Show Camping

[gnarlydog australia]

Yes, but do you understand the ramifications of a total colectomy and Raynaud's disease (etc ... )? (but not really laughing, just glad to be here at all).

are you asking me if I sleep out without a sleeping bag? .... I might like things simple but I am not Superman nor stupid: sleeping warm is indeed a great priority of mine therefore always carry a quality down sleeping bag when camping

 

[mcgillro]

Yes, but do you understand the ramifications of a total colectomy and Raynaud's disease (etc ... )? (but not really laughing, just glad to be here at all).

Oh gosh you have had some major health issues! Hope things have steadied out now.

As a nurse ... why the colectomy? Ulcerative colitis, Crohns, cancer ..... other ... tell me to butt out if too nosy!

 

[gnarlydog australia]

That looks Spartan!

no different than on a bushwalking trip, when I have to carry my gear. A tent would make no difference to the comfort level, just a psychological one for some campers.
On a motorcycle I can afford to have fresh food instead of dehydrated since weight doesn't matter that much, but that really is the only difference. And when car camping (rarely) if I am not forced to be in a busy campsite (ever more rare) I would use the same set up. There is a certain satisfying feeling of sleeping out where one can have no wall between him/her and nature that is hard to describe

 

[melanieylang]

no different than on a bushwalking trip, when I have to carry my gear. A tent would make no difference to the comfort level, just a psychological one for some campers.
On a motorcycle I can afford to have fresh food instead of dehydrated since weight doesn't matter that much, but that really is the only difference. And when car camping (rarely) if I am not forced to be in a busy campsite (ever more rare) I would use the same set up. There is a certain satisfying feeling of sleeping out where one can have no wall between him/her and nature that is hard to describe

I have just one word: bullants!

But seriously, good on you, I wish I felt as in comfortable out in the world.

 

[John King]

Oh gosh you have had some major health issues! Hope things have steadied out now.

The doctor informed me yesterday that I have moderately serious osteoporosis in my hips. Osteopenia in my spine. He's been watching it for a couple of years now.

It might be time to divest myself of my ladder collection ...

As a nurse ... why the colectomy? Ulcerative colitis, Crohns, cancer ..... other ... tell me to butt out if too nosy!

Equal worst case of diverticular disease the surgeon had seen in a long career. None of the risk factors prior - e.g. irregular bowel habits, poor diet with no fruit and veggies, etc. I suspect it could have been genetic proclivity, as my father had a strangulated bowel.

With mine, he took from just above the ileo-caecal valve to just above the top of the rectum. I'm amazed that this can be done to a body and it still kind of works! That was in 2001.

 

[gnarlydog australia]

Hmm yes good points. When I was younger I slept better and worried less I guess I do remember camping beside the bach that my family were in out at Te Kopi on the Palliser coast, and waking in the night, thinking somoeone was out there. Of course it was just a sheep!

I am the opposite.
I come from Europe where camping is done in a caravan park (with neighbors at arm's length) and didn't camp in the real bush until I was 21
The first couple of times sleep didn't come easy and I was worried about the "dangerous" animals that TV told me about.
After a while, and talking to experienced bushwalkers, I come to the realization that those "dangerous" animals were nothing more then the childhood concept of boogie man under the bed
These days I worry about other people when camping, especially drunken ones , that's why I prefer to camp away from established campsites.

 

[Aushiker]

I thought it was just bears and raccoons that hikers had to look out for! Although I did hear of a possum on the Overland Track in Tasmania that had acquired a taste for hand sanitizer

Rats here in the West, particularly on the Bibblumun Track are a bit of a nuisance as they have become familiar with the campsites.

Learnt quickly to hang packs away from walls to protect food. I have seen plastic bins left in the huts to hold spare food, books etc nicely chewed up by the rats. I still recall one campsite guest book from 2003 with lots of comments about a particularly aggressive rat, then one day an entry mentioning a Tiger snake, followed by no more mention of said rat.

 

[melanieylang]

Rats here in the West, particularly on the Bibblumun Track are a bit of a nuisance as they have become familiar with the campsites.

Learnt quickly to hang packs away from walls to protect food. I have seen plastic bins left in the huts to hold spare food, books etc nicely chewed up by the rats. I still recall one campsite guest book from 2003 with lots of comments about a particularly aggressive rat, then one day an entry mentioning a Tiger snake, followed by no more mention of said rat.

Thereby proving that snakes could be the least of a camper's worries!