The seven kilo challenge - penultimate chapter

The final chapter will of course be written after I've fronted up at the airport terminal, but for now, we have the penultimate chapter.

What's changed? Well a little trip to Perth saw me buying a few more outdoor clothes, including updating my capris to a lighter and more snug fitting pair. Since I've lost a considerable amount of weight in the last few years it becomes quite uncomfortable continuously hitching up a swimming waistline in tropical heat when carrying a backpack. My new capris are stretchy, which means although they may be a little tight in a couple of spots they are still extremely comfy. I'm glad to say that I'm so much more comfortable in my body these days that a couple of bulges no longer see me purchasing the next size up.

And whilst I was buying new clothes, a couple of new shirts in purples and reds have ended up in the mix. Nice to get away from boring beige and khaki.

You may remember in the last post I mentioned I had a space problem. Once I had packed all my gear in the backpack, it became patently obvious that it wasn't all going to fit. Just because I've a solution to the carryon limit, it doesn't mean I'll be walking around Java with a padded vest on. The clothes and the vest will be in the backpack, along with a full water bladder, plus food when I'm camping.

It just doesn't all fit into a 33L backpack. Not once the water bladder is filled and some extra food thrown in.

What to do?

Well at some point I plan to walk the Bibbulmun Track, from Perth to Albany, and I was already aware that the 33L was too small for the job. The 55L backpack that I took around SE Asia in 2008/2009 is a good size, but too big for carryon and the harness sucks. It's too big for my short torso meaning I am continuously hoisting it up to get comfortable. The small/medium harness on the Ospreys, however, is perfectly sized for me.

So I bought a 44L Osprey Talon. I'm starting to think I have more money than sense, and definitely far too many backpacks and travel bags littering the nether regions of my cupboards and underbed spaces. Is there an Imelda Marcos equivalent for backpacks??

The 44L is larger, has an aluminium internal frame, and is heavier than the 33L. By 400g. Ouch! So it's now touch and go whether I can fit under the 7kg limit. But at least everything fits in easily with room to spare.

Here's a pic with the backpack loaded with everything except my empty vest - yep all electronics, clothes and camping gear. The camera is never in the backpack so I haven't included it. As you can see there's lots of room.

So.... I'm basically packed. The vest has been packed with clothes, the backpack packed with it's 6kg of gear and I'm just over by 100g.

I'm under the impression Air Asia don't even weigh the carry on baggage, and even if they do, I'm not expecting a few hundred grams to be a problem.

So there you have it.

Stay tuned for the results...

Oh my oh my! What a big camera you have!

Camera, lights, action!!

Ah yes, the freaking great big DSLR camera and all it's paraphernalia.

Some people travel with no camera, or just a small point and shoot or smartphone camera. I did just that in New Zealand in 2012 and enjoyed the freedom of less bulk, yet still managed to take some great photos with my iPhone. But I prefer making pictures with a camera I can tweak lots, and have invested heavily in improving my knowledge, technique and art. I see myself pursuing my passion for photography post retirement from the doctor job. Which means leaving the DSLR behind just isn't an option.

Mt Hutt panorama using iPhone and stitching Apps

This trip I'm changing it up a bit. I've tended to travel with a Tamron 17-250mm lens, a Canon 10-22mm wide-angle, and a 50mm prime. All too frequently I failed, through sheer laziness, to change to either of the latter lenses and found myself with quite a few shots that are a bit soft. So this trip I'm dumping the Tamron and just taking the wide angle and prime. It will force me to work my camera more to get the shots I want, rather than relying on a zoom lens. I'm going to concentrate on landscape shooting, street portraiture, and a few flower shots. I am particularly looking forward to spending some time in the Botanical Gardens in Bogor. I'm such a plant geek!!

Heliconia in Tropical Gardens, Yunnan Province, China

The camera with 10-22mm lens mounted weighs 1317g which is stowed in a Thinktankphoto holster strapped to my chest. The original holster used 2 padded straps crossed over my back to secure it comfortably where I could access my camera easily at any time, but it was a crude design and quite bulky.

original holster and harness

They've come up with a better designed harness, which  I've ordered, but the lower strap requires 2 anchor points on the holster not one. Yes, they redesigned the V2.0 holster with 2 anchor points, but I don't really want to buy a new camera bag just for the sake of a couple of eyelets. There were none in stock anyway.

mmm, much more streamlined..

2 anchor points for bottom strap

I'm sure I can work out something.

Inside the camera bag I stow my spare memory cards, 2 spare batteries and my shutter release cable. Bag and contents (excluding camera) weighs 934g.

Then there's my tripod. I spent a small fortune on a carbon fibre tripod quite a few years ago, and it has faithfully followed me to the summit of many hills, mountains and volcanoes, has allowed me to capture some beautiful sunrises, helped me experiment with long exposure photography, and provided selfies for all my fans  - OK, for my mum! It isn't one of those dinky gorillapods or lightweight travel monopods, because I wanted strength, durability and flexibility. Especially height flexibility, and if there isn't a tree or fence to curl your gorillapod around, you're a bit limited ain't you? It weighs 1037g, I accept this.

Still to pack is a memory card reader, a camera battery charger, and something to download the photos onto. Since I purchased my camera, there's been huge improvements in the cost and quality of electronic components. This means I can now find a CF card reader weighing 16g, and DC/AC battery charger weighing 68g. And neither cost more than a few bucks.

old CF card reader and cable on the left, new one on the right

The 50mm prime lens weighs 152g, including caps and a reversing ring for doing macro. I've a selection of neutral density filters and polarising filters for my wide angle lens so I can play with waterfalls and long exposure dreamy moving water shots and I'll also pop in the Olloclip for the iPhone! Filters 178g in soft case, Olloclip 24g.

Aside from the tripod, which will be stuffed into a side pocket of my backpack, most of this gear will be in my pockets or in the camera bag across my chest. At least to get through the check in. I'm not including most of it in the challenge, because I'm pretty sure I don't need to. No airline has ever asked to weigh it in the past although I have been asked to stow it for takeoff and landing. I look like a freaking tourist - I am, so what? - but I haven't had to worry about my camera being stolen either.

Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan, China and geeky tourist!

I have a few thoughts on the "freaking obvious you've got a big expensive camera" debate. I figure that if I am in a really unsafe place then my camera and bag should be totally stowed away out of sight. BUT, and here's the bit that doesn't make sense from all the paranoid people: If I pull my camera out of whatever bag I am stowing it in and take a photo then I'm outed. So I choose to wear my camera close to my body, where a thief has no chance to opportunistically steal from me. I've also exchanged the brand name camera strap, for a smaller, stronger, generic strap.

But the main reason I wear this set up is so I can be mobile and have camera access in seconds. Awesome for hiking and street photography, I love it.

Planning for Java 2014

My next trip to Indonesia, in April next year, will be to Java. Now that I've made my decision it's full steam ahead. And since I've travelled in Java before I sort of know what to expect.

The next step in my personal travel preparation is destination research. I'd done some pretty extensive research on Java back in 2010, but I need to do a little updating. My scummy old LP Indonesia (2007 edition) has already been downsized by separating the Java section from the main book and there's even handy little post-its from last trip indicating points of interest. There's little point purchasing a new guidebook, if anything the more recent LPs have less destinations in them, and I've never had trouble finding somewhere to stay or eat. Of course I already own a map of Java.

I love maps. I haven't really got into Google Earth/Maps for trip preparation as yet, but I love poring over large format paper maps contemplating heading off up some small minor road and seeing where it ends. Or sketching out a route to take...

In 2010 I skipped the entire West Java, so after about 15 minutes of contemplation I decided to book a flight to Jakarta and start there. Those 15 minutes were taken up with deciding between 2 scenarios:

1. grab a flight from Bali to Jakarta on arrival from Perth. Arrive in Jakarta at lunchtime, take a cab to the western bus station and head west outta there. Note the airport is to the west of Jakarta so I'm in the right general direction to start with. Start Java holiday in West Java and slowly head east. Jump on a through bus or flight to Denpasar when my time is up.
2. head east overland from Bali. Risk spending too much time in East and Central Java and not give myself enough time for the west. The thought of making my way in to Jakarta from I don't know what direction, to get to the airport, seems worse than getting out. 

I'm now really excited, because I love planning my own itinerary. This isn't a day by day trip plan with accommodation and transport pre booked, but more a schedule of potential destinations to visit within a 58 day time frame. It's a what's out there, what's possible kind of plan. It's flexible and open to change. Except the end date - I still have to get back to work when my time is up.  :(

It may still be over 5 months till I leave but I'm starting early for a number of reasons. I really like to research extensively. This means poring over maps, doing multiple google searches and then using Google translate for the Indonesian language sites. Indonesians are keen travellers, and frequently blog about their experiences. Finding these sites and information opens up so many more possibilities than what's available from Western language guidebooks. Of course this sort of research takes time.

I'm keen to use this trip as a trial run for my extended overseas travel once I retire in 2015, so I want to pack and travel with gear I intend to take with me permanently. Doing the research, selecting the equipment, and then giving it a test run is an awesome opportunity. I mean how often do you hear "I wish I'd had ....." or more often "I wish I hadn't brought ....." from travellers on their return? Certainly my lurking on travel blogs reveals gear talk to be a common point for discussion.

I have some issues with gear because not only do I want to travel light, I want to camp, trek and climb mountains. I was limited last Java trip by not having gear for sleeping outdoors, yet I had a number of opportunities to do so. I didn't fancy dying from exposure however. Don't be fooled into thinking tropical places don't get cold. Once you climb into the mountains the temperature plummets. Kerinci in Sumatra is 3800m ASL, it was freezing up there, as was Bromo, and the day I wanted to climb Lawu it was raining and cold.

Once I've got my gear together I'll write about it. That will be in a few months though. The challenge is to carry lightweight camping gear plus electronics/camera gear and keep it to 7kg max.

The reason for this imposition is I have a 7kg carryon luggage limit and I'm not checking in luggage on my flight out of Perth.

I'm loving the challenge!!