Anyone who’s hiked with me knows I’ve always been focused on my stove’s fuel efficiency. On the last walk I had the benefit of meeting another member of this unfortunate group and he introduced me to GearSkeptic.

Who is GearSkeptic? He’s a North American with a large YouTube following who appears to have an engineering background and an evidential approach. He’s producing thorough, detailed videos that look like the visual equivalent of the offspring of scientific papers and Dad jokes.

In other ...

Rain. In the 5 days before we arrived, Arkaroola received 45mm, and another 52mm during our trip. Roads and campsites were either closed or awash and creeks in full spate. Normally dry waterfalls resurrected themselves in spectacular fashion. Was this the wettest Gammons trip ever?

Trips to the Gammon Ranges are normally an exercise in schlepping water between the known, reliable water sources and that’s exactly what we had planned. But nature made our plans look ridiculous. Each day was spent ...

Perenties are the world’s fourth largest reptile, and can be 2.5m long and weigh 20kg. Their head and neck has a distinctive reticulated pattern of black on a cream background and the body has light rosettes edged in black.

Perenties are found across the arid country in the centre of Australia. Their name comes from the Dyari language from the east of Kati Thanda – Lake Eyre. They eat eggs, birds, reptiles and small mammals.

Australia is a stronghold for monitor lizards, ...

I joined ABW in 1980, but I have no record of when Frank joined – maybe a year or two before that. From the time I joined ABW, Frank was a driving force in the Club. In due course, he was justly awarded Life Membership.

I formed a firm friendship with Frank, particularly as a result of the many walks and trips I shared with him Sadly, a debilitating illness took hold of him, and he saw out his days in a ...

We left at approximately 8 o’clock on the Thursday morning, but the train was slow and, of course, late, so that we had practically no time in Pt. Augusta. Fortunately, we now know the eating shops in Quorn, and so we dived for the nearest as the train pulled into the station and made short work of ham and eggs.

On again, reaching Copley at 5 a.m. we stumbled across the station yards in the darkness towards a glimmer of light ...