Australian Hiker

Talking about hiking food can get you into a lot of trouble; everyone knows best, and their view is always the correct one! Its not quite in the same category as talking politics over Christmas lunch but it sometimes comes close. Everyone has their food preference and ours is freeze-dried food. In this podcast episode we’re going to discuss why that is.

The Boots McFarland hiking cartoon is the brainchild of Geolyn Carvin. In this episode we get a bit of background on Geolyn and 'Boots' and discuss how the creative process for this wonderful hiking cartoon comes about.

In this episode we discuss options for waste reduction and how we can care for the environment as hikers. Now before you switch off thinking we are going to take the moral high ground, be warned that while we are all about minimising our impact on the environment, it’s not as simple as it sounds.

In this week's episode we interview Lucy Barnard from Tangles and Tail as she attempts her journey from the southern-most point of South America to the northern-most point in Alaska. This is an epic journey, almost solely by foot, covering around 30,000 km in distance. In this episode, we find out a bit about Lucy (Tangles) and Wombat - the ‘Tail’ member of her team, the reason behind her trip, the logistical issues surrounding such a massive undertaking, and how her journey has gone so far. This is an episode not to miss!

Fire is one of those things to which we all seem to be drawn. It warms us when we’re cold, it was the main method of cooking since cooking began and for whatever reason it creates an emotive reaction in most of us - we can just sit and watch it for hours on end. On the flip side fire can be extremely dangerous causing massive damage to the environment, to property and occasionally loss of life. In this episode we discuss fire and hiking looking at the do’s and don’ts to help you create the best experience when dealing with fire on the trail.

Pick any activity that you do and no matter what it is there are costs associated with it; hiking is no different. Costs for gearing up and for undertaking trips can be almost negligible but at the opposite end of the scale they can also add up costing many thousands of dollars. In this episode we discuss options for getting on the trail and look at where you should be targeting your funds to get the best bang for your buck.

Over three days in Easter 2019 I walked the 112km from Kiandra in the Snowy Mountains to Tharwa (a section of the Australian Alps Walking Track). Doing an extreme walk is one of the annual challenges I set myself and this one was also a learning opportunity to do some pre-planning for a planned thru hike of this alpine trail. This podcast contains a series of recordings over the three days and describes what I was seeing and how I was feeling; I learnt some hard lessons on this hike!

If you live in Australia, or for that matter many other countries in the world, then you will be familiar with with the concept of National Parks. In fact many of the walks that we do as hikers around this country are to be found in National Parks. But what are they and how did they come about? In this podcast we provide a brief overview of the history of National Parks what they mean from an Australian perspective.

In this episode we go beyond the realms of this hiking podcast and are talking with British adventurer, and author, Adrian Hayes about his latest book ‘One Man’s Climb’ which details his account of his first unsuccessful attempt to summit k2, the worlds second highest mountain, also known as the ‘mountaineers mountain’, or the 'Savage mountain' in 2013 and his subsequent successful attempt in 2014.  You may never aspire to summiting K2 but Adrian has some key takeaways that are applicable to anyone who is thinking of putting themselves outside their comfort zone to achieve there goals.

As long as the humans have been around we have been looking at ways of improving our lives. But with this improved lifestyle we are progressively becoming a less fit, fatter, more sedentary population, that spends little time exerting any energy. So while our average lifespan is now at its longest our fitness hasn't necessarily improved and this is where hiking comes in. Hiking gets us into the bush and has many positive impacts; physical ,emotional, and mental, and that's what we will be discussing in todays episode.

'Packing your fears' is a way of saying you are carrying items in your pack based on your worries or fears; your worst case scenario. In today's episode we discuss how to overcome these this tendency to overpack.

Have you ever thought about how the trails that we know and love so much come to be? The design and construction of modern day hiking trails is a complex and time consuming process and if done right the trail will appear as if it's always existed.In this episode we interview the Project Manager, and the Architect, for the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail to find out what's involved in bringing a new trail online.

Ever wanted to hike Kilimanjaro, the Himalayas, or the Andes? One of the major considerations on these hikes is the impact of Altitude Sickness which can become very serious; in fact it can sometimes have lethal impacts. In this episode we discuss ways of mitigating the impacts of high altitude on hikes to ensure that we get the best out of our experience.

Drinking coffee when you're out hiking is a quandary. Do you put up with bad coffee just because you're away from your fancy machine, or do you give it up until you are back home? Well maybe you don't have too. This episode discusses options for making coffee on the trail from the 'just Ok' to the 'this is pretty dam good'. We also discuss  coffee alternatives if you want your caffeine fix without the hassle of making coffee.

We thought that we would try something a bit different and in this episode we are answering a series of questions asked by our listeners.