60kms round trip by foot.
Yikes 
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Haha thought there would be one in CBD for sure! Admittedly, have never heard of the store before.
They’ve got some great stuff at reasonable prices.
Really happy with a hiking backpack I got from them.
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They’re kind of a local version of AliExpress/Temu.
Decent quality “knock offs” but with 1000x less chance of your identity being stolen lol.
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Never thought about them in an AliExpress/Temu way.
They do have some premium lines.
I dropped some coin on a rain jacket at the Box Hill store that years ago I would have topped out at a third the price.
I’m beginning to appreciate the value of good gear.
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I took the young bloke along for his first overnight hike, last night.
The Beeripmo track is open again at Mt. Buangor. So we did a nice little 4km hike to the Beeripmo Campground.
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Did the Routeburn with some mates a few years back when I was still living in Chch. They flew in from Australia and I decked them out in everything they needed - brand new kit from the place I worked. They looked like shiny new toys.
So we catch the Glenorchy school bus out to the start of the track and there’s this little girl sitting next to us, no more that eight or nine years old and she asks us what we were doing.
“The Routeburn” my friend proudly says.
“Oh that’s easy”, she says. “We did that as a school trip earlier this year”.
Anyway, it’s the height of Winter and they’ve just had fresh dumps of snow. We get to Routeburn Falls hut the first night and my mates are pretty relaxed, after all school kids do this as an excursion.
So I pull out the avalanche transceivers, probes and snow shovels and go about teaching them how to use them but they’re still not too focussed and the wine’s making them make light of the training exercise.
Next day we head off up towards Harris Saddle - it’s only about 1300 metres high but it’s steep and the snow is deep and it’s fairly hard going. The orange track guide poles are well covered, so we’re using maps to navigate up and the drop off the edge of the track is pretty steep.
I turn around to tell them to be careful as we cross a particularly trick bit and as soon as I turn back around, one mate slips and almost tumbles over the edge - gashing one leg with the crampon on the opposite foot. He looked like a naughty school kid sitting there surrounded by bright red blood on the blanket of white snow.
So I patch him up and then rope us up and we make slow progress to the saddle where the Harris Shelter roof is just visible under the fresh snow. Suddenly there’s a massive crack and a fresh avalanche peels off the slope ahead of us. By this stage, my mate’s are totally petrified and wondering if we’ll make it but we do of course.
We cross about another twenty fresh avalanche slides as we make our way down towards Lake McKenzie Hut. It’s tough going, wading through waist high snow and by the time we get there, everyone’s a bit cooked.
My mate reckons the only thing that kept him going was the voice of the little smart arse on the bus on repeat in his head - “Oh, that’s easy”!
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Done the Heaphy track at the North west end of the South Island. 5 days hut to hut. Very pleasant. Last day you emerge on the west coast which is fringed by Nikau palms.
Most epic was the Rakiura Track on Stewart Island. Takes 10 to 11 days. Involved a food drop by plane on about day 7. Lots of mud and primeval NZ forest and coastal walking. Probably the most enjoyable walk I have done. Did it with a mate. Hut every night. Best walk in NZ for kiwi sightings.
Edit. Just realised @handypoint post is pretty old !
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Stewart Island - the only part of NZ I never explored - regretted it. Would have been epic. Kepler in Winter was a great track - just ourselves and the Keas.
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Snakes both fascinate me but scare the absolute ■■■■ out of me! Going the snake gaiters for sure!
PS Apologies for the random posts - I’m obviously catching up on this thread as I lay in my nice warm bed this morning in my camper trailer at Inverloch where it is starting to blow a gale.
I’m up to Nov 23 and @Eastie_Boi1 is just starting to play with kayaks, @jonovdp is making me go out and buy a dehydrator - might head to nearby Leongatha as they should be cheap there, @benny is giving me ideas about local walks.
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Haven’t encountered too many snakes on hikes except at Narcissus Hut on the Tassie overland. Big tiger snakes slithering around everywhere. Sitting around waiting for the boat and a big one passed between us and a group of French hikers who completely freaked.
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Kmart one will do the trick
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I have been happy with my Aldi dehydrator
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I’ve probably mentioned it on here, but a few years back a walk along the coliban river was accompanied by big tiger and brown snakes seemingly every 20 meters (that’s how it felt) , and whilst paused watching one sunning itself just off the track I looked down to see a baby one go across my boot. It was a very slow and nervy walk out……
Purely anecdotal , but this was early in the season and I’m convinced that the last decade has seen very very successful breeding seasons for the bloody things. 6 foot EB’s used to be thankfully relatively rare, not so much any more.
Yep, and because of the heat of the winter periods…. They are out for much longer.
I posted this in the Camping thread 2 and half weeks ago.
Turned out of the gravel road of the Camp ground I was staying at in my car, and there in the middle of the road was a Tiger snake moving very slowly.
Barely moving, in fact.
Have no doubt if I kept driving I would have run over it.
Not sure he/she was all that happy with me getting in close for a photo (I wasn’t that close…trust me)
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It probably wasn’t happy with you calling it a tiger snake.
Copperheads don’t read.
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A local told me it was a Tiger Snake.
Initially I thought (assumed) it was a Brown, but he informed me there are no Browns in the Mornington Peninsula.