Into the wild with my four legged friend (With a little Becker content)

NathanJ

NathanJ

Joined
Jun 28, 2013
Messages
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Hi All,

Just want to share some photos of my time in our local state forest. I went bush walking with my dog, Shadow, last evening and we did a 10 kilometer trip. Knife laws are a pain here, but I always carry a small blade and this time it was the BK24. I used it to cut up some apple for me and the dog :) (she loves apple and carrots).

Being that it is getting hot here now, it will probably be the last time I take her bush walking this year, plus paralysis tick season has started early this year. The state forest is called Daisy Hill, it is a very large forest with dry areas, wetlands and typical aussie bush. It is a 15 minute drive from my house, so not too far.

I enjoy getting out later in the afternoon and into the night, walking at night is enjoyable to me, and I always carry my Fenix TK15 with me in case I need some good illumination. Anyway, onto the pics!


Just entering the forest. The tire tracks are for the park rangers to do maintenance, no civvy vehicles allowed. Only Cyclists, hikers and horses allowed on the trails.


It is hard too see, but this little guy is an echidna, sort of like a porcupine. I heard him rustling in the leaves and just managed to get a quick photo. I was pretty happy because this is the first one I have ever seen in the wild.


An old tree stump I like.


Bushland starting to open up.


Shadow with her saddle bags :) She carries some treats and a little water. I carry the bulk of the water.


This used to be a sandstone quarry, but it has been re-vegetated and now looks like it was always meant to be there. This is about 3 kms in.


Shadow really wants to go for a swim, but it is standing water and unfortunately don't want to take the chance of her getting sick. There are ducks on the water and I would assume it would be safe, but you just never know.


Tired pup having a rest at the top of the quarry.


Cutting up some apple with the 24 for the dog and I


Have to get some Becker content in :)


The sun starting to go down.


I like this sunset shot.


This area has been purposely burnt off by firefighters. They do this before summer to try and reduce the chances of bushfires.


Some more burnt off areas.


Found this little guy digging his hole.

That's about it for now, planning another trip soon, but won't be taking Shadow for a few months now. Enjoy! Mods, if this is supposed to have an "off-topic" prefix please let me know and I will edit it.
 
Looks like fun, thanks for sharing. I used to have a Doberman named Shadow.
 
Good looking trip man! I spent close to a week in Darwin and never made it near the bush. I did plenty of bar hopping though!
 
Awesome pics! It's so exotic to see pictures from the wild "down under". It seems like you have quite a bit of different terrain in just a 10 km walk, from open areas, lakes and dense forest. How was the temperature when you went on this trip?
 
Thanks for the kind words guys. Saint Loke, the temperature was around 32 degrees Celsius when we started out. Hot for this time of year. We have just had our hottest september ever recorded, so I think it is going to be a very hot summer.
 
Great pictures, Nathan! Could you elaborate on both the knife laws that you must contend with, and 'paralysis ticks'?
 
Cool trek. Really cool to see some pictures from the other side of the world. Our summer is just ending here. I'm jealous that yours is just starting...
 
Thanks for sharing. Great pics.
So cool that you found and were able to capture all the pictures of the wildlife.
And that dog harness is awesome. I've been wanting to get one for my Akita for a while now.
I've heard that having the dog carry stuff like that makes them behave better because the are given a job to do and they focus more. True?
 
ironborn said:
Great pictures, Nathan! Could you elaborate on both the knife laws that you must contend with, and 'paralysis ticks'?
Click to expand...

Hi ironborn, here is a quick extract regarding knives from the Queensland Police website:

"It is a reasonable excuse to physically possess a knife to perform a lawful activity, duty or employment; to participate in a lawful entertainment, recreation or sport, for exhibiting the knife or for use for a lawful purpose. Examples as quoted in Section 51 of the Weapons Act 1990 are:

A person may carry a knife on his or her belt for performing work in primary production
A scout may carry a knife on his or her belt as part of the scout uniform
A person may carry a knife as an accessory while playing in a pipe band
A fisher may carry a knife for use while fishing
A person who collects knives may exhibit them at a fete or another public gathering
A person may use a knife to prepare or cut food at a restaurant in a public place or when having a picnic in a park; or
A person may carry a pen knife or swiss army knife for use for its normal utility purpose. "

So being that I carried the BK24 to cut up an apple, it was lawful for me to carry. But I cannot carry openly or concealed for any other reason. So as long as I am hiking in the bush, I can claim to any LEO that the knife is for food purposes, which is why I always carry some small items of food like apples or carrots while walking.

It just pays to be careful, if I was ever stopped I will treat the police officer with all due respect and explain the situation. I have the utmost respect for our police, and I believe if you be honest and respectful they appreciate it.

And as for paralysis ticks, they are nasty little creatures that latch onto an animal and basically start to shut the animals vital organs down. If not treated, death is unfortunately the likely outcome. I always do a thorough check on Shadow after a trip, they are very small and feel like small glass beads. If you find one, you have to remove it ASAP and get the animal to the vet for treatment.
 
Dexwithers said:
Thanks for sharing. Great pics.
So cool that you found and were able to capture all the pictures of the wildlife.
And that dog harness is awesome. I've been wanting to get one for my Akita for a while now.
I've heard that having the dog carry stuff like that makes them behave better because the are given a job to do and they focus more. True?
Click to expand...

Hi Dex,

The dog harness is great, you are right it gives them a job and they focus on that. It takes a while for them to get used to it, once you have all the adjustments completed it works very well. The one I have has hi-vis reflectors on it too so that is good for night walks.

And thanks everyone for your kind words, it means alot to me.
 
Great trip report. Especially loved the pics of the sunset. I think I'll have to look into getting a pack for my dog - he's a husky-cross, with boundless energy. Might just be the thing to settle him down. Do you weigh the pack down very much, or is it just on him for the feel? Thanks for sharing.
 
I'd take my dogs places with me, but one is 15, blind and deaf. So shes past the hiking phase of her life. And the younger one has a nasty habit of killing squirrels. They're both sighthounds, and its damn near impossible to stop a 110 pound dog that can run 40 mph at the drop of a hat, so the squirrel massacre is kind of an unstoppable outcome if I let him off his leash for a little bit. But other than murdering squirrels he's fun to take along.
 
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