Our Hiking Blog

Our Hiking Blog friend, Matthias, has an interesting tale of a young German walker who came across him recently on a walk from Lake St Clair, Pine Valley, Never Never, Walls of Jerusalem, Lake Ball to Dixon’s Kingdom.

Matthias was alone at the camp near Dixon’s hut, but just as the weather set in and visibility reduced to 50m, in strolled a young German backpacker.

Experienced walkers can tell hair raising tales of young travellers poorly prepared for the unpredictable weather encountered in Tassie’s highlands, but Matthias says this young fellow was extremely poorly prepared, with only street clothes and cross runners, a plastic poncho and three plastic bags of supermarket food.

With no hiking boots, proper raincoat, gaiters, GPS, …

I know we are a bit obsessed by snakes here at Our Hiking Blog but there is always that niggling concern you may be bitten by a snake while in an isolated place.  The odds are very low but the more we walk, the more we tend to see snakes along the way.

We were recently contacted by Ben from The Australian Snake Bite Kit asking about advertising on the site.  After sussing out his product we happily agreed to go ahead. The observant ones among you may notice his advert to the right of screen!

As part of the “deal” Ben has offered to provide a FREE Australian Snake Bite Kit as a competition prize.

So, here is the …

Ah, such a cliché, New Year’s resolutions, here one day gone the next………

BUT, without a goal or plan where are we?

Probably meandering aimlessly from one year to the next, thinking about organising an adventure somewhere, or dare I say,  looking back with regret on all those lost opportunities from our Nursing Home bed.

So, time for action we reckon!…

One of the common concerns many bushwalkers and hikers have in the heat of Australian summer is the risk of a snake bite.  In reality this risk is incredibly small.

Most people who get bitten by a snake have broken some simple rules. John, a great mate of ours, has shared the following tips from an article in a recent Great Walks magazine December/January 2011 edition:

1.Snakes don’t hear noise …

One of our regular readers contacted us asking what is the best field guide to birds in Tasmania. Not being birding people we are a bit stumped but remembered a trip to the South Coast of Tasmania where we met some Twitchers.

Ok, so what is a twitcher? Off to Wikipedia for a definition:

The term twitcher, sometimes misapplied as a synonym for birder, is reserved for those who travel long distances to see a rare bird that would then be ticked, or checked off, on a list. The term originated in the 1950s, when it was used to describe the nervous behaviour of Howard Medhurst, a British birdwatcher.

The main goal of twitching is often to

…