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  1. #1
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Fraser Island Great Walk - Australia (Video)

    Myself and BrucieHi5 decided some time ago, that we should do a 7 day hike over at Fraser Island. Plans where in place a while back and we counted each day till the day. That day finally came and now it's gone, but we managed to fit in a 7 day 6 night hike on the Largest Sand island in the world.

    Largest sand island in the world and as you can imagine a lot of sand, yet the island is rice in vegetation, so much so, it was a struggle to keep our batteries topped with our Solar Panels, Not much sun was seen in the 7 days, not because of clouds or rain, we had the best week of weather we could have wished for, Fraser Island is very rich in vegetation and has a lot of big trees. I've not had to wear my sunglasses except when I explored the Hammerstone Sandblow.

    Lots of new toys to play with, a new pack and a new cooker including a different approach to meals, saw a very successful trip.
    My pack weight including 3.1kg of food and 2 litres of water was 14kg.
    As each day went past my pack got lighter and lighter. 2 litres of water on day one was a overkill. as it's the middle of winter over here now. 1 litre of water was enough to carry each day. Fraser Island is full of pristine clear water lakes, as you will notice with some under water footage part way into the video report.

    On the 2nd night into our trip at Central Station, an old logging station from the past we woke up to find the temp at 2 degrees celcius. This is the coldest I've ever been down to in my hammock and I can say it was a huge success, my Hammock Gear Top Quilt and Warbonnet Under Quilt kept me toasty and warm.

    I'll let the video tell the rest of our trip.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcLAqIWnbZE

  2. #2
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    I had a lot of new items I christened on this 7 day hike including.

    Tamroc Zipshot Tripod
    Goal Zero Nomad 7 Solar Panel
    Goal Zero Guide 10+
    GoPro WiFi bacpac and remote
    Lifesystems Water purification tablets
    Gossamer Gear Mariposa 2012 backpack
    Driduck Poncho
    Esbit 750ml Titanium Pot with lid
    A 12 gram Esbit Titanium cooker
    Strive Foods
    Sony digital recorder
    Merrell Air Master Barefoot shoes

    All the above performed brilliantly. It was a bit of an challenge with the solar panel, chasing the sun at camp. Next time I'll take just the Guide 10+ with extra batteries. Particularly in a location that see's very little sunlight.

    The Gossamer Gear pack is a huge success. I thought the Aarn packs where comfy, till I worn this pack. This is a brilliant pack. I am trying to get my pack weight down as low as possible. I just don't think you need to carry so much weight now. There's quality gear available that are ultralight. Unfortunately not in Australia, I used to own a cooking kit that was classed ultralight by Australia's standard and it was almost a kilo in weight. and they called this ultralight over here.

    I'm still endeavouring in reducing this pack weight further. I've ordered a Cuben Tarp to replace my 580gram Warbonnet Superfly. My new tarp is only 178 grams. A further 400 gram weight savings.

    The Strive Foods, a company from Tasmania that makes dehydrated meals: not bad. Portion size is just right for me. Bit of an effort to cook. as the pasta is not dehydrated. it's just normal pasta you see up town. In saying this, to cook a whole meal only taken one and a half esbit fuel tablets.

    The Esbit cooking kit was a success. What I liked about the Esbit tablets is there's no excess weight I need to carry, for example my gas cooker, each gas canister weight 357 grams and when empty 160 grams. That's 160 grams I've had to carry back home. I used 160 grams of Esbit tablets during the week. I've tried Metho stoves in the past and didn't find them very fuel efficient. It might have been the Trangia kit I was using, I found it very inefficient.

  3. #3
    Senior Member born2roam's Avatar
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    Yep half an hour as you promised. Bookmarked to watch later, big thankee in advance!

    Looking forward to see Fraser Island again (was there sept 2004).

    Grtz Johan
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  4. #4
    Senior Member SmokeHouse's Avatar
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    Thanks for sharing,,, very nice place.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Bruciehi5's Avatar
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    I like the music! The park bench part was a bit of a classic. Lake Mackenzie looked fantastic and your camera worked well under water. Loved the under water bridge! There were a couple of bits of the walk that I didn’t do and it was good to see them via your video. The GoPro mic part was pretty funny, it worked ok enough too. If I wasn’t there with you, your video would have made me want to be. Thanks for the video, Phillipsart!

  6. #6
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by born2roam View Post
    Yep half an hour as you promised. Bookmarked to watch later, big thankee in advance!

    Looking forward to see Fraser Island again (was there sept 2004).

    Grtz Johan
    I hope you liked the video born2roam

    Quote Originally Posted by SmokeHouse View Post
    Thanks for sharing,,, very nice place.
    Yes, one of my favourite destination to go hiking. Wish I was still there. I'm keen on doing another trip over there, maybe a 4 or 5 day hike incorporating the beach for one day and overnighting behind one of the dunes on the beach.

    Quote Originally Posted by Bruciehi5 View Post
    I like the music! The park bench part was a bit of a classic. Lake Mackenzie looked fantastic and your camera worked well under water. Loved the under water bridge! There were a couple of bits of the walk that I didn’t do and it was good to see them via your video. The GoPro mic part was pretty funny, it worked ok enough too. If I wasn’t there with you, your video would have made me want to be. Thanks for the video, Phillipsart!
    Thanks Bruciehi5.
    Yes, that's a classic that footage with us on the bench. I was very impressed with my GoPro on how it performed both in and out of the water.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    I'm going back as soon this weather clears up and my Hammock Gear 4-Season Cuben tarp turns up. This time to keep costs down, I'll not be using the Taxi Service on the island. As good they where, it was a bit expensive, but it was worth it, as I got to hike the full Great Walk, which I've wanted to do for a long time.

    Next time I wouldn't mind, starting my hike from the barge landing, and hike to Central Station camp, than via Lake Wabby take that track I showed in the footage to the beach and camp behind the sand dunes on the beach. The following day back to lake wabby camp than hike to Lake McKenzie camp and Kingfisher bay resort the following day. 4 nights. Should be a great test for my new Cuben Tarp I'm waiting on.

    I'll probably will leave the Nomad 7 Solar charger at home and take extra batteries for the Guide 10+. This will be with a pack as light as possible.

  8. #8
    Senior Member born2roam's Avatar
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    Watched it and LOVED it...

    Only had a couple of days there on a self drive but man do I feel the need to explore Fraser island on foot....

    Thanks for the vid, loved the uw bridge too!

    Grtz Johan
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  9. #9
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by born2roam View Post
    Watched it and LOVED it...

    Only had a couple of days there on a self drive but man do I feel the need to explore Fraser island on foot....

    Thanks for the vid, loved the uw bridge too!

    Grtz Johan
    Thanks born2roam.

    I'm also feeling the need to go back and explore more on foot.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Phillipsart's Avatar
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    No word on the tracks completion thus far, I've been waiting for the parks service to complete the new tracks. Government over here has changed and there's been a lot of cut back on fundings. As soon it's officially opened I'll be back.

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