This is the kit that I used through the Western Arthurs in Tasmania. I used this trip as a testing ground for gear I planned to take on my Te Araroa thru hike in New Zealand, hence some of the stranger items carried like an ipad mini which I would be using for blogging from the trail in NZ.
The Western Arthurs sort of mimics the number of days I would be spending between town resupplies and similar terrain on the longest stretch of Te Araroa, the Richmond Range.
On previous trips to the South West of Tasmania I have slogged it out starting with packed weights close to 25kg for a similar length walk – this is still the case for many people these days – I have vowed never to carry this much again.
While I’m confident and comfortable with my choices of the light weight gear I took down there, I would not recommend these choices to all people. I ended up cutting this trip short due to weather but did carry a full 8 days supply of food.
The core elements of my kit basically remain the same from trip to trip but I change gear out quite a bit and continued to find ways to shave weight off my gear. This trip was a gear test more than anything hence some of the strange items (kitchen sink) or double ups (shell pants and a rain skirt; kindle and ipad). You could easily drop more than 2 kg off this list by dropping electronics and clothes.
Compare this to what I actually ended up carrying on Te Araroa, it is way different.
| ITEM | Grams |
|---|---|
| Packing | |
| Osprey Exos58 | 1000 |
| Osprey pack cover | 115 |
| Packing Sub-total | 1115 |
| Shelter | |
| Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo Tarp Tent | 650 |
| Tyvek ground sheet | 80 |
| 10 x stakes, guy lines, paracord and bag | 235 |
| Shelter Sub-total | 965 |
| Sleep | |
| Western Mountaineering Summerlite sleeping bag | 525 |
| Silk Liner | 157 |
| Thermarest Neoair – Womens model (higher R value) | 318 |
| Inflatable Pillow | 48 |
| Sleep Sub-total | 1048 |
| Cooking / Water Storage | |
| 2 Lt Cambelbak bladder with Sawyer in-line filter | 302 |
| 1Lt bottle plastic water bottle | 20 |
| Cook Kit* | 584 |
| Cooking Sub-total | 906 |
| Clothing – packed | |
| 2 x Icebreaker merio boxers | 100 |
| Icebreaker 150 weight Thermal Pants | 158 |
| ULA Rain Kilt | 66 |
| NGX Shell Pants | 230 |
| Icebreaker 150 Thermal L/S Top | 247 |
| Mountain Hardwear hooded Ghost Whisperer down jacket | 208 |
| Icebreaker Merino beanie | 50 |
| Thinsulate Gloves | 40 |
| Gortex overmits | 193 |
| 2 x Icebreaker Socks | 110 |
| Marmot Precip Shell Jacket | 367 |
| Good ol aussie thongs | 154 |
| Clothing packed Sub-total | 1923 |
| Other Items | |
| GPS with batteries Garmin 62 | 195 |
| SPOT Tracker with batteries | 137 |
| Kindle ereader in water proof case | 318 |
| Ipad mini in water proof case | 418 |
| Silva Compass | 30 |
| Maps & trail notes in zip-lock | 158 |
| Victorinox Pocket Knife | 60 |
| Mozzie Face Net | 20 |
| Toiletries – Toothpaste, toothbrush, insect repellant, zinc stick, lip balm, hydropel, talc, sunscreen | 164 |
| 1st Aid* | 170 |
| Repair & emergency* | 124 |
| Chamis towel | 36 |
| Kitchen Sink! | 128 |
| Thermarest Sit pad | 58 |
| Camera – Canon D30 Powershot | 229 |
| Other Sub-total | 2245 |
| Clothing – Worn, Items Carried | |
| Icebreaker Merino Boxer | 50 |
| Columbia Zip-off pants + belt | 311 |
| Macpac short sleeve Merino tshirt | 154 |
| Macpac long sleeve shirt | 197 |
| Liner Socks | 25 |
| Icebreaker Socks | 54 |
| Outdoor Research Gaiters | 215 |
| La Sportiva Wildcat trail runners | 682 |
| Buff | 35 |
| 2XU sun visor | 49 |
| Julbo Sunglasses with bag | 54 |
| Watch with suunto clip-it compass | 40 |
| Leki Trekking Poles – pair | 530 |
| Clothing worn Sub-total | 2396 |
| Consumables | |
| Large Butane Gas canister | 644 |
| Food average 650g/day | 5200 |
| Water 2Lt | 2000 |
| Consumables Sub-total | 7844 |
| Base weight (pack, shelter, sleep, cooking, clothing packed & other) | 8282 |
| Consumables (weight decreases daily) | 7844 |
| Total carried | 16126 |
| Worn/carried | 2396 |
| Skin out weight (absolutely everything) | 18522 |
* Cook kit included: kovea stove head, 1 Lt Stoic Ti pot and pan, Ti mug, Ti long handle spoon, homemade pot cozy, chux, small bic lighter
* Repair Kit – small super glue, dental floss and sewing needle, thermarest patch repair
* First Aid – crepe bandage, gauze pad, few band aids, mole skin, a few voltarem and disprin.
Mick Beckers 