Package from Canada

I got a package from Canada today. It contained my latest camping gadget – another single man tent. This one is a bit different though – it’s a hammock (from Hennesy Hammocks). I thought I’d try one out as a possible replacement for my Macpac Ultralight.

The hammock is pretty small (when packed) and probably about the same internal area… of course I set it up in the backyard after dinner! I think the best part may be saving weight and volume by not having to carry a thermarest, but the obvious downside will be needing to find trees each night I want to camp. Casting my mind back, there have been very few campsites I’ve stayed at without trees, or at least without trees within a few minutes walk. So hopefully this wont be a major problem until the Altiplano (Bolivian highlands), where, to all accounts, there are no trees. For days. Oh well, sleeping under the stars might not be so bad for a while.

I suspect that gringo travellers of any kind will cause a stir as they pass through villages in SA, but one who carries a hammock might be a bit more of a novelty.

I wonder if camping with all of this single person gear is contributing to my relationship status?

Comments

I’ve been told the passport photo of me on (currently on Flickr) is “pretty gay” and I look like “a boring engineer…who needs a holiday”. What are friends for if they can’t tell you the truth… or at least try and wind you up

Responding to those comments: I’ve been called worse, and it’s probably true. Respectively. Or vise versa.

oh dear

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

Surprise surprise

The training climbing / surfing trip didn’t happen on Sunday. So I read, moped around, juggled, slept, walked and… well I guess you could only call it relaxed.

Climbing tonight was on though! Except the people I expected to be there, weren’t. But others were, so it’s all good.

A few days ago I decided to start my holiday proper (after climbing, messing about and having fun near Lima with Ol and Jess) in Ecuador. I have no special reason why there exactly, but it makes a lot more sense than starting in Terra del Fuego in August. Yesterday I decide that flying from Lima to Santiago to ski for a week, and then flying right back on my way to Ecuador, and then travelling back down the country overland didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It would be great to ski with Ol and Jess, and I hope that by piking now I’m not ruling myself out of future trips (although I might be). C’est la vie.

I got an electronic copy of my passport photo from my housemate (who is a pro photographer if you are in Brissy and need a wedding taken). I thought I’d place it on Flickr. Yes, it’s me. See?

Gear gear gear gear

Today I spent a pleasant hour or so in the gear shops. I would have preferred to be doing something else, but there you are.

I’m struggling to think of things to buy. I think I have nearly everything I need (except a new Goretex, pack and bike – minor stuff), and anything else will be just dead weight. But of course I do need a phrase book -so I got one from Looney Planet. I may have also spent a (err, long…) while in front of the travel books section in the book store. Now that I am almost (psychologically) ready to go, travel books, travel blogs, anything is giving me ideas and wanting me to get out there NOW! Instead of buying a book like that, I got a bilingual story book – the same story in Spanish on one page, and English translation on the opposite. Let’s see if I try and read it.

As far as gear… I’m going to try some Exofficio underwear. Heard good things, lets see how they go. And I got some boardies from MD’s in expectation of surfing again tomorrow – although the surfboard owners have already said it will be a late start due to cocktail party commitments tonight.

Where I have(n’t) been

Places I’ve been. And I thought I had traveled a fair bit. Look at all that white! And some of the red is only touch-downs, all of the US, South Africa… This years challenge: Colour in the Americas.

create your own visited countries map

Eastern Europe and Asia could be the next target.

Plan update

Tonight was a failed climbing night. I rocked up full of enthusiasm and sweat only to find the people with the ropes had already had enough and wanted to go home. So we watched the state of origin instead. Qld won, I guess that means ‘we’ won. Yay. Clearly not enough enthusiasm.

So I think something just went click in my head. Actually, it probably went crash! And probably long ago… I have had this grand plan of riding the Americas. I don’t know why. It probably comes from the same place as riding form Oz to UK came from. Since I’ve done some research, it doesn’t sound half as challenging going by motorbike – only cycling will really count. For some reason, I wanted to start at the southern tip and go north. This has been troubling me as July/August practically in Antarctica doesn’t sound like heaps of fun. Today (or rather late tonight) I stumbled across a blog of someone who has cycled from Ecuador south. That sounds like a much better plan.

Current plan:

Climb / Walk in Peru
Ski in Chile
early August, get back to Peru, get a bike
Get to Ecuador
Ride to Ushuaia

hmmm… could work.

GRUBbing about

Today has been a great day. 6am I was at the house of Andrea and Es, and sometime later we were joined by Ben, picked up Anders on the way and we were off. Up to the Sunshine coast for a surf first thing. Since I’ve only tried once on my own, I had limited chance of actually catching a wave, but I gave it a shot (for an hour or so) and manged to ride the wash in a few times. I reckon I could get that pretty easily if I lived where there are waves.

Then we drove to Mt Tibbrogargan in the glasshouse mountains for some climbing. We went to slider wall, first up I hacked my way up a grade 10 lead (The Fires of Jealousy) (easy, easy but difficult to get the head around leading again). It was sport leading, so not really leading but good to be above the rope again. And then some top roping on Blowing Bubbles, 17, and top roped Monkey Swallows The Universe, 14 which seemed easy enough to lead, so I did. Then the current challenge was to try Pigsy, 21 – I got up after a few sits in the harness (that didn’t feel hard enough to be a 21). Anyway, there was plenty climbing, and it was good day. Some photos were taken, but not by me, so I can only post them when I get them. (ed – some are on Flickr now)

Met Tina at the cliffs again. It appears the climbing community in Queensland is rather small. The people I met also know her. Honest, I’m not stalking her! She had a story to top mine by miles. After having climbed with Missy Higgins (yes, The Missy Higgins) she got invited to her concert on Friday night. Right place, right time Good on her. Lucky bugger.

How does this relate to the trip? Climbing training for Peru. I’d better get real good, real quick if I want to keep up.

21 working days to go.

That’s a little over a month.

I am looking forward to this trip now. It was ‘in the future’ until this week. Now I am reading about people who have cycled from Tierra del Fuego (land of fire – you’re kidding, it’s practically in Antarctica) to Venezuela, and even some who have gone to northern Alaska.

Image that… Cool. Ride around the world. I wonder if I could do that. Fly to Tierra del Fuego, buy a bike, and ride to Canada. Seems ambitious. I could call it coast to coast. A website called Pole to Pole already exists. What about polè-polè? Wrong language.

Current plan is to go very lightweight. Take enough gear to hike, climb, camp and ski (ie tent/bag and some clothes). Possibly ditch the heavy gear (jeans, etc) in Santiago and buy a bike/panniers/bike clothes over there. That aught to test my Spanish. The starting point of the tour is the real problem. Too far south in August could cause issues with weather. I don’t mind a bit of cold, but Antarctica in winter seems a little foolish (especially since I could start in Mexico in winter). Yet to be decided.

Trangia vs MSR Whisperlite

Ok, I know this is nerdy, but I did test these guys just to see which one really is better.

I’ve had a Trangia 25 (the bigger size) for ages and ages and it’s been great for all of that time. I went and bought an MSR whisperlite shaker-jet, basically because I’ve always wanted one. I didn’t really need it. But since I’ve got it, I thought I’d find out which is better.

I weighed them both:

Trangia
Wind shield: 400g
burner: 120g
grips: 55g
funky strainer/chopping board: 100g
pots (1.75L): 160g
(1.5L): 145g
lid/frying pan: 220g
All together: 1.06kg

Whisperlite
burner: 280g
fuel pump: 65g
spares/stuff sack: 40g
and I need to get some pots (or use the trangia pots)

The whisperlite is clearly lighter, mainly because the windshield is a piece of aluminium foil, rather than the solid storm shield of the trangia.

To boil three lots of 1L of water, the trangia used 75g of ethanol, the whisperlite used 35g of unleaded petrol.

The first litre took the trangia 9.5 mins, the second and third 7.5 mins each (the burner was already warm on the second and third goes).  the MSR took about 2 mins to prime and get warm, and then boiled the first liter in another 5 minutes. the second and third liters took 4.75 and 5 mins to come to a rolling boil.

The whisperlite is clearly faster, uses less fuel, fuel is easier to obtain and  is lighter. The trangia is far more stable, has a better wind shield, is dead easy to use, is cheaper, has no moving parts, doesn’t use explosive fuel and is plenty hot enough (the burn on my finger attests to that ). Plus I prefer the smell of methanol – I had a headache for the rest of the day after playing with unleaded. But which one is better? That depends on whether the fuel pump ever springs a leak… But I’ll be taking the new toy away with me.

Gear Freak

I’m starting to compile a list of gear I’ll need on this trip I’m about to take. In some ways it still feels like I’m going on a few weeks of holiday, not a life-changing break from work.

Perhaps that is because I’m obsessing about details, and not looking at the big picture. For example, I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday looking at what sort of tent I’ll take (and incidendally, I’ve ordered a camping Hammock from the US to try out before I go), and spent a few hours on Friday working out what pots will be lightest with the MSR cooker. And testing how long it takes to boil water with a trangia and a whisperlite (which I’ll post, since I’ve done the test). But I enjoy over-optimising problems – errr, any wonder why I do this job then? I could spend weeks trying to get my pack weight down.

For the record – the current plan has me in Peru with Ol and Jess, then skiing in Santiago. Then Ol and Jess go home and the plan falls flat. Being winter, I think I’ll head north, back into Peru and possibly further. If the weather is too cold, I’ll jump up to Canada, but not too quickly – I’ll have a working holiday visa for Canada by then, and don’t want it to run out before I’m ready to work again! A bike trip will eventuate somewhere in there, but I’m not sure where from or too, so I’m planning to get a bike when I’m there. That should test my Spanish.

SARA Rogaine

Kev and I have finally won a Rogaine.

Just bought my ticket

It’s becoming real now. I still have offers of more work in Oz, including
work in Adelaide now. Great timing. Maybe they’ll still be there when I get back.

Today I bought my ticket. I’m flying direct to Lima in Peru on June 26th. A
few days ahead of Ol and Jess.

Can’t wait now.