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Bush camping, hiking and woolies - a review

The holiday we just came back from started with three days of kayaking. It was organised through these people and I cannot recommend them enough. Bush camping on a beach, with only two access points - hiking and boating in. On the first day the weather was a bit rough, but that was more than offset by the dolphins that came a swam with us while we paddled. Amazing.

Then we did a three day hike, organised by a couple of friends of ours. Again, blissfully peaceful, lovely walking, and stunning bush camping. We saw wallabies and a snake and a whole lot of birds.



When we were packing, I thought long and hard about two particular pieces of clothing - socks and jumpers. When running I still wear commercial socks, but I wanted to see if handknits would be fine for hiking. I figured they should be - after all the original explorers who carved out this trail would have been wearing handknit wool socks. I took the plainest stocking stitch socks I have made and they worked just fine. At the end of three days of hiking in heavy boots, they didn't even smell.


I also brought Owls. I love this jumper but, being made of really heavy weight handspun I don't get a lot of wear out of it in the city. It was perfect. Warm, breathable and flexible with my other clothing options. I'm so glad I went old school and trusted my knitwear, which has a long history in conditions just like these.

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