Table of contents for Issue 167, Sep-Oct 2018 in Wild

Recently couch-bound, and trawling Netflix, I started watching ‘Dark Tourist’ – a travel documentary series fronted by NZ journalist David Farrier. This investigatory travel series explores the concept of ‘dark’ tourism, revealing a subculture of travellers who plan their travels around destinations that happen to be the site of some gruesome historical event or unsettling cultural taboo. Whether visiting places famous for their association with warfare, disaster or criminal violence, Farrier discovers a group of foreigners willing and wanting to spend a vacation in places steeped in the unspeakable. While seemingly macabre, perhaps this motivation isn’t that different when compared with ‘thrill seekers’, who often plan travel specifically because of the (mortal) danger that will ensue. My ongoing enquiry into what motivates people to leave their day-to-day and experience something…

TOP END THRILLS Take your next holiday to the extreme and do the best of the Top End. There’s everything the adventurist could want to see and do - from four-wheel driving to some of the country’s most picturesque fishing spots. Jumping crocs keep the adrenaline levels up on the Adelaide River, as does the famous Cage of Death, Australia’s only crocodile dive. The cage brings you face-to-snout with a 5m crocodile in an encounter that really has to be seen to be believed! Take on the spectacular coastline and really charge your senses with an open-door helicopter ride to cap it all off. The Northern Territory screams adventure, and this is a holiday you won’t forget.…

Their heads sweep from side to side. Eyes flick in different directions. Rangers Mosa and Mario are always scanning the breadth of the Botswana bush, ready to react at a moment’s notice. Leaning on their bikes, they ooze a kind of casual cool. But even when chatting, I suspect a part of their brain is permanently on yellow alert in case an elephant charges. We are taking a shady break from the deadly midday heat of Mashatu – a fenceless game reserve on the eastern fringes of the Kalahari Desert. Riding mountain bikes along ancient elephant trails might not be the most conventional way to observe the array of wildlife here, but it is a better way according to Mosa and Mario. Among white, calcium-rich hyena poo, we chat about…

Deep within a burrow atop Australia’s highest mountains, under a blanket of snow, lies someone very unexpected – the Guthega skink. As Australia’s highest elevation reptile, this lizard spends almost half of its life hibernating underground to avoid the harsh winter conditions above the tree line in this unique ecosystem. The Australian Alps is far more than a winter wonderland for adventurers and extreme sports adrenalin junkies. Visitors are oft en blissfully unaware that beneath their board lie some of the country’s best kept secrets. As the snow melts and washes away the seasonal influx of tourists, the shy permanent residents awake from their slumber. Boulder fields become highways for the mountain pygmy possum, alpine she-oak skinks emerge from frosty tussock grasslands, and sphagnum bog systems reveal the holes of…

The Castle is one of the most spectacular, challenging and rewarding day walks in Australia. It is one of the singular features of the Budawangs wilderness, where the cliff-lined plateaus and valleys that extend south from the Blue Mountains end in crumbled cliffs and a maze of rocky gullies. From a distance it’s hard to see a way to the top of The Castle, which looks a bit like a giant two-tiered cake made of solid rock. But there is a way, although it involves a lot of rock scrambling and in several points hauling yourself up a sheer slope on a rope (when we visited these were safely in place but most guides recommend taking 20 metres of rope just in case). It’s not for the faint-hearted but the…

In the last issue of Wild (166), we announced the range of coolers Otterbox are launching into the Australian market. Now that the first shipment of coolers have arrived on our shores, I’ve had the chance to test the two smaller soft coolers available; the Trooper 20 (18.9 litres) and the Trooper LT30 (28.3 litres). Given the price tag of each (Trooper 20: $369.99 and Trooper LT30: $429.99), these coolers are clearly aimed at the premium end of the market. However, for the investment, you are also getting a cooler that both looks and feels high-end (and are manufactured to commensurately high specifications). Both coolers are constructed using a TPU-coated nylon exterior. This is the same material used in the marine industry and is water, puncture, UV and chemical resistant.…

TASCH-DOM TRAVERSE Location: Zermatt, Valais, Switzerland Photographer: Ben Tibbetts Date taken: August 2017 Jöttnar’s Tom Coney works his away along the Tasch-Dom Traverse. Considered a classic Swiss expedition, the traverse starts from the Taschhorn (4491m), finishing on the summit of the highest mountain in Switzerland, the Dom (4545m). First climbed in 1895, the traverse is over a kilometre in length, and all above 4000 metres. TRES HUEVONES Location: Upper Rio Palguin, Chile Photographer: Anja Fuechtbauer Date taken: December 2017 Camera: SONY AA7II, f8.0, ISO125, 1/1000 Lens: Sony Zeiss 24-70mm f4.0 Johannes Hendriks boofs the three-metre drop out of Tres Huevones on the Upper Rio Palguin. He ran this section multiple times and not all runs looked so skillfully mastered. THREE IDIOTS Melissa Hickson, who usually guides for the local Pucon…

Exhausted, dining on sticks of butter and dragging up to 150 kilograms each across ice and snow for 18 days, it’s fair to say that kiteboarding across Greenland isn’t everyone’s idea of a family holiday. But Queensland adventurers Geoff Wilson and son-in-law Simon Goodburn wouldn’t have done it any other way. “Give me an hour of a life less ordinary over a lifetime of the ordinary,” laughs Geoff, now back at home, juggling his veterinarian business on the Gold Coast with plans for the next adventure. “I’ll certainly pursue an adventurous life to the end,” smiles Simon beside him. The unlikely duo has become Australia’s own version of a Jamaican bobsled team. Armed with the moral drive and strength associated with any good cause – raising funds and awareness for…

The hallways of exploration are decorated with the conquests of our forebears, each of whom challenged the limits of possibility, rolled the dice and ventured off into the unknown. Success was most often measured by a triumphant return, with a flag firmly planted in the ground, marking a new boundary or new frontier. As each chapter of exploration closes, a new one soon opens; the introduction of new technologies allows new ways and new frontiers to be explored. Even today, the accolades for exploration are still bestowed on those who push the furthest, go the fastest, or discover some new frontier. Endorsements and notoriety seem only for those who score a blockbuster headline and a new entry in the history books. And so it was, with this same mindset, that…

Some parts of this glorious world are so strikingly different and exotic that you just have to see them for yourself, to behold vistas and feel sensations so foreign to your past experience that it feels like you’re on another planet. For an ordinary lad from the dreary UK city of Birmingham now living in the sunny paradise of Australia, Yellowknife is one such place. I first heard of Yellowknife from a throwaway line in an angry punk song about gentrification 20 years ago, but the name and the context stuck in my head as the archetypal place to get away from society and all its associated ills – a vast, frozen land of endless purity and bitter cold. Visiting Canada during winter took a long time to reach the…

Yeah dude, you’ve got this!” Above, a headlight glowed, behind it was the bouncing shape of a very excited Alex, providing a solid belay and some welcome words of encouragement. My hands were jammed into overhanging cracks, from which shiny trad gear was frantically extracted. Hidden below, my feet probed blindly for secure footing. The jutting rock overhead kept knocking a much-needed headlamp askew, exacerbating an already frantic situation. With a final heave, no doubt accompanied by involuntary grunts, the final piece of this vertical puzzle was unlocked. Increasing levels of lactic acid and desperation were suddenly traded for positive holds and an unmistakable feeling of jubilation. Beside me Alex was grinning ear to ear, dangling from a slightly unconventional and rather ingenious anchor. He’d slung a loop of rope…

Although the Akasha from La Sportiva is designed as a trail running shoe, I decided to give them a go in order to see how well they would translate to more general bushwalking or hiking. Over the past nine months, my pair of Akasha’s have been worn on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, numerous day hikes around Sydney, and even (occasionally) for their intended purpose: running. So far, I’ve been impressed with how the Akashas have performed. I’m not a trail runner, so I can’t vouch for how the Akashas compare as a trail running shoe, however it is useful to consider the attributes of this category of shoes and how they may benefit a hiker. Firstly, trail runners’ shoes are designed to be light. I have big…

Delivering to Australia and New Zealand for the first time, UK-based outdoor apparel brand Jöttnar continues its lightning-fast expansion. Founded in 2013 by two ex-marine commandos who also happen to be keen climbing and skiing enthusiasts, the company is dedicated to the design and production of highly technical mountain clothing. Co-founders Tommy Kelly and Steve Howarth settled on their business concept while training in the Norwegian winter, where their experience operating for extended periods in harsh conditions made them wonder what appetite there might be for suitably protective gear among ‘civilian users’. “Our love of the high mountains, as well as a lot of hard-won practical knowledge of clothing performance felt like a solid foundation,” said Howarth. “As skiers and climbers, going faster, harder, steeper, higher have always been the…

As the temperature continued to hover around 27 degrees, we sweated our way towards Brinkley Bluff. Covered in sunscreen and sporting ever-so-fashionable, broad-brimmed cricket hats, nevertheless the unseasonable weather took its toll. The dry air and red sand sucked the moisture from our mouths, however we pushed on knowing that each metre we ascended gave rise to another inch of the West Macdonnell Ranges. As our climb ended, we were rewarded with stunning and expansive views over the entire mountain range. From the small traces of green lining the valleys to the expanses of red dirt, that infiltrated every inch of our bodies and gear, Australia’s remote and desert centre was all we could see from horizon to horizon – without a glimpse of civilisation in sight. The Larapinta Trail…

When the heavens opened in Wangaratta, I began to fear for the snow we were chasing. If it was raining up in the mountains, would all our snow have been washed away? Perhaps at that altitude, droplets of rain would morph into their crystalline cousins and we’d find more snow than we’d anticipated? Dad and I drove for hours in the hope of trudging to Mount Feathertop through the last snows of the season. DAY ONE After a night at the Alpine Hotel in Bright, we drove to Harrietville to begin our walk mid-morning. I’d hoped that when leaving Bright, Feathertop would emerge in its gracious enormity. I expected it to be sporting a glistening white cap and powdery streams flowing down its impressive gullies. Alas, much of the peak…

Indonesia and Sumatra have clearly staked their place on the international hit list for surfers, but who thinks of world-class whitewater? With the greater watershed and catchment formed by the last super volcano to erupt, the warm turbid waters of the Asahan River drain the caldera through stunning basalt box canyons overhung by tropical jungle. It’s not uncommon to be chased down the river by gibbons, spot rhinoceros hornbill flying over head or even hear stories of tigers coming down to the village to eat chickens. The Asahan Valley is truly the wild side of Asia and is most definitely not on any tourist trail. The major draw card is obviously the seldom paddled 20 kilometres of warm whitewater ranging from Class 2 to 6 (mostly a sporty 4+) but…

The concept for creating a large national park northeast of Melbourne has persisted, according to some, for three decades or more. In recent years, the discussion has been brought to the fore by an organisation called – and proposing to create – Great Forest National Park (GFNP). Since 2013, the non-profit group and it’s affiliates have been growing support for a network of state forests, parks and other protected areas to be combined into a national park under a ‘multi-tiered’ tenure system that allows for a modified array of recreation activities within protected areas. NOT SO GORDIAN? Not everyone agrees with the Great Forest National Park, arguing that any plans to curb some intensive industries, including logging, will threaten livelihoods in regional communities. Reported by The Weekly Times in 2017,…

For just over forty years, Osprey Packs have been doing nothing other than designing and manufacturing packs. While this may not seem so unusual, today most of the large multinational outdoor brands produce a whole range of products. This generally means that if one range fails to resonate with consumers, the brand can rely on other products to fill the void. No so for Osprey. They have no fallback. The success of their company relies on the success of their packs. This need, therefore, to continue to design, innovate and release new packs season after season, is certainly reflected in Osprey’s founder and still chief product designer, Mike Pfotenhaurer. Raised in Oregon (USA), Mike grew up hiking locally as well as summer holidays spent in Canada. While the outdoors were…