Australian Alone

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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Moondog55 » Wed 29 Mar, 2023 9:03 pm

Well I just watched the first 2 episodes.
I think I made a serious mistake by withdrawing my application. Given the 3 months notice I too could have stacked on another 19 kilos
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby andrewa » Mon 03 Apr, 2023 7:40 pm

I’m not sure what episode/s I watched with my wife last night, but, to see bloke #1 withdraw due to “missing his family”, day 2, woman #2 withdraw day 2 because she couldn’t light a fire, and the bloke #3 be medically evacuated coz of CoVid….what a joke, and what a crap program. My beloved, who has enjoyed her time in the bush, but less so in recent years, even said that she could survive out there for a week without a problem.

Complete waste of time.

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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Tortoise » Mon 03 Apr, 2023 8:29 pm

It might get more interesting when the focus is on the people who are actually prepared for it. But it looks like there'll be so few left that it might be hard to eke out a program.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby andrewa » Mon 03 Apr, 2023 8:44 pm

It’s lost me already.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Tortoise » Mon 03 Apr, 2023 8:48 pm

I can see why.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Moondog55 » Tue 04 Apr, 2023 7:52 am

It was suggested on another forum that the producers have deliberately chosen people who wouldn't do well to keep the costs down and make a short run program.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Tortoise » Tue 04 Apr, 2023 8:03 am

Maybe, but I reckon to have them dropping like flies on Day 2 doesn't do much to engage an audience.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Tue 04 Apr, 2023 10:05 am

Will reserve final judgement until another couple of episodes drop and the (likely) more competent competitors get some screen time, but yeah, not inspiring viewing. Mind you, a couple of people dropping out within 24-48 hrs has been par for the course in other series.

That said I've just discovered Joshua Jonas who won Season 6 in the Arctic. By all accounts, he's every other person who's competed in the show look like a floundering amateur. Guy successfully bow hunted a freakin' moose, killed a wolverine who tried to get into his meat cache and had over a month of food stored up when they came and told him it was the last guy standing after 77 days.

Hate to say it, but I think I'd rather watch that...
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby WestcoastPete » Wed 05 Apr, 2023 4:20 pm

Spoiler alert please! I haven't watched that one yet!
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Wed 05 Apr, 2023 4:38 pm

Apologies - but it was four years ago ;-)
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby WestcoastPete » Wed 05 Apr, 2023 5:33 pm

Yeah I'm slow at most things. I watched a bunch of series in a row and have given it a break for a while. I really love the show. I like getting to know the characters and their motivations and skills and stuff. And I love imagining doing it. It's entertainment TV though which only works if you don't take it too seriously. I'm looking forward to seeing how this Aussie one pans out
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Moondog55 » Thu 06 Apr, 2023 9:19 am

The artificial constraints put on contestants seem designed to make things much more difficult.
I've read that the area is so hard to make a living in that the whole West Coast of Tassie was pretty much abandoned by the locals at the end of the last ice age when rainfall increased dramatically.
Short finned eels are disgusting tucker and I'd really have to be starving to eat one.
A totally miserable area seems to have been chosen simply because it was miserable and hard to make a living in and therefore a short series at a lower production cost.
What blows me away are the contestants with inappropriate clothing and sleeping bags for the conditions, despite my own preference for down in that area I'd have chosen full synthetics for my sleeping and bivvy gear. Time will tell tho but I probably won't bother with watching more than one more episode
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Thu 06 Apr, 2023 10:18 am

Moondog55 wrote:I've read that the area is so hard to make a living in that the whole West Coast of Tassie was pretty much abandoned by the locals at the end of the last ice age when rainfall increased dramatically.


Yeah, nah. takayna is west coast and they not only lived there but had permanent settlements. Ditto the Needwonee much further south.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Moondog55 » Thu 06 Apr, 2023 10:28 am

Can you give me a reference for that?
What I've read casually is that the permanent settlements lasted until the ice age ended, because wombats needed grassy plains to do well and the tree growth meant fewer wombats and these were the locals main food animal.
Wombats are apparently excellent eating
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Thu 06 Apr, 2023 12:21 pm

I suspect the area was chosen because it's one of the few river-accessible places that 'looks' like remote Tasmanian rainforest wilderness but is on HEC, STT or Regional Reserve'd land... so they could actually get permission to cut down flora and hunt a few things.

It's been a long time since I last looked into it, but my understanding was the post-Ice Age Palawa communities along the Western side of Tassie were very much coastal based. Easy to understand from a food and resources point of view.

Of course, ~2000-6000 years ago, Lake Pieman wasn't a lake either...
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Moondog55 » Mon 01 May, 2023 8:03 am

I stopped watching, even cricket is less boring and I'd rather watch paint dry or grass grow than watch test cricket
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Joris » Mon 01 May, 2023 8:58 am

Moondog55 wrote:I stopped watching, even cricket is less boring and I'd rather watch paint dry or grass grow than watch test cricket


A ringing endorsement! :lol:
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Mon 01 May, 2023 10:06 am

It's taken a little while for the show to get going, now that it's just down to the people who actually seem to want to be there ;-)

Have to agree with the General Internet Consensus, it's not the most compelling location to stage this kinda show.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby tastrax » Wed 10 May, 2023 8:14 pm

Spoiler alert


















Oh no, Kate has tapped out! I was hoping she would be the winner.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby ChrisJHC » Thu 11 May, 2023 2:19 am

headwerkn wrote:It's taken a little while for the show to get going, now that it's just down to the people who actually seem to want to be there ;-)


Or those who did a modicum of preparation!
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Eremophila » Thu 11 May, 2023 7:49 am

tastrax wrote:Oh no, Kate has tapped out! I was hoping she would be the winner.


She was certainly a contender. My money is on Gina, she is in a much better place than the other two mentally and has been all along.

I’m surprised no-one has tried eating worms before this point ?!

Mike: spend 8 days or whatever building a kayak, and using a lure made of wood and rubber. Because it’s “impossible” to catch anything from the shore. Finally use some live bait and catch food from the shore. And doesn’t seem to have thought of eating the worms.

He actually looked really disappointed when he caught the first eel….. the one that got away. I reckon he was ready to leave at that point, citing the impossibility of obtaining food.

Anyhow it’s been interesting watching the mental battles, without the glamour and hype of the usual reality shows.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Thu 11 May, 2023 8:56 am

Kate leaving was a surprise, she was in cruise mode and making it look easy. But you can't underestimate the motherly pull of having a baby at home. $250K can buy many things but it can't buy back that time. But she was definitely a contender.

I know it's a cliche but the religious guy is just agonisingly painful to watch. He needs to go. Sounds like his idea to shift camp will accelerate that, thank god...

Hard to call between Gina and Mike... Mike's been struggling right up until this last episode, whereas Gina's just been owning it. Interesting to note though that little insert stating that one of Mike's eels had the same calories as 5 of Gina's trout.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby tastrax » Thu 11 May, 2023 9:40 am

I have to say that eel is an acquired taste. I would much prefer trout but smoked eel might just be tolerable.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby Son of a Beach » Thu 11 May, 2023 1:09 pm

tastrax wrote:I have to say that eel is an acquired taste. I would much prefer trout but smoked eel might just be tolerable.


I still remember many moons ago when my brother caught his first eel in the Tamar, near home (we were very young and I thought he'd caught a tiger snake). Our dutch neighbour was keen to get his hands on it and smoke it. Apparently he very much enjoyed it.

I suspect that the longer you smoke it, the more the smokey flavour may obscure the eel flavour.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Thu 11 May, 2023 4:42 pm

Smoked eel is delicious although I've never tried the home-smoked version.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Sun 21 May, 2023 11:36 am

Actually watched an episode Friday night (don't judge me - was visiting friends: yes, I do have one or two).

I'm assuming we weren't the only people who laughed our *&^%$#@! off when Mike put on the PFD for his little try-to-unsnag-the-fishing-line lake swim, especially doing it with the line "Safety first"?
Also, I thought it was supposed to be winter, but the water was 9° at the surface. That's toasty for Tassie.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Mon 22 May, 2023 9:00 am

I imagine the producers require them to wear their PFDs whenever they're in more than 5cm of water for pure safety reasons. Those yokes don't exactly float until you yoink the cylinder to inflate them though, so other than being uncomfortable/in the way, it wouldn't have prevented him being able to dive a bit.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby north-north-west » Mon 22 May, 2023 9:40 am

I am aware of all that, it's just the incongruity of participating in a survival reality show and lecturing us on in-water safety. Cold water and breath-hold diving are a recipe for disaster, especially when you hang around on the surface for as long as he did while trying to acclimatise (and, really, just hastening the potential start of hypothermia). Shallow water blackout is a thing and nothing would have saved him if that occured, nor would the PFD have helped if he got tangled in the timber whilst down there.
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby headwerkn » Mon 22 May, 2023 11:44 am

...which is probably why Mike's "safety first" quip was said with a heavy dose of sarcasm ;-)
Reminds me of Chris' sensible indifference to their "boil all water" mandate early on.

Of course, each show does start with the requisite "these are trained survival experts - don't try this at home" warning, when clearly that wasn't the case for at least half the contestants...
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Re: Australian Alone

Postby ggorgeman » Thu 25 May, 2023 9:46 am

I don't think I need to issue a spoiler alert....

Without revealing the outcome for those who didn't watch the finale last night, I have an uneasy feel about the integrity of final days leading up to the conclusion.... if you get my drift. Thoughts?
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