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South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 05 Mar, 2007 11:57 am
by Son of a Beach
During a 12 day walk of Tasmania's Western Arthurs, Eastern Arthurs and Federation Peak a few years ago, it rained on all but the second day. Towards the end of the walk we were getting rather fed up with it, and began discussing how it would have been much easier and cheaper to be cold, wet and in pain for two weeks at home.

Before the walk was finished we came up with the following guide to achieving a similar result without having to actually visit the South West, or even leave your own home...

Nik & Marty’s guide to simulating hiking in Tasmania’s South West wilderness in your own home

1. Hang some of your favourite Peter Dombrovskis prints on the walls of your bathroom. Make sure they are properly framed with glass that will fog over ensuring you can’t see them properly.

2. Begin simulation at dusk or dawn or use very subdued lighting with a plethora of nebulizers going to set the mood.

3. Fill the bath with mud.

4. Select the ‘Antarctic Blizzard’ setting on your industrial air conditioning unit, then switch it on, but not before you have carefully positioned the garden hose outlet directly in the blast zone. Adjust the flow of water until you achieve a fine icy mist aimed directly at your face.

5. Turn the cold water only, fully on, in the shower over the bath.

6. Soak your stinkiest clothes in the mud bath, chill them in front of the air conditioner, and then put them on. Follow this up immediately by strapping on the largest, heaviest, wettest pack you can imagine.

7. Climb into the mud bath, under the cold shower, facing the icy spray.

8. Begin stomping and splashing in a random manner. If you are not falling over frequently, try harder!

9. Every now and then, take a wire brush and apply vigourously to the knees and upper thigh areas.

10. Continue until very hungry. Stop and eat your boot.

11. Resume until exhausted. Lie down in bath and sleep.

12. Repeat steps 8 – 11 ad nauseam.

NB: Simulation only begins to reach a level of realism after durations of not less than 7 days.

PostPosted: Sun 11 Mar, 2007 3:22 pm
by wotrack?
Love it! It's like I'm there - again.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sat 05 Jan, 2008 11:19 am
by TassieMargie
Very Cool :D

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 28 Apr, 2008 6:22 pm
by dtasker
I was thinking to suggest that you and I do a few hikes together.
Now that your a dad you should have wised up and slowed down a bit so I could keep up with you.
But seeing how your actually a bad weather god (minor) I am having second thoughts.

Still the idea of staying at home and simulating foul weather does make a kind of weird economical sense.

I could get Sean (my Son) to write a program to control some sprinklers, buckets of water, some old
cooling fans and Frank ( your FIL) could hook it all together in his back yard. Said sprinkers would randomly turn on
or perhaps sense when someone vacated their tent. A whole range of "punishments" come to mind.
The fact that our loved ones could stand by and laugh at us might lessen the Wilderness experience so we may need
to rethink the location to somewhere more private.

I can see us all making some serious money with this.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Tue 04 Nov, 2008 5:34 pm
by tasadam
Bump.

Because this deserves it.
A must read...

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Wed 05 Nov, 2008 6:30 am
by Whos_asking99
:D Very clever, I like it.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Wed 05 Nov, 2008 5:24 pm
by Marky
Number 10 takes the Gold

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Thu 06 Nov, 2008 8:55 am
by Singe
Boots for dinner? Luxury!

On a serious note, if only there were some way to simulate multiple leech bites this would be 100% authentic ;)

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Thu 06 Nov, 2008 1:14 pm
by dtasker
One way of simulating multiple leech bite sis to have someone from the tax office hound you as
you toss and turn in your sleep. Its always been said that the tax office is staffed by leeches

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 5:22 pm
by ILUVSWTAS
As much as I laughed reading this, anyone who knocks my beloved SW deserves retaliation.

Sooo

OVERLAND TRACK simulation

Pay hundreds of dollars to commence walking, Walk on the boardwalk for 5 minutes, stop let large group pass.
Walk a further 5 minutes STOP let large group pass.
Walk a further 5 minutes STOP let large group pass.
Walk a further 5 minutes STOP let large group pass

Continue like this for several hours until reaching hut. Enter hut, Hut full camp outside. No sleep due to noisy tourists. Awake early, pack and continue along boardwalk, walk 5 minutes STOP let large group pass........

CONTINUE LIKE THIS FOR SEVERAL DAYS..........

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 8:09 pm
by eggs
Ok - now I understand why ILUVSWTAS has not yet done the OT!!
He is too scared of tourists :lol:

But seriously - it obviously refers to the tourist season. It was very nice when we did it in April last year.
Perfect weather marred only by smoke! - and we were hoping for some snow too :(

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 8:16 pm
by ILUVSWTAS
eggs wrote: it obviously refers to the tourist season.


Im an IT now am I?? :evil:

Not SO much tourists, Just not overly keen on hordes of people when im on a multi day walk, Though I am planning on doing some of the OT this year, I just wont ever do the thing from A to B. Mainly plan on entry from Arm River. April sounds ideal although that is Forestrys "play time"

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Wed 11 Nov, 2009 8:24 am
by Dave Bremers
9a get a large group of needles, arrange into little spears and repeatedly stab yourself in the face and any other areas of exposed skin (to simulate scoparia)

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sat 28 Nov, 2009 10:09 pm
by tasadam
Not so much a simulation, but an experience...

Go up
go down
go up
go down
go up
go down
go up
go down
go along a flat surface for a while, realize you've made a wrong turn, go back.
go up
go down
go up
go down
go up
go down
Just for something different, let's now go up...

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sun 29 Nov, 2009 7:15 pm
by Nuts
Did you just get back Adam? Piccies and a riveting account please :D

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 30 Nov, 2009 6:00 pm
by Taurë-rana
Nuts wrote:Did you just get back Adam? Piccies and a riveting account please :D

I second that, and just the account will do to start with if you haven't sorted your photos out :)

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 30 Nov, 2009 7:51 pm
by tasadam
Stay tuned... Plenty to follow, tho it will be in its own topic. In short, EXCELLENT!
Tiny Taste time...
D7C_1194 (Small).JPG
Mutton Bird Island and Sugarloaf Rock, from Noyhener Beach.
D7C_1194 (Small).JPG (22 KiB) Viewed 29702 times


By the way, that last post was meant as comedy, I made no wrong turns.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 30 Nov, 2009 7:53 pm
by ILUVSWTAS
no wrong turns? not even from windowpane to noyhener??

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 30 Nov, 2009 8:13 pm
by tasadam
ILUVSWTAS wrote:no wrong turns? not even from windowpane to noyhener??

Good point. I made it through, so that doesn't count :wink:

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 30 Nov, 2009 8:23 pm
by ILUVSWTAS
Hahaha! Yeh thats the most important thing. When my Father in law and I did the SW circuit 3 years ago, we lost the track near one of the creeks in that section. So we made for the coast... found some lovely little bays and inlets. BUT also some impassable cliffs and caves. So we headed back into the scrub. to this day it is still some of the worst scrub I've been in. In and out of the Scrub we went for what seemed like hrs the whole time being able to see people walking along Noyhener beach it was very frustrating!! I think Chapman gives it 4-6 hrs between those beaches, we did it in 7!!

Still I did get there in time to go for a quick dive and nail 3 crays in about 15mintutes. One of which I swapped to some lucky walker for half a dozen teabags as we were running desperatley low.....

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sun 06 Dec, 2009 1:24 am
by mikethepike
Oh what a good laugh this all is!
I go to Tassie in late Fec-March and enjoy unfogged views and sunny days and dry clothes almost ad nauseum. Which reminds me that when I sailed from Tassie to Kangaroo Island a few years ago via the south coast, what impressed me was that the skipper delayed leaving from Kettering for a few days to let a wild storm pass by and so the pair of us were only sick for three days and not for six. Nor did the boat break up and the pair of us drown. What a brillaint strategy I thought!! It's all about timimg and reading weather maps! Why don' t bushwalkers think like that? Hence the March walks and never pretending that I can actually enjoy a sodden, freezing new years eve in a leaky tent slowly subsiding into the mud. But I know that despite all this, I do secretly wonder at times if I am missing out on the real Tasnainian experience. Still, I console myself that the views from peaks are just about always guarenteed.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sun 06 Dec, 2009 6:25 am
by tasadam
Some good points here Mike, worth responding to.
mikethepike wrote:Oh what a good laugh this all is!
Agreed!

mikethepike wrote:Why don' t bushwalkers think like that?
My recent walk into the SW was for 15 days. To take 15 days off work to be able to go walking requires some planning, so sheltering in a bay / staying at work because the weather is bad, isn't an option. Sometimes you have a walk planned, leave is taken and cannot be changed, flights booked and paid for... Then there is the issue of not being able to know the forecast that far in advance.
I did have a look at the 28 day rainfall forecast for SW Tassie before heading in, two things I noticed was that they updated and changed it regularly, also that it was completely inaccurate, as history showed. Into the 2nd week, we experienced winds in excess of 100kph for 4 days in a row...

mikethepike wrote:I do secretly wonder at times if I am missing out on the real Tasnainian experience.
This point sums up precisely our attitude to crossing the SW Cape and Pasco ranges in storm force winds and horizontal rain. Being able to laugh about it while you are in it, to make jokes, to appreciate how violent the conditions can be... We were thankful for the taste of what you refer to as the "real" Tasmanian experience.

Having said all that, I don't think you are missing out on anything by walking in Feb / Mar. In late Feb 2008, we got snowfall on us on a SW mountain.
So hang on to youir hat, it's just a matter of time 8)

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sun 06 Dec, 2009 7:08 am
by Son of a Beach
mikethepike wrote:Oh what a good laugh this all is!
I go to Tassie in late Fec-March and enjoy unfogged views and sunny days and dry clothes almost ad nauseum. {snip} It's all about timimg and reading weather maps! Why don' t bushwalkers think like that? Hence the March walks and never pretending that I can actually enjoy a sodden, freezing new years eve in a leaky tent slowly subsiding into the mud. But I know that despite all this, I do secretly wonder at times if I am missing out on the real Tasnainian experience. Still, I console myself that the views from peaks are just about always guarenteed.


The original post here was from writings formulated on a SW trip in early March a few years ago. Supposedly a reliable weather period. As we set out, the forecast was for brilliant weather statewide for the foreseeable future. We met somebody a few days later who'd just come in from another track who told us that the latest forecast was brilliant for the foreseeable future.

Despite all this it rained for 11 of the 12 days we were on the track.

On returning home, everyone said just how lucky we were to have had brilliant weather statewide the entire time we were away. They were amazed when we told them the weather was crap the entire time where we were.

The SW is just totally different. Unpredictable and very localised. Some days we could actually see a line in the sky separating the black over us from the blue just a few hundred metres to the east where it was clearly sunny. The line didn't move all day. It rained on us all day despite being visibly sunny elsewhere. The day we walked out, we walked across this line and couldn't believe how nice the weather was closer to the car park and very soon couldn't even see the bad weather that we knew was just a few km behind us.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sun 06 Dec, 2009 11:19 am
by ILUVSWTAS
This is all why I love the Southwest so! (as my name suggests)

It's like nowhere else in the world!!

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 07 Dec, 2009 6:14 pm
by Taurë-rana
I remember a good few years ago when we had more snow in summer when we were bushwalking at Mt Field than we did in winter when we were trying to ski. I also remember beautiful summers' days up there. I've also had friends who have got sunburnt in the SW when the rest of us had miserable weather. Last weekend the forecast was lousy but I was lucky enough to get up Cradle with clear weather (briefly). It's not just the SW that is unpredictable, although it is more extreme. Mike, it sounds like you have been lucky on your trips, although that particular time is probably one of the more likely times to have good weather.
Actually, on all the walks I did in the SW, I didn't have much bad weather either so I was lucky too. Nothing to do with predicting the weather though, I went when I could spare the time.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 21 Dec, 2009 12:21 am
by tas-man
Son of a Beach wrote:<SNIP>The SW is just totally different. Unpredictable and very localised. Some days we could actually see a line in the sky seperating the black over us from the blue just a few hundred metres to he east where it was clearly sunny. The line didn't move all day. It rained on us all day despite being visibly sunny elsewhere. The day we walked out, we walked across this line and couldn't believe how nice the weather was closer to the car park and very soon couldn't even see the bad weather that we knew was just a few km behind us.


I can still remember clearly that for the three days I was visiting the original Lake Pedder in December 1971, the Frankland Range was continually covered with cloud, with rain falling into Lake Pedder along its southern side. The cloud was then breaking up as it crossed Lake Pedder from the south west and by the time it reached the Pedder beach it was 30/70 cloud/blue sky and sunshine with NO RAIN. It was obvious then why the area was being dammed for a hydro scheme - an endless water supply from the sky :lol:

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Tue 22 Dec, 2009 8:47 pm
by north-north-west
tasadam wrote:Not so much a simulation, but an experience...

Go up
go down
go up
go down
go up
go down
go up
go down
go along a flat surface for a while, realize you've made a wrong turn, go back.
go up
go down
go up
go down
go up
go down
Just for something different, let's now go up...


You've done the AAWT, haven't you?

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Mon 28 Dec, 2009 9:42 pm
by mikethepike
Tasadam wrote:
Having said all that, I don't think you are missing out on anything by walking in Feb / Mar. In late Feb 2008, we got snowfall on us on a SW mountain. So hang on to your hat, it's just a matter of time


and Son of a Beach wrote:
The SW is just totally different. Unpredictable and very localised


Better wetaher in march is about probabilities ofcoures but that doesn't rule out anything the weather might like to get up to. Despite what I wrote earlier about wonderful March weather, I have of course had some rain on most of my Tassie walks and in fact the first time I ever experienced snow was on the Overland Track in late February. But I'm yet to experience the really extended periods, or even a full day, of foul weather you read about (and it makes such good reading while curled up with a port) so I've been lucky but it's all a matter of time. And funnily enough, despite that my earlier post mentioned about why not check the weather forecast before deciding when to set out, I have to admit that never once have I done that in Tasmania, for as someone else commented, most walkers do tend to have to fit in with their holiday timetable. Even on two winter snowshoe trips, we didn't bother to check the snow conditions, ie was there any snow, which in retrospect, seems crazy - now I certainly would.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Sat 15 Jan, 2022 5:18 pm
by Chris
Bump, because as Adam said >13 years ago, it deserves it.

Re: South West Walking Simulation

PostPosted: Wed 19 Jan, 2022 9:57 pm
by Last
a number of years ago I camped with a friend at scotts peak dam for about 10 days. Each day we went for day walks in glorious sunshine, went to Mt Anne, Lake Judd, to Adamsfield via the Tims track (don't) and other walks. The only exception to the perfect weather was a bank of cloud over the WA's. It never lifted. On about the 2nd last day a group of walkers appeared from there having done the traverse. It had rained the whole time.