G'day all,
Took a group of scouts on a weekend camp to a beautiful spot called Waychinicup National Park in Western Australia.
I had been there before with my four wheel drive club but I hadn't really appreciated the true beauty of this place before hand.
We did a 10km (6 mile) walk on Saturday afternoon, taking in the coastal vista to the west of Cheynes Beach, a coastal village on the South Coast of WA and stayed overnight at the local caravan park.
Sunday we hiked into Waychinicup (another 10km) and stayed overnight before walking out Monday (Grand total 30km).
It was a really hot walk in, and we welcomed the chance for a swim before lunch. Just as we were finishing lunch a heavy shower of rain with really big fat drops started pretty much out of nowhere and it was a mad scramble to get their tents and my hammock up.
I hadn't received my AHE cinch buckle set yet so I was tying off my Hennessy hyperlite Asym in the rain.
The buckles were waiting for me when I got home. Could have done with those on the weekend.
Had a couple of heavy overnight showers with a bit of wind in behind it and never got a single drop on me. Gotta love that.
I was taking the opportunity to test some new kit I had made up as well as reacquaint myself with my HH. I made a light weight cook set consisting of a methylated spirit (denatured alcohol?) stove made from a small knick knack tin, some fibreglass insulation and a bit of bird wire, a 4 x 4 x 6 inch square cook tin with a lid, my spork, a collapsible cup, a Chux cloth, a 1litre plastic fruit container for my water and a cigarette lighter.
All up it came to about 265g, give or take a bit.
My poor long-suffering wife made me a couple of long pouches for my Alice Pack. One was for my 2l water bladder (but it would probably fit my 3l at a push) and the other for my food. Both worked really well. The food pocket could also be used for another bladder if water was at a premium.
For those not familiar with the Alice Packs, there is three pockets around the outside. In one I put my cook set, the middle held my HH and fly and the third had miscellaneous stuff like my poo trowel and paper, my wash kit, pack cover and hand wipes.
Inside, I carried my rain coat, my umbrella, camp shoes, sleeping bag, spare and warm clothes (shirt, track pants, socks, jocks, balaclava, gloves, bug net and thermal shirt) and two tent pegs, a book and a hand fishing line and hooks.
Underneath was my wimp mat.
In my bum bag (Fanny pack?) I had a basic first aid kit, mobile phone, camera, some money, my trail mix, GPS,spare batteries and Victorionox Multitool, and paperwork.
I deliberately packed extra clothes etc so I had a bit of an idea what the weight would be like for an extended hike.
I don't think the weight was excessive and could quite easily carry all that again for an extended hike. I might leave the umbrella out, carry a lighter rain coat, cut down on the cold weather gear etc. but I still had plenty of room to spare.
Anyway, we swam, did some fishing unsuccessfully, hunted down a couple of local geocaches and took a little walk up the Waychinicup River. Quite an idyllic way to spend a weekend.
Pic guide: #1: The beautiful but rugged South Coast of Western Australia.
#2: The contrasting landscape of Waychinicup National Park.
#3: A very dodgy panorama of Waychinicup Inlet. Our camp was about 30m from this spot.
#4: Me and my HH.You can see my new cook kit in the foreground. Kept myself in warm food (boil in the bag stuff) and hot coffee all weekend for about 70ml of metho. Awesome.
#5: Some poor ugly Swaggy (hobo) wannabe trekker on the walk out.
#6: The beautiful Waychinicup River. It's mid summer here and there is still plenty of water flowing downstream.
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