Hi All
I thought I would share with you my first camping trip with my DIY hammock and neo 9x9 tarp.
We arrived at the first night campsite at 8:30pm so set up was done in the dark with my head light, there were not many trees to pick from and it took a while to find some.
The night and morning air was full of condensation and the tarp dripped with water but I remained dry. The only time I got wet was entering or exiting the hammock.

First night
http://www.teamgunnparker.com/gallery2/albums/adventure/stockyard_gully/normal_stockyard_gully_%282%29.jpg
larger image, http://tinyurl.com/3an3x7

We then hiked out around lake Indoon and picked up a 4x4 track and followed that to Stockyard Gully which is a huge cave system. The whole area is dotted with caves but stockyard was used by the early settlers to pen up cattle being driven on horse back down to the city.

Second night
http://www.teamgunnparker.com/gallery2/albums/adventure/stockyard_gully/normal_stockyard_gully_%2811%29.jpg
larger image, http://tinyurl.com/2j2lr7

All hanging is totally off track and there are no places set up for tent camping either.
As you can see the bush here is very thick and there are not a lot of trees around, being close to the coast it is mainly just scrub.

All of the photos in this album are here for those that want to see what a little of WA is like. http://tinyurl.com/yudb7g

I have also set up a Google earth file if you would like to look and that is available here, http://tinyurl.com/273cqs

It was a good trip about 23 miles all up
Gunn

Is that a purple hammock!? I like.

The pics in the album you linked makes me want to be a hanging spelunker; that would be interesting. I wonder if any of those cave explorer types use hammocks. Probably cause too much damage now that I think about it.

That's an interesting looking area. Looks like you had a good time. What's the frilly looking thing hanging from the cave wall?

Great pictures, thanks for posting the link. How did you sleep, compared to your companions? :D

That's an interesting looking area. Looks like you had a good time. What's the frilly looking thing hanging from the cave wall?

Hi
That is a feral bee hive, there are signs here saying not to bother them as they will become aggressive.

Great pictures, thanks for posting the link. How did you sleep, compared to your companions? :D

Hi
I slept pretty well, there was so much condensation that all of the tents were wet right through my tarp was wet both sides and my hammock was damp as well. But I really liked being able to stand to get dressed and still be under cover, so much better than a tent :)
The morning and night temps were very cold and even though I wore just about all of my clothes and two pairs of socks I still had cold feet. I am using a ccf pad in the hammock, (a new one) and though it is wider than my old one it is quite a lot thinner.

Thanks for looking.

neat place there! did you have any curious tent dwellers asking questions about the hammock?

Hi
Yes, two of the other guys are BGT testers as well as myself and they were very interested, one of the guys was asking a lot of question and I was telling him him how comfortable it was and he was impressed with the head room under the tarp and how easy it was to get in and out of.

The way I had it set up I could reach my pack from the hammock and just about do everything from it, very nice :)

Hi
Yes, two of the other guys are BGT testers as well as myself and they were very interested, one of the guys was asking a lot of question and I was telling him him how comfortable it was and he was impressed with the head room under the tarp and how easy it was to get in and out of.

The way I had it set up I could reach my pack from the hammock and just about do everything from it, very nice :)

i forget his name, but isn't one of the leaders/ head guys from BGT in Australia?

i forget his name, but isn't one of the leaders/ head guys from BGT in Australia?

Yes, Andrew Priest. he is one of the guys I hike with often, he was the one most interested in my hammock.

Is that a purple hammock!? I like.

The pics in the album you linked makes me want to be a hanging spelunker; that would be interesting. I wonder if any of those cave explorer types use hammocks. Probably cause too much damage now that I think about it.

Cannibal: Ed Speer is a life member of the National Speleological Society, and I've been a member off and on since I was 17 (that's at least *cough* 10 years...). He and I talked about cavers using hammocks. It apparently has a tradition, hung up by putting pitons into the cave walls and hanging from them. He went to a few of the cave-in type get-togethers (parties, not actual rock cave-ins), and was surprised that not many of the cavers were interested in using the hammocks for camping. I know that most of the folks I ran around with have the Mexican hammocks they string up around the camp sites. I'm hoping to convert a few over the next few years.

Yes, Andrew Priest. he is one of the guys I hike with often, he was the one most interested in my hammock.

yeah, that's the guy! great!
he's apparently one who takes a very realistic look at backpacking gear & lets others know when he finds something he likes, so hopefully he will discover hammocking as a better way to sleep in the outback.