Things I have learnt.

[Ent]

Hi

No it actually happened. I was rather stunned. After got back to the carpark realized that I did not get the phone number in the rush to get to the bus. Lovely lady. And before anyone asked I carried my own pack as still a "traditional" type guy.

Despite the doomsayers the world is full of wonderful people.

Cheers

[stepbystep]

When packing for another person, never underestimate how much loo paper they may need...

[Tortoise]

Don't pee into the wind

unless you're a girl

[under10kg]

Do not forget your loo shovel and dig a hole with your hands and touch old *&%$#!.
Took 20 mintes of hand washing to get rid of the smell!

[Pteropus]

Do not forget your loo shovel and dig a hole with your hands and touch old *&%$#!.
Took 20 mintes of hand washing to get rid of the smell!

What a nightmare! But I can't help but laugh

[phan_TOM]

I spent two nights at Leaning Tea Tree, admittedly after the last night we did have one of our party air lifted out.
Was a boring place to spend a rest day.
Roger

Why the air lift, was it so boring that their brain exploded?
Sounds like a terrible place.

Something that I have learnt is that mozzie's are wayyy smarter than we give them credit for. I find that I will be all zipped up and tucked in the for the night and just as I am at the point of no return a *&%$#! mosquito will bzzzz past my face. And i nearly always have the same internal argument wirth myself in that half asleep place "no, don't worry it will go away, you're too warm and toasty now, your alllmost asleep" vs "get up, get it it now or it will keep you awake forever!". As I turn the headlamp on I can no longer hear the little *&%$#! and of course its nowhere to be seen... Sometimes I lay in the dark waiting for it to land on my face and then just swat it but they are too smart for that and wait until I'm alllmost asleep again! BzzzZZZZzzz

[north-north-west]

Things I have learnt. Ok...
I have the best wife. She walks with me, she goes where I go, together we see reason and make good decisions. She trusts my decisions and offers her advice and opinion too.
She carries pretty heavy loads, for someone just over 5 feet tall she will typically carry between 19 and 23kg at the start of a walk. We walk together, and we share the memories of the walks we do together.

I have the best wife. That is all.

*&%$#! braggart.

edit: *&%$#! SMUG braggart.

[walkinTas]

“learnt” for past tense and past participle for learn, will make no sense to an American.

When typing in the editor, the squiggle red line under a word might indicate that you have misspelt that word. I might also indicate that you need to change dictionaries.

[tasadam]

An iPhone has an American dictionary. This cannot be fixed to my knowledge.
At least, not unless America learns English instead of American...

[corvus]

“learnt” for past tense and past participle for learn, will make no sense to an American.

When typing in the editor, the squiggle red line under a word might indicate that you have misspelt that word. I might also indicate that you need to change dictionaries.

Got to agree wT "learnt" is so much easier than "learned" in my native Scottish dialect the emphasis is on the t and the word was used in many ways ,for example"They are so daft that they have no learnt the difference tween dockins and nettles" or other good dialect especially from Mothers "if you don't stop doing that you will soon be learnt when I take my hand across your face" and a classic a lesson learned is a lesson well "learnt"
corvus

[wobbly]

Never rely on track notes gleaned from a certian commercial bushwalking magazines articles.

[tigercat]

silver wattles fall over in high winds.

[puredingo]

The walking always looks easier on the other side of the bank.... but rarley is. A good metaphore for life i reckon.

[roodeny]

Twiggy sticks will only last a day , if your unlucky they will haunt you on the second and third day .

[corvus]

Don't post later at night after a few Vinos
corvus

[taswegian]

I'm NOT a pack horse!
Young, fit, relentless and curious and eventually years take there toll on things!
But then I didn't know that back then.
And would I have taken note anyway?

[corvus]

+1
corvus

[ILUVSWTAS]

Dont fake the funk on a nasty dunk.

[Stibb]

"Chapman is a tosser"
(as said by a very experienced bushwalker I met in Narcissus hut and I tend to agree)

[doogs]

Don't write a book as you may get called a "tosser"

[corvus]

"Chapman is a tosser"
(as said by a very experienced bushwalker I met in Narcissus hut and I tend to agree)

Stibb ,
Please explain who and how experienced was this bushwalker ,I am no apologist for Chapman however I know he has done the Miles and his notes in the main are very accurate so what is the beef ??

corvus

[Stibb]

Corvus, the guy was about your age and had been bushwalking all his life all around the state. He was also a long time volunteer for the state emergency search and rescue service (not sure if that's the correct term). Among many other things I asked him about a "well traveled trail" up on the labyrinth that we could not find that was mentioned in Chapmans book and he suggested I throw the book in the river

My beef with Chapman? Oh, I'm sure lot of the info in his books are accurate but I guess we just have a very different idea what "well traveled" and "good track" means We found the tracks to be mostly in an appalling state and most people we met (mainly overlanders) said the same thing. This was our first "real" overnight trip in a very long time and we've never been to the area before. We learned a lot

[Strider]

Is the book possibly out of date?

[norts]

I'll defend Chapman. I have never had any contact with other bushwalkers ( other than on this forum or on the track) so would not have been aware of most of the walks that I have done. I have used his Cradle/ Walls book to plan alot of walks or give ideas for walks, and still got more to do out of it. Also used his SW book for walking in the SW.
His books live in my toilet, where I browse to plan the next trip.
I dont know of another resource that gives you so many ideas for walks, maybe The Abels now( they live in the loo too).

Roger

[Son of a Beach]

"Chapman is a tosser"
(as said by a very experienced bushwalker I met in Narcissus hut and I tend to agree)

Please note that personal insults on this forum are not appropriate. Whether the person is a forum member or not, and whether they are a published author or not. In this case, the person is a forum member. I understand that you were just quoting somebody else, but then saying that you agree needs to be backed up with your reasons why (which you have now done - thanks).

[stepbystep]

Yet to meet another man that wasn't a tosser.....

Something I keep coming up against and I believe this is where Stibb's 'beef' lies, is the interpretation of a track as opposed to a route. A lot of people arrive in Tasmania expecting every track to be groomed like the Wineglass Bay lookout and every route to be as good as the OLT.

I have learned that a track is not a footpath, a route is not a track and offtrack is anotherkettleoffish

btw I found Chapman's books very helpful, particularly when you know how to interpret them.

[Nuts]

Yes, where would we all be without guide books and similar inspiration?

[Marwood]

The morals of this heartwarming and apocryphal northern-hemisphere-centric tale are things I try to hold in my mind when I'm bushwalking, particularly the last:

"Once upon a time, there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly started to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to earth in a barnyard. Almost frozen, a cow passed by and crapped on the little sparrow. The sparrow thought it was the end. But, the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy and able to breathe again, he started to sing. Just then, the farm cat came by and hearing the chirping, investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird and ate him."

Morals of the story

1. Just because someone sh*ts on, they're not necessarily your enemy.
2. Just because someone gets you out of the sh*t, they're not necessarily your friend.
3. If you're warm and happy in a pile of sh*t, keep your mouth shut and stay there.

[Stibb]

Apologies, I keep forgetting how touchy people are on this forum

SbS yes you are right although we did not expect the track to be "groomed" like the Wineglass bay. The tracks were mostly easy enough to follow (except the one we didn't find up on the labyrinth) but IMO they were in such a bad way that in some parts it would have been so much easier, safer and better to walk next to it. I understand the impact consequences of doing so so we did try to actually walk on the "trail". The overlanders we met (both tassies, aussies and from OS of very mixed experience levels) said that large parts of the olt was in a terrible state. I can only conclude that most people here on the forum are much tougher than the rest of us.

Guidebooks are great as long as you can ground proof the information so you know what to expect. We have a better understanding of that now. I don't get my inspiration from dry guide books. I get it more from pictures and good trip records. For this trip I blame both ILUV and SbS as two of there pictures directly inspired us to go there although we never got to the Acropolis this time. (and I know both of them know when I tongue in cheek but for others, that was not a personal attack)

(forgive my use of track, trail etc interchangeably. I do understand they might have a different meanings but as a non-native they escape me most of the time. This could be part of the problem I guess :/ )

[Stibb]

Is the book possibly out of date?

The latest edition...