Jana and I did the Oberon Bay overnight hike in Wilsons Prom from Tidal River. Nice short 7km hike along the coast each way. Under normal circumstances we'd do this as a day-hike both ways, but we wanted to do some genuine hiking camping before we get too old. 7km is a hard walk with a heavy pack. We were horribly beginner-leveled weighing in at ~17kg's, which is on the edge of too-heavy. Partially because of deliberate fresh food and water choices, deliberate high-difficulty-cooking stove and food choices to push ourselves and gain bulk experience on that subset, partially because of low-budget-gear, and partially because of a lack of experience.
The campsite has a fairly new long-drop toilet on site. In theory there is tank water on-site as run-off from the toilet roof, however we knew going in that there was none available (posted on the web site). We don't have enough experience with coastal streams to know how far inland we have to go to get non salty water...so we brought all our own which is generally not done. So...so...so...heavy...
We deliberately packed as though we were going for 3 nights minus all the food, but did have enough water for non-summer conditions for ~3 days. This made for pretty heavy packs. All our food was fresh, not dehydrated...also generally not done. Yes we took raw eggs and raw potatoes and cooked them on a hexamine stove. Possibly never done before. We munched through about 28 hex-tablets cooking up steaks, potatoes, eggs, ham etc over dinner and breakfast. Normally this would be done with 2-4 tablets per dehydrated meal (2 cups of boiled water worth) :D
It rained on the 1st day heading to the camp site. We got VERY wet, but not destructively soaked.
We both took two foam bed rolls each, because one is a joke. The next morning we determined through scientific rigor that two is also a joke. We bought ridiculously expensive uber mats on the way home that weigh less than 2 foam mats, take a fraction of the size, and feel like luxury air beds. We were exhausted and both almost drifted off to sleep on them while testing in the store.
Some of these photos are meant to be panoramic but I haven't bothered to stitch them together. Use your imagination. Sorry, many grainy blurry shots. Others are obviously not from the trail...like the Tesla charger at the Fish Creek pub on the drive.
