Bushwalk Australia

It is becoming extremely clear that outdoor shops are dumbing down to be purely vendoring places of rather overprice travel wear. Hunted from Launceston to Devonport for guy rope line locks. Now if I was after the latest and greatest 2mm Dyneema reflective cord with glow in the dark line locks you might forgive the shops for not stocking that, but I was just wanting something in the standard range to test out a configuration until I got carried away saving grams. Absolutely nothing. So we have shops happy to sell you tents but do not carry even a basic spare part such as a line lock. The only guy rope they stock comes courtesy of the ubiquitous Sea to Summit range.

So you buy the new light weight tent experience and decide to beef up for windy conditions you have nothing to do it with. If your oversize boot crushes a line lock on your brand new MacPac, WE, MD, etc, etc tent and you will find no replacements. But buy locally as we can help is the cry from the chain stores. What a load of rubbish.

What does one do? Simple, shop online and because freight is so expensive buy up big on all the other bits and pieces. Guess what, I then have no money to spend locally as I already have spent it.

O'well if bushwalking shops want to become Kmarts then I can not stop them but it will be a cold winter as I will not be buying anything locally until the birds of spring come back, and then only if is easier than buying off the net. Found that my favourite socks are now defunct from the range, replaced with "home brand" junk. Oh yeah, like I will be buying them at the same price Dream on Mr or Mrs or Miss range selection expert.

Now which overseas shop will be getting my money. The one that supplies what I am after for guy rope and line locks and then anything else that takes my fancy until the limit is reached.

Sigh!

I have some cheap and nasties if you want them, Courtesy of some cheap tents I have thrown out.
I can put them in the mail if you want
Roger

I feel your pain brett, but to be fair, I do see these are sold everywhere in shops like rays outdoors, annaconda, Kangaroo tent city etc .

quality might not be on par with the rest of your gear, but they do the job...

Yeah I know what you mean at the moment I am o n holidays and my area has a Camping store, and in that store there are NO brand names what so ever, it's all pretty much generic cheapest sh it that can get there hands on stuff, never saw one light weight peice of gear in the place.

I guess all the gear is fine for a car or Caravan camper, but nothing for even a medium weight hiker I would think.

They never got a cent of my money, but I guess the store is for the OTHER people :p

Cheers.

Ent wrote:It is becoming extremely clear that outdoor shops are dumbing down to be purely vendoring places of rather overprice travel wear.

There has been an increase in the number of this type shops in Tassie over the last decade or so. I think it was inevitable that the specialist knowledge of shop assistance would be lowered as the number of people in these roles increased.

Hi Norts

Thanks for the kind offer. I have been digging around the internet and decided to go straight to plan B, light weight stuff. Tracked down a source of 1.5mm dyneema guy line and line locks to suit. And maybe another pair of waterproof pants, and, oops hang, there I go again spending heaps on gear, maybe not them but then they are the Montane Superfly pants Lets check sizing, no too short. Credit cards gives a sign of relief, maybe just the guyline and line locks and a few titanium pegs this time round.

Now back to rant.

The above is a classic example what I do and is not uncommon with other walkers. Can not find what you after locally so go online.

Had the line locks been around they would have generated a sale for 3mm guy rope and Sea to Summit star pegs. Now that is not going to happen. Also I likely would have brought two more long snow pegs for the Nallo locally but looks like overseas order. Might beef it up with some Montane Terra pants so no sales of clothing either to the local shops. Oh yes, does Kathmandu, Mountain Design, Snow Gum, Paddy Pallin and MacPac even have DWR coated walking trousers? Frankly past caring as once online I can get what I want rather than someone attempting to sell me travel pants as bushwalking gear. The demise of the bushwalking shirt is almost complete in most chain store line ups.

A chain store is happy to liberate over $400 for a pack from you but you can not buy a replacement buckle. Flog you a $800 tent but no additional guy lines or replacement ones. Sell you gaiters but no replacement under-strap. Over two hundred walking poles can be had but no replacement tips or straps. Go online and the stuff is there. Once online you might as well keep shopping.

I agree WalkinTas, never in Launceston have so many bushwalking shops existed but never has it been so hard to get spare bits and pieces. The issue is with the centralised buying officers that simply see an opportunity to flog home brand stuff instead of specialise company stuff. They appear to have no regard for ensuring longevity of their products through stocking spares. MD no longer stock 70 Mile Bush walking socks but have their own brand. No thanks, Snowgum did this and while Wilderness Wear inner stocks would last a long time the home brand barely made one trip without holing.

In the past you were largely held hostage to the shops but now with the internet you are not. Good local shops like say Passion 8 in Hobart offer a range and while not always be exactly what I want at least section is for bushwalking, not travel the wear market dressed up as suitable for bushwalking. Have not had a chance to check out their spares. Be interested if they have a reasonable collection.

The best indicator of a bushwalking shop as opposed to an upmarket army disposal type store ot travel shop was given on this site by another poster. Basic question. Do they sell maps. If no, then they are not a bushwalking shop despite what might have been an illustrious past.

So endith this chapter of the rant.

Cheers

Ent wrote:Basic question. Do they sell maps. If no, then they are not a bushwalking shop despite what might have been an illustrious past.

Interesting and telling question. Two of the shops in my area have stopped selling detailed topographic maps. They used to have a large metal cabinet with sliding drawers. Gone.

But if you'd like to color coordinate your hat, backpack, and jacket, why then they have 10 sections. Color coordination out in the bush is far more important than a good map, don't you think?

HJ

the companies that make the maps are going out of business or there isnt enough demand for them to make money from them any more.
since a lot of people are either using gps or printing off their own maps from digital sources for a small fraction of the price of shop bought maps, the market for them has plummeted.

a NZer said to me they were tramping in NZ as you do... they met some americans on the track, before the ners even spoke the americans said "you're NZers aren't you" they knew because they werent weatring colour coordinated gear like people from so many other western countries tend to do....
you see the japanese on the tracks, the vast majority are wearing Japanese Mont Bell gear. their equivalent of kathmandu.
NZers tend to be more pragmatic and tight fisted so they go for reasonable quality with the best deal... bugger teh fashioable approach, when i was at the university tramping club being associated with the fashion counscious skiing club was grounds for a group beating..... you had to be actively disparaging of the skiiers to ensure you escaped a beating.... you turned up to club meetings wearing old clothes, preferably well worn un matching tramping clothes....
once you buy into fashion then it's about are you wearig this seasons coours which are totally different to last seasons colours so you ditch last seasons gear to get this seasons colours. conversely its a good way to get a deal when you actively seek out buying last seasons colours.... i wonder how much short jackets ar a fashion trend that will eventually change to favour long jackets so people scramble to match the latest trend, otherwise juset hold onto whatever gear youve got anyway because the wheel will turn full circle and that colour, style you're wearing is eventually going to come back in style....
but you also wonder how much the competition between stores is forcing shop owners to rationalise what they sell and focus on what makes money, its all gone the way of shifting as much gear as you can in knock down sales.
but still the one stop shops are around but not always easy to find.
I notice kathmandu do sell various accessories and nick nacks but they come and go, what they sell from year to year wil vary, I'd say if they don't sell enough of a product they scrap it and dont go back.
not to mention there is the disposable mentality, products engineered to last only so long so you go back and just replace the entire product with something cheap. problem is we can't do that forever and resources get tight sooner or later everything is going to get more expensive and we will have to get back into the "repair it" mentality because we will struggle to afford replacing large items

I work in IT, I used to repair PCs but got out of that job years ago, the price came down so much and pc's became more reliable to the point where they lasted x no of years then you just replaced them because it wasnt worth the price of fixing them as much. i couldnt make money selling PC's as a small player against the big players who were selling close to wholesale prices.

Not sure what you do for a living Ent but I think I might have a great idea... Why don't you open an outdoor shop???

dee_legg wrote:Not sure what you do for a living Ent but I think I might have a great idea... Why don't you open an outdoor shop???

Or easier still, learn how to tie knots.

I think we need someone to rant about 'how hard it is to find an accountant that listens' here in Tassie

I do miss the backpackers barn though... (as unviable as it may have been..)

Sorry Nuts the Australian Taxation Office writes the rules and as much as you try to convince an accountant that rover is a guard dog and icecream is needed for the brain to operate therefore a tax deduction they can not make it so

Nugget Is a guard dog... there aren't many people he wont let in though lol... we'll... besides the accountant that is

Ent wrote:Sorry Nuts the Australian Taxation Office writes the rules and as much as you try to convince an accountant that rover is a guard dog and icecream is needed for the brain to operate therefore a tax deduction they can not make it so

I'll try that, claiming Ice-cream as a tax deduction. When my accountant gives me a funny look I'll just say I need it to make my brain function.

Phillipsart wrote:

Ent wrote:Sorry Nuts the Australian Taxation Office writes the rules and as much as you try to convince an accountant that rover is a guard dog and icecream is needed for the brain to operate therefore a tax deduction they can not make it so

I'll try that, claiming Ice-cream as a tax deduction. When my accountant gives me a funny look I'll just say I need it to make my brain function.

if you dont have teeth or you have your tonsils out you might just get away with it....

The main trouble is that "Bushwalkers" are a doomed and dying breed, but "Travellers" are breeding like rabbits and taking over the place.
Blame having to work 2 or 3 jobs to pay the mortgage, food and fuel to get to work ( because there is no public transport ) and that Australian bushwalkers tend to be very tight with a dollar and the fact that keeping little stuff is a non-profit or loss-leader bit of merchandise.
As for paper maps, we Aussies have always been ripped off by the government on maps, too expensive to buy and always out of date.
NatMap prices were unbelievably high and for the areas where I work were always on the edges of 4 maps anyway.
I do prefer to find my way using a map and compass.

Locked due to debate moving into rather personal territory, and then being joined by others who are clearly just trying to stir up trouble. Many posts removed. Sorry if anyone feels the remaining posts are too much on one side of the debate or the other.