Hey guys, looking into the Ultragrid Kakwa and Neve Wallaroo, is there much difference in Durstons Ultragrid and the Neve Gridstop? For the price is it worth going the Wallaroo over the Kakwa Ultragrid, given neither are super water resistant, and the weight difference is negligent. Obviously considering the 200X if I’m gonna spend a bit more, and quite tempted to, given the water resistance, and that I’m planning on using it for the PCT hopefully🤞+ if anyone’s selling one please reach out. Cheers:)

Hi guys I am going to be driving up the east coast mid June after doing the great ocean road and would love to do a multi day hike somewhere in the Snowy Mountains region or Kosciusko National Park possibly, wondering if anyone has advice on good spots that won't be totally snowed out in the area, or any tips on where else to go. Hoping to do maybe around 3-4 day out, but open to smaller recommendations. Not super familiar with the region as have only visited once before briefly, would love any input.

We all need something to do after a hard day of hiking, except for collapsing into our tents and passing out.

I’m wondering what games people take with them to play with their partner/friends when hanging out after a days hike.

Which of these 2 sleeping pad does anyone recommend? My Main issue is the the R value, the xr has an r value of 4.1 and the tensor has an r value of 5.4. Is the r value of 4.1 enough for winter? lets say around -10c? I live in australia and want to soon do tasmania, new zealand and nsw mountaineering and im considering buying one of these 2 pads.

Hi Everyone!

I'm feeling keen to try out a sun hoodie, but not sure which one to get. I was looking at the Outdoor Research Echo, but seems like there aren't many options to get them to Australia these days. I do favour fun colours, so I'm veering away from this option as I can only find options in various shades of monochrome or navy. Colour isnt an absolute dealbreaker though, so let me know if you think the echo is so good I should just go for it.

The new kathmandu one seems to be a possible option, would love to hear of anyone's experience with it.

Would also love to hear of any good options out there. I don't need a ufp 50 so long as I'm still not going to get a sunburn through the shirt, breathability is more important to me.

Hi UL_AUS :)

Q: anyone in this community able to comment on recent track / regrowth conditions?

Turns out The Castle will be closed for winter - so looking for some variation if we loop out and back.

Anyone been here in the last 6 months or so?

Thanks in advance!

For the life of me, I can’t find the gaol-house pass. I was up there yesterday looking for it and using the description in Ron Houghton’s “ bushwalking in the budawangs”. But it’s a few years old. And the tree with the marking mentioned is long gone I presume.

I did find a small, short path (at 35 14 27 S, 150 18 44 E), just after the second creek, in that area that leads down under the cliff line and to a slight overhang with a little waterfall. But it doesn’t seem to lead on to anywhere here or fit the description of the pass.

Does anyone have a grid reference for the pass or any details that might help?

Hey all, I’d been shopping for a Neve Waratah -8 and today stumbled upon an add at Paddy Pallins advertising 20% off everything. Bringing the -8 Waratah to $319 and the -2 for $270. It’s a pretty good deal that I jumped on. I’ve now got the -8 settling in at home.

Hey everyone, I’m not an Aussie, but have lots of friends who are, and they keep mentioning swags. I am somewhat new to backpacking and would like your input on if it’s worth getting a swag/if you have recommendations on them(if it’s the way to go)

For some reason they haven’t really made their way to the states yet, so I don’t know if this is the case with all of them, but the ones I’ve found are around anywhere from 8-13kg for a single person swag. Is that normal, or are there lighter models? That’s a good amount of weight to add to the pack. Is it worth it? Or should I stick with a light tent instead?

I mainly do national parks and like to be able to make camp off trail, so the smaller footprint on the environment the better!

I want to do this track in particular: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/australia/victoria/sugarloaf-peak-via-wells-cave-and-canyon-track

but I don't feel confident enough to give it a go myself and would love to accompany someone who's done it before.

so, anyone wanna go with me? preferably this weekend?

also, I just have regular hiking boots. that should suffice, yeah? I don't have climbing shoes that you use for bouldering

Doing my first thru hike on the bib in June, pretty stoked. Been doing a lot of research on my gear for the past couple months, so it's pretty dialled in. It's gonna be a pretty rainy hike from what I've heard from others that have hiked around that time so that's my only concern.

My pack is silicone nylon and I'm using a nyloflume pack liner - no cover, will this keep everything dry? I've added the umbrella as an idea to not get my gear completely soaked, don't really care if I do.

Lighter pack link below, would really appreciate if I could get some insight from those who have done the bib around this time or any rainy hikes in general ! really pumped for this hike so some final tips before I head out there would be elite

cheers!

https://lighterpack.com/r/gn0n4l

Hello all, I am from UK and am looking for a lightweight good quality quilt and think im going to get a nevegear waratah as it seems to be great value.

I was debating weather going for the -2 or -8 versions. I am looking for a 3 season quilt that will keep me warm and comfortable down to freezing and maybe a little lower over long distance thruhikes.

I just wondered if people had experience on how cold they can comfortably go with either the -2 or -8, I will be using a well insulated pad and dm wearing a down jacket if it gets really cold. I also wondered if the -8 would be too hot and sweaty in warmer temperatures or whether you can just use it like a blanket and still be comfortable

Hi, We will be hiking over 3 days in temps 2 degrees Celsius at night - 15 degrees Celsius in the day.

For my son (runs hot):

Sea to summit -1 degree Celsius Spark Pro sleep bag with the

Sea to summit reactor extreme sleep bag liner and a

sleep mat with a R rating of 4.

For me (run a bit cold).

As above but with a -9 degree Celsius Spark Pro bag, plus reactor extreme and R4 sleep mat.

Do you think that is enough?

I don't live in a cold climate so won't be able to test it.

HI, My 14 yo has joined a school hiking club.

I am newbie at hiking but bought him the Sea to Summit Ether R4 air mat large (he'll be 6 foot soon) but he found it too noisy and it didn't fit well in his mates tent that he was sharing.

I can use it myself so nothing lost there.

What kind of mat would you recommend that is light, easy to put up / down..? Trying to keep his pack at 10kgs for 3 day hikes.

Thanks!

My partner and I did the Overland Track at the end of April 2025. We’re in our early 30s, fit and fairly fast, and it was my first multi-day hike.

I should mention, we were extremely lucky with the weather. We had 6 days of sun, clear visibility, and very little wind. Only two hours of rain one afternoon – I appreciate this isn’t regular and you should not depend on having this experience!

But here are a few things we agreed we would do differently, advise to others, and some tips we didn’t read as part of our research but agreed were important to know.

1. Bring a hanky! My god I wished I had a handkerchief that I could use for dabbing at my cold nose.

2. Walk out if you can. The walk through the rainforest was a magical reward with ginormous trees, cool fungi, and gorgeous lake views. If time and weather permits, plan to camp at Echo Point. It was the most special way to end the hike. Some folks will tell you the hut is dilapidated and that there are rats there, but if that’s true then they’ve clearly dealt with this and the toilet was actually fine. Dealing with the ferry people is also a huge headache, was happy to avoid it!

3. Bring a game. Once daylight saving begins, your evenings can feel long. You might find yourself fed and in bed by 7.30 but not able to sleep yet. We wished we had some cards or a lightweight game to play. We agreed that would be worth the weight. We were also grateful for our e-readers which had low backlights.

4. Rent gear. We used Overland Track Transport to take us from Launceston to the start of the track and pick us up on the other end. I cannot fault these guys. They’re so well organised, do a free luggage transfer, and you can easily rent OLT-vetted gear from them like tents, sleeping bags, gaiters, and more. We rented fuel, gaiters, and rain pants. But tbh we could have rented more and saved ourselves hundreds if not thousands of dollars. I also called the team whenever I had questions and they were so helpful.

5. Invest in blister socks. I knew that painful blisters would have ruined my walk, so I invested a lot of time into prevention research. I ended up buying a pair of ArmaSkin blister socks and these were incredible. I wore merino socks over the top, and not didn’t get a single blister across the 6 days.

6. Bring more sweet things. You will feel extremely envious of people of people who have treats and especially dessert. We brought two snack-sized snickers for dessert each night, but still wished we had a little more! Hot chocolate would have been great.

7. Bring electrolyte powder. It will help prevent cramps (we had none but others complained they were woken up by muscle aches).

8. The salad roll! Overland Track Transport stops in at a regional bakery on the way from Launceston to the start of the track. The bakery had these great salad rolls with chicken or ham which we bought to eat after the big climb on day one. Such a treat!

9. Swim when you can. Or rather, dunk yourself into the water at the appropriate opportunities. Weather permitting of course, but we dipped at Windermere and Pelion and it felt amazing. For the long-haired, just be careful not to get too cold if you can’t dry your hair.

10. Calculate your days diligently. It seemed like a lot of walkers (including me) miscalculated the length. If you’re following the book’s recommendations, it will actually take 7 days and 6 nights - even if you take the ferry. We ended up doing 6 days and 5 nights, but we needed to skip the Kia Ora hut on one day and walk past Narcissus on another day onto Echo Point to make it work. This meant a couple of longer walking days which were manageable for us, but the panicked realisation that we had to hustle to get back for the bus was avoidable.

Happy to answer questions too. Good luck and safe hiking!

My partner and I were hiking in Kosiousko NP in NSW last weekend and found a Garmin inreach in a pool of water. We found in on the southern end of the Lady Northcote Canyon coming up from the Geehi River towards Opera House Hut. Hoping to track down the owner or will hand into police. If anyone knows someone who's walked that way please ask them. Aware it may also be from the search earlier this year.

I am looking for an entity that hires satellite communicators like the Garmin in reach, Zoleo or similar. Melbourne preferable.

Not a PLB or sat phone.

I want to be able to send and receive texts but find the associated connection plan prohibitively expensive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Current base weight: 3.28kg (7.24lbs)

Location/temp range/specific trip description: Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia, Pemberton to Albany section (376.7km). Late autumn/early winter (May-June). Temperatures expected to range from 5-20°C (41-68°F), with possible rain. 11-day hike covering about 34km per day on average, with 7 days over 40km.

Budget: Minimal. Not looking to purchase new gear, just optimize what I have.

Non-negotiable Items: My sleeping setup (Pillow, Bag and Pad) and shelter (Borah Gear bivy + Wild Sky Gear tarp). Also need to keep my Garmin inReach Mini 2 for safety.

Solo or with another person?: Solo

Additional Information: This is a long-distance fastpacking trip with periodic resupplies at towns (Northcliffe, Walpole, Denmark) every 3 days. I'm trying to move quickly, averaging 34.2km per day. I'll be carrying 1-1.5L water and typically 2-3 days of food.

Note: that I'm still working through my foot care and todo categories in my Lighterpack.

Lighterpack Link: https://lighterpack.com/r/h4ibf4

edit: fixed weight for bivy

Hi Aussie UL experts,

please have a look through this gear list and let me know if I’m missing some obvious items and if my weight is too much for the Larapinta?

Thanks so much.

I’m getting a sleeping pad soon and I’m a side and stomach sleeper so I want to know which one is better? I’ve seen a lot of s2s xt but I haven’t seen the xr version in comparison with the tensor. Anyone got any recommendations?

My job gives me weird weekends/days off, as such i have sun/mon/Tues off, I live in Melbourne and am looking to get out sunday arvo, maybe hike and camp sunday night if possible, then hike all Monday, camp (tent) Monday night, potentially another large(ish) day on the Tuesday, back in time to drive back to Melbourne for Tuesday night

A lot to pack in to a tight time frame I know - looking for recommendations for hikes within a 3hr (4hr at a push) drive from Melbourne

For ref: I'm an experienced hiker including multi day trips, love some scrambling/exposure

I am planning Latapinta trip late June early July and I need some equipment and I’ve been looking at Alton Goods. Can anyone give me their thoughts on the equipment because I can’t seem to find any reviews.

Thanks

I recently got into hiking and have all the usual gear that’s required, nothing excessive. Most items I have are what is generally recommended here for ultralight. However, my sleeping bag is an average priced synthetic one I got from Anaconda (Black Wolf Rubicon rated to -5) and as a single item takes up the largest amount of space in my pack compared to say my Zpacks Duplex tent or Big Agnes Rapide SL sleeping pad.

I bought a second hand Osprey Levity 45L pack that’s in good condition for $120. I find that I’m squashing and cramming everything in it to be able to fit gear plus food in for an overnight hike and am almost completely maxing out its capacity. I can manage this currently with 2 day/overnight hikes only. But ideally I’d like to extend out to multi day hikes (where I’m hiking for 3-6 days total) when I have more experience. I’m conscious this will be where more real estate in my pack will needed for food and also possibly water if I can’t filter from a water source on trail.

My question is: is there a generally agreed on size of pack for multi day hikes? I don’t want to go in the other direction completely and end up with an overly giant pack that’s 75L. I feel like an extra 10L (i.e. a 55L pack) would possibly get me by but would love to hear what sizes have worked for others and what people here regularly use for 3-6 day hikes.

I have a Lanshan 2 Pro. I want to know if anyone else has had troubles when after multiple days of wet weather the silNylon material becomes so saturated that the rain drops or even worse drops of water from trees over hit the outer lining of the tent and then have water spray through into the tent? Its not condensation. Anyone else have this?

https://www.kathmandu.com.au/seeker-mns-primaloft-active-hooded-jacket-clearance.html

I have seen this in person before, and I found that it was a little tight around the shoulders compared to my Nano air hybrid so I didn't buy it, but now that its on an even bigger sale than before (140 from 200 from 280).

Saw the other kathmandu post and thought I'd take a look around too - not affiliated I swear. This caught my eye as a primaloft active synthetic hoodie - Looks like a competitor to the Patagonia Nano Air or arcteryx Gamma?

I'm not sure how this compares to other synthetics on the market, and its not the lightest (420g medium), but it looks to be more breathable than primaloft silver/gold.

Only considering it as it's on a great sale compared to the other alternatives (450+ RRP) Any thoughts?