Hiking the Great Ocean Walk - The bare essentials
Below is a list of the gear Beth and I ran with for our 8-day GOW hike. Whilst I now had a bit of lightweight hiking gear following my BNT hike, Beth didn't. Our starting position when working out what we would need essentially boiled down to me wanting to be lighter than my BNT carry weight, with Beth's pack weight being as light as possible as she'd not done a multi-dayer before. Beth was keen to take her SLR camera along, so that needed to be factored in as well. Those points settled, the process was then quite simple - I grabbed the spreadsheet I created for my BNT hike and added another column. The first column representing the full gear list required. I worked my way though adding, changing and deleting. Adding things we didn't have ie ultra-light 2 person tent, and stuff that was obvious Beth would need, removing items required for a very long hike not needed over only 8 days, and changing items such as cookware.
Having a bit of experience getting my BNT gear list right certainly helped in acquiring the extra items we needed. I knew what sort of weight I should be aiming for and I knew where to go to get it. When convincing Beth that this hike was a great idea, I neglected to tell her the extra items needed would be bloody expensive. This was probably the right approach, as Beth is the sensible one in the partnership and probably would not have agreed to go otherwise. I think the final tally was over two grand and earned me one of Beth's famous eye rolls and a bonus 'Oh FFS!
Drum roll...I got my total pack weight to 15kg and Beth carried a total of 8kg each day (includes food and water).
* when viewing from a phone the weight column will display after the the text items.
Having a bit of experience getting my BNT gear list right certainly helped in acquiring the extra items we needed. I knew what sort of weight I should be aiming for and I knew where to go to get it. When convincing Beth that this hike was a great idea, I neglected to tell her the extra items needed would be bloody expensive. This was probably the right approach, as Beth is the sensible one in the partnership and probably would not have agreed to go otherwise. I think the final tally was over two grand and earned me one of Beth's famous eye rolls and a bonus 'Oh FFS!
Drum roll...I got my total pack weight to 15kg and Beth carried a total of 8kg each day (includes food and water).
* when viewing from a phone the weight column will display after the the text items.
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Item Bags Back Pack - Kathmandu Vardo, 75L Back Pack - Osprey Sirrus, 50L Dry Sac - Sea2Summit UltraSil 20Ltr (x 2) Dry Sac - Sea2Summit UltraSil 4Ltr (x2) Shelter & Sleeping Gear Tent - MSR Hubba Hubba NX2 Sleeping bag - Kathmandu Pacesetter Sleeping bag - Sea2Summit Micro III Down Sleeping mat - Sea2Summit UltraLight Insulated Sleeping mat - Sea2Summit Comfort Light Insulated Pillow - SeaToSummit Aeros Premium Clothing Hiking pants Hiking shirt Fleece T-shirt Rain Jacket 2 pairs hiking socks - Merino wool 2 pairs of underwear Sunnies Hiking boots Camp shoes Hat Thermals (Sleep-ware & cleanish camp clothes) Trekking Poles Hydration/Cooking Hydration bladder (2L)/ Water Bottle Water Purifier - SteriPen Sawyer Squeeze water filter system Evernew foldable water bottles 1.5L (x 2) Titanium Backpacker stove Gas canister Cookware (2.8ltr pot, 2X bowls & 2 x cups) Spork - plastic 2 cigarette lighters Maintenance & Repair First-aid kit Patch repair kit (sleeping mat & tent) Nylon rope (5m) Tough Bitch Knife Duct tape Navigation & Emergency Maps.me (iPhone app) KTI GPS PLB Toiletries Micro towel Toothbrush and paste Sunscreen & insect repellent Toilet paper roll Trowel Electronics Power Bank - Comsol 20300/9000ma Headtorch (Custom) iPhone6 Camera - Nikon D7200 Charging cables |
Chris Weight (kg) 2.48 0.05 0.03 1.72 1.06 0.44 0.08 0.32 0.23 0.15 0.12 0.48 0.08 0.11 0.01 1.30 0.23 0.07 0.40 0.65 2.00 (full) 0.12 0.25 0.07 (empty) 0.05 0.23 0.61 0.01 0.04 0.20 0.05 0.03 0.10 nil 0.18 0.07 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.09 0.46 0.06 0.23 0.20 |
Beth Weight (kg) 1.62 0.05 0.68 0.62 0.08 0.26 0.23 0.15 0.12 0.08 0.08 0.11 0.01 1.30 0.23 0.07 0.40 0.60 (full) 0.01 0.14 nil 0.11 0.10 0.10 0.19 0.23 1.40 0.20 |
In kitting myself out for this trip the following suppliers have been very helpful (again).
All of the gear choices and acquisitions I've made have been mine. I made them after some research (Google is my friend), speaking with people, and through trial and error. This process has been expensive, time consuming, and at times frustrating, but mostly a rewarding learning experience. I'm entirely free to discuss my experiences and share my opinions. Like my facebook page (icon below) and IM me if you'd like more info on my gear and supplier choices and experiences.