Table of contents for Issue 159, May-June 2017 in Wild

“We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” — ORSON WELLES As a wilderness adventure magazine, Wild has a strong focus on wildlife and natural landscapes from Australia and beyond. This is something that our readers are familiar with; it sits at the core of the magazine’s mission and it enables us to consider a very broad range of related activities, places and points of interest. Likewise, I tend to find myself writing these letters with a strong focus given to non-human entities, but this isn’t to ignore the intrepid people who venture out, who guide and protect. Perhaps some of you reading this right now enjoy time alone in nature for…

The Tasmanian government has given the ‘go-ahead’ for five, modern, two-storey cabins on the famed South Coast Track and the ABC reports that this is supported by senior officers of the Hobart Walking Club and by Bushwalking Tasmania, representing nine bushwalking clubs across the state. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is the only place among more that 1,000 on the World Heritage list which has the word ‘wilderness’ in its name. It is an archetype of wilderness around the world in an age when wilderness is one of the planet’s fastest-disappearing, non-renewable resources. Wilderness is a large area of intact nature which is effectively free of the impact of modern technology. Most such wild areas, including those in Tasmania, have been lived in by human beings without permanent structures…

The edge dropped perilously away. We hardly dared lean out far enough to see how sheer the drop was. With heavy hiking boots, full packs and 30 years since we’d last tackled Mount Anne, returning to complete the Mount Anne circuit suddenly seemed rather ambitious. Still, in that time we’d had a daughter brought up as a bushwalker, and she was unfazed by the drop. “It’s called a layback,” she explains, crouched down and facing away from the precipice. “Because you just take hold of the crack in the rock, extend your arms, and lay back your weight like this – it’s easy!” JILL: The Mount Anne circuit had long been on my wish list. As a child, our family had been into outdoor holidays, but my mother was amazed…

Thousands of Australian skiers and snowboarders venture into alpine backcountry areas chasing that extra thrill. As a result, they’re seeking more skills to make themselves safer in the mountains. Founder of New Zealand’s World Heli Challenge Tony “Harro” Harrington has heard their call and developed a backcountry 101 program at Mount Buller, Victoria. With expert staff, Harro will teach alpine enthusiasts how to use safety and rescue equipment, how to read terrain and what to do in a rescue situation. THE BACKGROUND Hailing from the surf beaches of the NSW Central Coast, Harro has always been happiest in the outdoors. For most of the year he’s travelling and considers world-renowned ski town/resort Jackson Hole, Wyoming, his North American home, along with Alaska, where he’s been working on and off for…

When rogaining, ‘the sport of cross-country navigation’, traversing across a swamp or squeezing between rocks is challenge enough. Add in a baby in a backpack or a couple of short-legged toddlers and the adventure steps up a notch. With kids, rogaine routes factor in not only finding checkpoints, but can add in the useful places for changing nappies, breastfeeding and stopping for a play along the way. Rogaining is a long-time pursuit of mine. A particularly memorable 24-hour event I had was undertaken with Jody – my rogaining partner – and her 9-month-old baby. Close to dark, we called in the cavalry (her husband Thanh), to come down a bush track and retrieve the baby. Being ‘baby-less’ for a few hours, allowed us to continue into the dark, dense bush.…

Issue 158, Mar-Apr 2017 LETTER OF THE ISSUE Jillian wins the MSR PocketRocket Stove Kit, valued at $225. This lightweight cooking kit will suit solo or couple adventures, including MSR’s PocketRocket stove, a 2-litre aluminium pot, 2 bowls, 2 mugs, a strainer lid and 2 folding sporks. WILD WAYFINDING The title of Michele Kohout’s article ‘Reading the landscape’ in issue 157, attracted my attention as I have recently been reading a lot of (mostly English) nature writing. As I read Michele’s column about using the vegetation to navigate your way through a landscape, it brought to mind a recent conversation with a friend who had just returned from a few days camping in a remote area of Tasmania’s southwest, inside the World Heritage Area. Coincidently, he owns Wildabout Packrafting, whose…

I was born in southern Brazil and was, quite frankly, a city boy for most of my childhood and teenage years. I’ve always been interested in photography due to my mum being a visual artist herself, and sought to learn with some close friends who were filmmakers and photographers. Many of my friends work in the advertising industry, so being surrounded by creatives has certainly sparked interest in the craft. I remember really getting into photography after a trip to Germany and Poland in 2007 – a lot of my friends were taking pictures and I was like, “Mate, help me out!” I left my home country in 2006 after five years working for a big corporation. I was seeking to change my lifestyle and experience a different career path.…

It starts. The hint of another day. A tinge that overtakes the pale sheen of moon and stars. The brightening fills the nylon dome overhead and moment by moment it twitches a gauzy awakening. Waves are sploshing into the bay below. The sea air is lush and cool. A lone magpie starts gabbling and soon the scrub around the tent is a ruckus of calls and chirping. The track steered me through the trees. I’d been waiting for weeks to shamble among the manna gums and messmates. After so many broiling autumn days there was at last a little cool air to frolic in. The bush still had that defeated, end-of-summer look with drifts of pale grass and leaves crackling underfoot. In the hard noon-day light the forest flaunted every…

“Travelling through the Indonesian jungle and through small villages with a surfboard have been some of the most treasured memories I’ve had overseas.” – Ash Grunwald The ARIA-nominated blues musician, who was once recognised by a distinctive tangle of dreadlocks, sports a more everyman look these days. Having grown up and started his career in Australia, Ash Grunwald now looks completely at home on the beaches of Bali, where he currently resides. The singer-songwriter is back on the PR scene in 2017 to promote the launch of a new single, ‘Hammer’ and the promise of an upcoming tour. And while we were extremely interested to hear Ash’s latest offering, we also wanted to hear about what he’s been getting up to the past few years, and how he came to…

Lying in my tent at the Stockyard Flat campground, I listened to the rain pour down and worried whether the students had set their tents up properly. The lightning turned night into day and the resulting thunder made the ground tremble. Mother Nature was bearing down on Wilsons Promontory National Park and we hadn’t even taken our first steps. But I shouldn’t have been surprised. It’s a place with some of the most fickle weather I have ever experienced. As a friend of mine always jokes: “The Prom makes its own weather systems.” As Victoria’s oldest national park The Prom holds significant history to both indigenous Australians and European settlers alike. Shellfish middens can be located throughout the park and whale-bones can be found at some remote hiking campsites, dating…

How often do you pause long enough to properly look at a flower, fruit or seed pod? Do you count the petals, think about the texture, colour, shape or size? It is this sort of observation and curiosity that is second nature to botanical artists. By understanding the minutiae of our surroundings, we can become better observers and have a better affinity with the landscapes around us. In this three part series, I hope to delve into the importance of botanical art in the early exploration of our continent by Europeans, why the skill is still sought after and finally, how the pursuit can be useful and accessible to anyone who ventures into the bush in the current day. WHAT IS IT? Botanical art involves the drawing and painting of…

REPAYING MY DEBT: A CONSERVATIONIST’S TALE by Geoff Mosley (Envirobook, $30) As one of Australia’s pioneering environmentalists and long-distance walkers, Geoff Mosley is familiar to many readers of Wild, as he has contributed and been the subject of profiles with some regularity. Now in retirement, Mosley continues to stay active with pet projects not the least of which include agitating to have a complete walking track to join Melbourne and Canberra via the Australian Alpine Walking Track. Another project of recent years had been this memoir. Far-ranging in its content, the book is broken up into sections that broadly cover what he sees as being sections of his life, including ‘Growing up in the Peak’ and ‘ACF Director 1973-86 and other activities’. Not only do these sections cover his upbringing,…

SALOMON SENSE PRO 2 $229.95 As a casual trail runner, the Sense Pro 2 is the first pair of fit-for-purpose trail running shoes I’ve owned and there are some clear benefits for having a dedicated race day shoe as well as your usual trainers. I did a few runs in this pair before putting them to the test at Sharpy’s Beer Run over Main Ridge at Arthur’s Seat, Victoria. The course was largely representative of most bush tracks with plenty of tree roots, uneven ground and rocks to trip up the unwary. Mostly I’ve found this model very good for its use in these sort of activities, being very comfortable and lightweight, as well as being well ventilated. Over all the surfaces I ran on, the shoes gripped well and…

Wild’s evolution: Under new management Australia’s longest running wilderness adventure magazine has been purchased and is beginning its next phase of development. Earlier this year, Wild announced it was seeking expressions of interest from anyone who would consider taking on a magazine with 35-plus years of print heritage in the outdoors space. That call drew plenty of interest, but it was Sydney-based entrepreneur and outdoors enthusiast Roland Handel that succeeded in acquiring the publication. “Wild continues to be an inspiration and useful resource to anyone in the Australian adventure space,” said Handel. “It’s also becoming apparent that it’s a much-needed, independent voice for conservation at a time when the environment is increasingly threatened by industry.” The avid paddler and bushwalker said that he believes Wild has a bright future, and…

A little over a month ago I became a father for the first time and although I have been environ-mentally active for over a decade, it was this historic moment that the true importance of the environment suddenly became so apparent and so important. The WWF recently published its annual Living Planet Report and it was stunning to read that we now consume 1.6 times the regenerative capacity of our planet to recover. To explain this we need to work backwards. We have a closed biosphere called Earth and it has a regenerative capacity that is capped by our “natural capital”, consisting our forests, rainclouds, oceans, fish stocks, water and top soil. Every year this “natural capital” has a regenerative capacity seen by the amount of new fish stocks or…

1 TrailPro $239 Redesigned for 2017, this Therm-a-Rest mattress offers a high warmth-to-loft ratio in a self-inflating format and available in a new Regular Wide size. www.spelean.com.au 2 Ascensionist Pack 30L $229.95 A versatile backpack built for light routes but is designed to expand for overstuffing. Perfect for 1-2 days speed ascents in places like Chamonix or Patagonia. www.patagonia.com.au 3 Micro Bushshirt $129.95 A unisex top made from soft, lightweight Polartec Classic Micro 100 weight fleece and finished with Polartec Power Dry trims for durability in high abrasion areas. www.mont.com.au 4 T4MO-1 Hikers Hat $180 Designed especially for hikers, this hat is guaranteed for life, includes an evaporative cooling insert and is certified UPF 50+ for superior sun protection. www.spelean.com.au 5 Women’s Splash Rollup Pants $129.95 Made from a performance…