nicolaoutdoors

Early European explorers must have been a miserable lot. A 10km x 10km square of the Australian Alpine Region contains Mt Despair, Horrible Gap, the Terrible Hollow, the Devils Staircase and Mt Buggery. (Though, perhaps the latter was named for recreation after all the other trials and tribulations.) And, the ‘explorers’ didn’t even have to [...]

Last week we took a short trip to western Victoria. Our departure was a little delayed because of the fire and wind warnings for Tuesday, but we still managed a few days climbing at the Arapiles, a visit to Naracoorte Caves, a short paddle on the Lower Glenelg and a visit to Nelson. Naracoorte Caves [...]

This weekend was a SNOW weekend. And also my birthday-trip weekend (my birthday is on Monday). We snowshoed overnight packs and snow toys 5km (and 0.5km of elevation) up Mount Stirling on Saturday afternoon. My pack was almost intolerably heavy… but It was gorgeously white and fluffy everywhere we looked :) We set up camp [...]

I still can’t climb (yes, I’m having physio) and must also rest from repetitive upper arm movements, so no paddling either. We were pretty much down to diving or walking this weekend! For some reason diving didn’t appeal; I feel like I’ve been on and off fighting a cold for the last couple of weeks [...]

This long weekend (Anzac weekend) we had planned a three day, two night kayaking trip with our friends, Rod and Vanessa. The original plan was to leave Melbourne Thursday night, after fixing two (hired) double sea kayaks on the roof of Rod’s car, drive to Port Welshpool and make an early morning crossing (catching the [...]

photographs: Cradle Mountain Mount Anne Tasman Peninsula (underwater) Tasman Peninsula (land) Freycinet National Park Flowers & Plants movie: Blow Hole and Cave We left Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania and sailed overnight to Devonport, Tasmania. Arriving, tired but not (too) sick we picked up the groceries that customs disallows and headed to Cradle Mountain. [...]

On Friday night we left Melbourne and drove about 2.5 hours south-east to Port Albert, one of two tiny towns that are the gateways to the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park. The park is a series of low, sandy islands separated by tidal channels. Except for one, they are uninhabited and are a havan for [...]

Plan A was to drive out Friday night, sleep somewhere in the valley then Saturday morning drive up to the start of razorback ridge and hike out towards Mt. Feathertop doing some skiing and boarding and eventually set up camp. But, the weather forecast for Saturday was a little alarming: rain and strong gales. We [...]

Snow!! Mountains!! Snow!! Overnight trip to Mount Stirling aided by my Birthday Present!!! Special Thanks to Audrey for shipping these out to us from the U.S. … and boo for things costing so much here =/ Unbeleiveable but it cost the same amount to buy two pairs and pay shipping from the U.S. as it [...]

We purchased our MSR pocket rocket in an outdoor store in Palm Springs, California. We were kind of forced to do this because of the Alaska Airlines policy of no-stoves, not even brand new ones on flights. So, for a 6 night trip through Joshua Tree and Death Valley we decided that buying a cheap [...]