A long weekend here in Perth was the perfect opportunity to get out and do a bit of a hike with friends but most importantly give our kids a taste of camping. Our chosen destination was the Mount Dale hut, one of the campsites along the Bibbulmun Track, a long distance walk track here in Western Australia. We weren’t going to be setting any distance records with only about a km and a half walk in but with all of the kids carrying at least some of their gear it was enough of a taste for them.
View to Mount Dale
My daughter and I were going to be the only hangers on the trip with the other families all sticking to the ground. I was taking my WBBB 1.0DL hammock whilst my daughter was to be using a homemade hammock. The forecast was for a cold night (well by our standards anyway!) of about 5°C so I’d gone prepared. My daughter had a sleeping bag rated to below zero and she’d tested it in the backyard to about 5 and been fine so she should be set. In a backyard test I’d been a bit on the cold side in my summer Crowsnest and burrow so I’d taken along an old down hostelling sleeping bag to add supplementary warmth.
The plan had been to set up my daughter under a DD tarp and myself under a Superfly tarp but due to the spacious nature of the Superfly I was able to rig up both my daughters and my hammocks under it without any problems. A very impressive piece of kit!
Both hammocks under the 'Fly
Superfly setup
The forecasters weren’t wrong with the temperature predictions and as the sun started to sink the temperature started to drop and with not a cloud in the sky we knew we were in for a cold night. One of the kids was doing his cub campcraft badge so he got a nice fire going and we all side around chewing the fat and roasting marshmallows around the fire until the warmth of the hammock/tents beckoned.
It must have been a sign of how toasty and comfortable the hammock was in the fact that I managed to sleep through until gone seven the next morning. I think I’ve finally nailed setting up the Blackbird to get the perfect and comfortable hang.
After a lazy start to the morning we had a pleasant walk out retracing our steps of the day before. My friends were impressed with the hammock setup, I think there may be a couple more converts soon. All the kids had a great time and plans are already afoot for the next outing.
Getting two thumbs up
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Originally Posted by Shug
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