Hiking boots for Tasmania

[photohiker]

Hahaha, Strider and photohiker, I mean a couple of days before my trip to Melbourne on December 15, as referenced by my earlier post. I won't be in Tassie til late February. It's easy to ping people for seemingly naive comments on this forum if you haven't read the thread in its entirety.

Fair enough. I have been reading the thread, just didn't connect the unspoken dots.

I'd rather ping someone to point out a mistake than do nothing and watch a catastrophe unfold.

[slparker]

I've trotted out this possible fallacy in the past to the derision of all and sundry, but I might wheel it creaking into the light of day again....
I've been reading about tasmanian Aboriginal migratory habits in the last couple of weeks (via lyndal Ryan's The tasmanian Aboriginals and a couple of academic archeological papers). migratory patterns entailed walking from the ouse river area across central tasmania to ochre mines at Mt Vandyke, from the east coast to the south esk valley, summering at various alpine locations such as the ben Lomond plateau and central highlands and traversing the west coast from north west cape past port davey to the huon. Now these migrations were clan dependant, so I'm not suggesting an individual band or hearthgroup would make all these journeys.
My point is that tasmanian Aborigines did not use footwear. So when you ask 'what footwear is suitable for Tasmania' I suggest that anything from bare feet upwards is suitable. Wearing a pack obviously changes things, as does a lifetime of having your feet cosseted by footwear, but i think we can take a deep breath before saying 'you've gotta have $400 bucks of italian leather on your feet'
Before you crucify me... i wear $400 of italian leather (well 180 from STP) but I'm no longer convinced that this is necessary for walks not entailing heavy packs, snow or off track/mountain traverses. (i do realise that there is no record of aboriginal traverse of inland SW Tas, maybe if they had zamberlans they would have - but the OLT is pretty much the old aboriginal North/south road for the big river tribe)

[wayno]

ah huh and how many aboriginals today are walking around the tasmanian wilderness in bare feet
maoris had bare feet or flax sandals but today given the choice they wear shoes or boots in the nz wilderness....
i think the vast majority who've tried bare feet in that terrain would opt for anything to protect their feet, i was just wandering around outside a hut briefly in bare feet , stubbed my toe and ripped my toenail clean off, lots of blood...
sure you can have bare feet in the wilderness but you're also increasing the likelihood of damaging your feet unecessarily, possibly severely.... and if you were going to have bear feet in the wilderness you would want to spend months preferably years trying to toughen the skin up before attempting much in the way of bushwalking... to try and minimise some of the damage that will be caused to them...

[Hallu]

Well given there are no more mainland Tasmanian aboriginal tribes thanks to the British and their genocide, it's gonna be hard to ask them.

[wayno]

well if they were anything like maoris i dont think they'd still be in bare feet...

[slparker]

well, wasn't really my point - more about the nature of what could be minimal. You can survive in TAsmania walking the perimeter and highland areas with no footwear, or rather I couldn't but other humans did for 40,000 years. I'm not suggesting that we all should wear kangaroo skins and erect bark huts when walking the OLT, just that most of our gear could be construed as excessive when placed in context, as this topic is about boots I use this as an example; my point being that a zealous approach as in "thou shalt wear norwegian welted zamberlans" doesn't bear scrutiny.
It's entirely possible that tasmanian aborigines were continually footsore and foot injured but the historical record doesn't mention this. I am not suggesting some return to running around the bush in bare feet, more that for coastal and light alpine walking the minimal acceptable footwear is clearly none at all and anything of greater protection than that could be deemed as sufficient by the wearer. Hence the historic use of dunlop volleys by tasmanian walkers.

[Hallu]

Well when you walk barefoot since the day you're able to walk, I guess by the time you're a teenager you have 1 cm thick calluses on the whole length of your foot. So nothing could hurt your feet except nails and broken glass which weren't readily available to aborigines before Europeans came.

[north-north-west]

Well given there are no more mainland Tasmanian aboriginal tribes thanks to the British and their genocide, it's gonna be hard to ask them.

Another convenient myth. There are plenty of Tasmanian Aboriginals around. Not full-blooded, but still Aboriginal.

[slparker]

Hallu:
http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companio ... 0Voice.htm

http://www.tacinc.com.au/contacts.html

way off topic, but you probably should know..

[Hallu]

I said "mainland" and "tribes", of course I know the Truganini "last survivor myth", and that many aborigines groups were still on islands around Tasmania, or forced to follow sailors to Kangaroo Island or other places, but there are no more full-blooded tribes unlike in many parts of Australia and that's what I meant.

[slparker]

Hallu,
I hate to belabour a point - and I'm not a Palawa aboriginal so I have no vested interest, but there are Tribes of Tasmanian aborigines existing today. They are not full blooded, or living in a traditional setting, but they identify with their ancestral groups and so could be construed as Tasmanian Aboriginal tribespeople (at least that is their opinion anyway).
They would find that the distinction you make of not being 'full-blooded' quite offensive. Personally I am not offended and this comment is not a rebuke or an attempt at censure. Nor is it an attempt to force the beliefs of these tasmanian citizens upon you - just letting you know about the minefield that is Tasmanian Aboriginal politics.
And I suppose it's fair enough (warning personal opinion ahead) they've fought hard in the last few decades to be recognised as a people and their ancestors were subject to ethnic cleansing so I can see why they would be aggrieved.

[blacksheep]

Hallu,
I hate to belabour a point - and I'm not a Palawa aboriginal so I have no vested interest, but there are Tribes of Tasmanian aborigines existing today. They are not full blooded, or living in a traditional setting, but they identify with their ancestral groups and so could be construed as Tasmanian Aboriginal tribespeople (at least that is their opinion anyway).
They would find that the distinction you make of not being 'full-blooded' quite offensive. Personally I am not offended and this comment is not a rebuke or an attempt at censure. Nor is it an attempt to force the beliefs of these tasmanian citizens upon you - just letting you know about the minefield that is Tasmanian Aboriginal politics.
And I suppose it's fair enough (warning personal opinion ahead) they've fought hard in the last few decades to be recognised as a people and their ancestors were subject to ethnic cleansing so I can see why they would be aggrieved.

And most of them favour Scarpa boots.

[Hallu]

Hallu,
I hate to belabour a point - and I'm not a Palawa aboriginal so I have no vested interest, but there are Tribes of Tasmanian aborigines existing today. They are not full blooded, or living in a traditional setting, but they identify with their ancestral groups and so could be construed as Tasmanian Aboriginal tribespeople (at least that is their opinion anyway).
They would find that the distinction you make of not being 'full-blooded' quite offensive. Personally I am not offended and this comment is not a rebuke or an attempt at censure. Nor is it an attempt to force the beliefs of these tasmanian citizens upon you - just letting you know about the minefield that is Tasmanian Aboriginal politics.
And I suppose it's fair enough (warning personal opinion ahead) they've fought hard in the last few decades to be recognised as a people and their ancestors were subject to ethnic cleansing so I can see why they would be aggrieved.

Again, I'm not denying there still is a community of Tasmanian aboriginal people, I'm trying to point out that because of this methodical genocide perpetrated there are a lot less Tasmanian aborigines than in the Red Centre or in the tropical North. I'm the first to be pissed at historians and other Australians refusing to recognise that English/Australians tried to exterminate Tasmanian aborigines, and yet you guys are mad at me as if I were one of them because you misinterpreted my words, assuming I'm an ignorant... Yeah most Australians don't know there still are Tasmanian aborigines, but that's not a reason for the ones who do to assume ignorance in other people.

[slparker]

Hallu wrote:
'you guys are mad at me as if I were one of them because you misinterpreted my words, assuming I'm an ignorant'

I wrote:
'this comment is not a rebuke or an attempt at censure.'

Stress less.

[slparker]

Blacksheep: what the?

[blacksheep]

Blacksheep: what the?

bringing it back on topic once upon a time we were discussing boots...but carry on...

[slparker]

well that's the nature of internet threads.... So what wonderful Macpac boot should we be buying then?

[Gusto]

well that's the nature of internet threads.... So what wonderful Macpac boot should we be buying then?

Scarpa boots of course, as Blacksheep already mentioned.

[blacksheep]

well that's the nature of internet threads.... So what wonderful Macpac boot should we be buying then?

Something with a 1 piece upper, as the aciditic soils in Tassie are unkind to stitching.

[tasadam]

bringing it back on topic

Thank you.

[norts]

Cam might have to become a moderator!

[tasadam]

Not that I worry about it too much (if I did I reckon I'd have to edit most topics on the forum), but rule 21 does state:

Keep replies relevant to the subject of the initial post. If you wish to change the subject, consider posting a new topic separately, and linking to it from the old topic.

Just saying...

[wayno]

extra points if you can find some spurious link between a totally divergent topic that has absolutely no connection to the original post

[Gusto]

When I last was trying on boots, my second most comfortable pair of boots were Keens. I don't think Keen boots have been mentioned thus far.

[Picaro]

Something with a 1 piece upper, as the aciditic soils in Tassie are unkind to stitching.

Agree with this.
I'm also doubtful about rubber toe covering the leather. Moisture can still soak in, but the leather cant be treated under there. Leather can deal with scuffs just fine if its maintained with a good product.

[Nuts]

Keens are great! I wear them everyday! I just don't like the soles on them though, I had a bad slip with them and don't trust them (the models ive had). The mesh Mackenzie are a great everyday shoe but around water (their chunky sole design) i'm not so sure.

[rucksack]

I wear both Scarpa SL's and Scarpa Treks, (I am nursing a pair of the latter through their final days), and I also have a pair of Keen Klamaths and I agree about the soles of the Keen's. They are really comfortable boots and well-made too, but I have had a few interesting experiences when the proprietory Keen soles have let go their grip unexpectedly. I use them on track, not off and I am careful when there is wet wood or clay about, but I still like them. The Scarpa SL's with their Vibram soles have a much superior grip. The Trek's did too, when their soles were 'younger', but they are worn now and the boots will soon have to be retired. So thumbs up for Keen boots, but I agree with Nuts: be careful on slippery surfaces.

rucksack

[corvus]

My current boots are AKU Lagoria GTS and fitted like a glove first use wearing well and would buy again.
corvus