking so I got way too excited and bought heaps of gear. The hike will be just me and the girlfriend and we are thinking of doing The Castle as it is very close to our house. In the long term I don't see us hiking for longer than 3-4 days. I would like some recommendations if you have any on a few pieces of equipment. Here is the list so far, it's pretty fancy and quite extensive I think, it sure was fun to buy

Lighting
Maglite 6 cell torch
Mini Maglite Pro+
Mini Maglite Solitaire

Fire
UCO waterproof matches + container
Bear Grylls fire starter (flint)
Lighter
Cotton ball + vaseline tinder in a tin
Kathmandu fuel bottle 600ml

Water
Aquatina 500ml collapsible water bottle
Katadyn Hiker Pro Microfilter
20x Oasis water purification tablets
US army surplus 1 quart canteen + cover + cup + sling/strap (badass!)
PROFORCE foldable cup

Cooking/Eating
GSI Outdoors Glacier cutlery set
Optimus Terra Weekend 0.95L cook set
Esbit alcohol stove
Esbit stove stand/wind shield

Personal
Toothbrushes + toothpaste
Contact lens stuff
Baby wipes
Toilet paper

Navigation
Compass
Map
GPS

Utility
Waterproof ziplock bags
Adventure Medical Kits Bighorn first aid kit
8x Eneloop AA batteries
4x Eneloop AAA batteries
2x ponchos
2x Adventure Medical Kits emergency blankets
GSI trowel
US army surplus P51 can opener
2x Yoyo fishing snare reels
Kabar utility knife
Kellam HM10 pocket knife
Dan's pocket whetstone sharpener
100 feet 550lb paracord

Still Need
Tent (2 or 3 man?)
Sleeping bag (for two people)
Mat to sleep on
Packs for the two of us


This list excludes food for now.

How is this list looking? We still need packs to hold all this stuff but that will be very dependent on what our sleeping arrangement is. I was thinking we should get 55-65 litre packs with about 2L hydration packs. This would give me about 3L water with the canteen. I was thinking a 3 man tent would be good so we can keep our packs inside, then a two person sleeping bag and mat. We are quite used to camping comfortably so I don't think we would like the old sleep on the ground with a tarp thing. I just think this might come off as going a little overprepared and quite heavy.

Cheers

Ive never watched a full episode of Bear Grylls myself, but does he recommend taking 2 knives along?
Looks like you're pretty much set and prepared, except just got the big 4 left to purchase.

estimates on the pack and tent sound good, but I wouldnt bother with a 2 person sleeping bag. They get pretty uncomfortable. If you really want to sleep under the same blanket, look at getting a down quilt.

Some suggestions to reduce weight.

Lighting
Mini Maglite Solitaire

Fire
Lighter
Kathmandu fuel bottle 600ml

Water
Aquatina 500ml collapsible water bottle
20x Oasis water purification tablets
US army surplus 1 quart canteen + cover + cup + sling/strap (badass!)

Cooking/Eating
GSI Outdoors Glacier cutlery set
Optimus Terra Weekend 0.95L cook set
Esbit alcohol stove
Esbit stove stand/wind shield

Personal
Toothbrushes + toothpaste
Contact lens stuff
Baby wipes – only if they are the kills 99.99% bacteria version
Toilet paper

Navigation
Compass
Map
GPS

Utility
Waterproof ziplock bags
Adventure Medical Kits Bighorn first aid kit
2x ponchos
2x Adventure Medical Kits emergency blankets
GSI trowel
US army surplus P51 can opener - only if you are taking canned food
2x Yoyo fishing snare reels only if you intend going fishing
Kellam HM10 pocket knife
100 feet 550lb paracord

My suggestions:

Lighting
Get a decent headtorch. Maglites are heavy and have poor output. I wouldn't want to be in the bush with one at night.

Fire
Lighter
Cotton ball + vaseline tinder in a tin
Kathmandu fuel bottle 600ml

Water
Aquatina 500ml collapsible water bottle
Katadyn Hiker Pro Microfilter
20x Oasis water purification tablets
Canteen, but lose the accessories.

Cup is just unnecessary weight.

Cooking/Eating
GSI Outdoors Glacier cutlery set
Optimus Terra Weekend 0.95L cook set
Esbit alcohol stove
Esbit stove stand/wind shield

Personal
Toothbrushes + toothpaste
Contact lens stuff
Baby wipes
Toilet paper

Navigation
Compass
Map
GPS

Utility
Waterproof ziplock bags
Adventure Medical Kits Bighorn first aid kit
8x Eneloop AA batteries?
4x Eneloop AAA batteries?
2x Adventure Medical Kits emergency blankets
GSI trowel
2x Yoyo fishing snare reels
Kabar utility knife
100 feet 550lb paracord?

Assuming the ponchos are the disposable variety, get yourself 2 x decent hardshell jackets.

Why do you need so many batteries. A lot of weight there...

Paracord for what exactly? Could probably make do with 5m.

Still Need
Tent (2 or 3 man?)
Sleeping bag (for two people)
Mat to sleep on
Packs for the two of us

I used to carry a torch, I don't bother with them anymore, I just find them to heavy and eat up batteries, I take nothing bar a Petzl E-Lite, weighs 24 grams including battery and a battery lasts me a weeks hiking, actually Im still using the same battery after a weeks hike.

yup. lighting, an LED headlamp. light need less batteries and last a lot longer.
do you mean one sleeping bag for two people? they are difficult to sleep in, little room for two people to move in their own direction or turn, there is the quilt option but not good in the cold compared to sleeping bag.
if you're going somewhere habitually wet, synthetic bags are best. otherwise down is lighter and packs smaller. they sky is the limit what you can spend on a bag all depends on the conditions you are going to be in you should look at the rating and get a bag temperature rated for the temperatures you're going to be sleeping in, quality and price varies massively, the more expensive generally the better, depends on your budget what you end up getting. i go for exped bags, good quality, expensive...

Exped mats too!

You can get excellent high quality sleeping bags or quilts from one of the Cottage industry overseas. Quilts are supreme for hammocks. Not sure what there like in a tent on a Neoair xLite in the cold. Ill find out this coming winter, I think it will be fine.

Get yourself one of those Petzl eLite headspots, there great, put out a good light output for its size and weight and with your lightest torch, i think you will have plenty of light, if you intend hiking at night, thats a different story. I dont think the elite's are strong enough light to safely hike at night, I tried that once and kicked a rock, had a sore toe for a week, Lesson learnt.

Zebralight H51F is an awesome all round headtorch. I actually went night hiking with mine last night, and use it most other nights around the house. You already have the Eneloops that are needed to run it too

Strider wrote:Zebralight H51F is an awesome all round headtorch. I actually went night hiking with mine last night, and use it most other nights around the house. You already have the Eneloops that are needed to run it too

mate, try turning the light switch on at home

wayno wrote:

Strider wrote:Zebralight H51F is an awesome all round headtorch. I actually went night hiking with mine last night, and use it most other nights around the house. You already have the Eneloops that are needed to run it too

mate, try turning the light switch on at home

It's more fun with the lights off

Seriously though. I use it for hanging out the washing and creeping into bed late without waking up the wife

If you're carrying a stove, why do you need a fire? Especially given how much of the country is currently burning, anyway.

north-north-west wrote:If you're carrying a stove, why do you need a fire? Especially given how much of the country is currently burning, anyway.

In a life or death situation, I know I'd appreciate having some tinder with me to light a fire to stay warm/signal help. But each to their own

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll have to tweak the list slightly but it is partly a keep at home bug out bag as well just made a few tweaks to go hiking haha.
In regards to the torches, I'm a bit of a torch hobbyist hence the selection I just can't help myself
The paracord is all in one length so I don't want to cut it if I can
I like having all the fire starter kit with me and as I said we are going together so having multiples of stuff is good to have I think
And I have two knives so the Kabar is good for chopping and things like that but the Kellam is only a little 2 inch blade I always keep handy wherever I am for opening packets and the like

north-north-west wrote:If you're carrying a stove, why do you need a fire? Especially given how much of the country is currently burning, anyway.

because bear grylls caried fire starting material? remember bears program was specifically for those caught without any gear,
you usually dont need a bear grylls size knife, a pocket knife is enough,

take bear grylls programmes witha grain of salt. he's made more than a few false claims on his program. riding a "wild" horse that had horse shoes and was groomed and let him get on its back....

i think his programmes are reverse engineered, he works out where he is coming out and plans the route he will take, theres always a rope slung across a chasm or he always finds some sort of makeshift material for his purpose on trips. it's too coincidental.... no bushman worth his salt would prance around jump and run through the bush like him, it risks injury too much, wastes too much injury, he gravitates to descending and climbing waterfalls and vertical faces,
any good bushman would avoid those things without proper climbing gear. bear should wear a helmet, but it might ruin the image of the show...
safety first.... search the forum you'll find bear has been discussed before, and not in a complimentary way

Wayno all he said was that Bear got him in the mood for hiking. This is a good thing.

A bit of unnecessary stuff soon adds up to a lot of unnecessary weight. And when your carrying it around on your back, thats just not fun!

yup. just pointing out the gear list bear has for his tv show isnt necessarily going to overlap with bushwalking when you've got a lot of other gear to cover you.
hell if i was doing half the country bear did i'd be taking something a lot bigger than bears knife.... a machette would be more the go....