The Omnifuel is a great idea as it allow you to use multiple types of fuel which includes the following:

• LP / Butane / White gas
• Diesel
• Gasoline / petrol
• Kerosene / paraffin
• Jet fuel
• Avgas and other petroleum based fuels

The stove, which is a refinement of the older Primus MultiFuel stove, uses very advanced materials to offer advanced functionality and the bellow features:

• Brings one litre of water to boil in arround 3 minutes
• A wind proof burner which adjusts to the wind conditions
• Exchangeable jet nipples optimising the use of each particular fuel type
• A self bleeding system for the fuel line
• A steel sheathed fuel line
• A pre-heating system
• Valve control from gentle simmer to rolling boiling
• Low center of gravity keeping the stove stable
• Non-slip pot support grids

Importantly, the OmniFuel is designed to handle demanding conditions, extreme altitudes and both high and low temperatures, all of which i’m certainly looking forward to testing it in :)

I’ve always liked the capabilities of the OziExplorer software and the price point is pretty good…but the OziExplorer3D software is brilliant for trip planning.

I’ve thrown two screen shots of the Upper Yarra Valley around Warburton showing a section of the standard topo map and a 3D version of the same area.

If you are picking up a copy of OziExplorer i highly recommend that you grab OziExplorer3D as well :)

Silva Expedition 4 Compass, a great baseplate compass for experienced navigators from Silva with almost everything you would need from a compass. Magnifier, millimetre and inch scales. Romer scales: 1:63.360 1:50.000 1:25.000. A compass with extra functionality for GPS users.

Features:

• Easy map/compass works with the Silva 1-2-3 System
• Ergonomically shaped baseplate of scratch resistant acrylic
• Three silicone feet prevent the compass from sliding off the map
• Stencil holes in the base plate for exact position markings on the map
• Luminous points for night navigation
• Romer scales for plotting positions on maps
• Patented red/black north/south lines in the capsule for quick and correct course setting
• Accuracy max 1.0° from true course
• Swedish quality steel compass needle
• North indicator on the red end of the compass needle
• Sapphire jewel bearing
• Magnifying lens

It’s been a while since i’ve used a baseplate compass for navigation…but i’m sure it will all come back to me :)

So a few weeks ago I set out on the great boot hunt…after much oohing and aahing at boots in the $300+ range, early last week I decided on a set of Hi-Tec Altitude IV WP leather boots from my favourite outdoor store, Anaconda for $229 during one of their great sales.

I was also checking out the new Denali mid hike boots and the Gondwana Longford boots, which they didn’t have in my size. I have quite a bit of equipment and clothing from both Denali and Gondwana, which I have been very happy with, but I might wait for them to make a few more boots as I believe that this is their first attempt at supplying a hiking boot.

Anyway…back to the Hi-Tec purchase. The boot spec’s and some images are below and I’ll give them a good work out over the coming months and report on my thoughts.

Hi-Tec Altitude IV WP
Brown Full Grain

Features

• Waterproof seam sealed full grain leather upper
• Soft padded leather collar
• Fully gusseted leather tongue
• Rustproof brass hardware
• Comfort-Tec sockliner
• Board lasted with steel shank for added rigidity
• Lightweight CMEVA midsole
• Durable carbon rubber hiking outsole

The first two come from TrackMyJourney, which provides a bundle of GPS related data on your phone as well as linking your location (and recent track) into an image that auto-update’s as well as a standalone still image. While this service doesn’t utilise any of the major online mapping services (Windows Live, Google Maps. etc) on your phone, it does provide a utility allowing you to import any maps you do own after converting them to the TMG format.

Unfortunately, for some reason TrackMyJourney occasionally seems to think that i am located at 0°0’0″N and 0°0’0″E

The next service, from GMap-Track, provides a very simple output showing your last reported location on a map (Windows Live, Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, etc) in your mobile, as well as the ability to embed a Google Map into a web page.

While both applications are good and easy to use, and GMap-Track is great from a web page embedding perspective, TrackMyJourney does provide a lot more info and options, but…it would be nice to see it include the option to utilise map images from Windows Live, Google Maps and others if you required them.

So…in looking for a new NextG phone three things were on my list of must haves:

• A phone that worked really well in regional and remote areas
• A phone that could be connected to a computer and used as a modem
• A phone that could have an external antenna attached to it

After visiting the new T [life] store in Melbourne, i found all the things i was looking for in the ZTE T165i.

The phone specifications are:

Durable candy bar design with extendable antenna for maximum coverage. Ideal for all users offering top coverage performance in a durable case. Includes FM radio, daylight viewable QVGA display and 2 megapixel camera.

Main features:
Daylight viewable TFT LCD display
FM radio, MP3 player and ringtones
A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) support
Tri band UMTS, Quad band GSM
Extendable antenna
Bluetooth 1.2 with stereo headset support
2.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with digital zoom
Dual camera design for video calling
T-Flash memory up to 4GB microSDHC
Personal organiser / calendar
Speakerphone
Java MIDP 2.0 for games and applications
USB connectivity included
Compatible with handsfree car kit with external antenna
Predictive text and built in dictionary for easy SMS
Large Li-ion battery for long life

Comes with:
USB cable
Windows 2000 (SP4), XP (SP2), Vista compatible PC software
MAC OS drivers and Dial Up Client
Personal handsfree kit
AC charger
User manual

Technical Specifications:
UMTS 850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps*
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
250 hours standby, 3.5 hours talk time
TFT display 240 x 320, 262K colours
Java MIDP 2.0
Bluetooth 1.2 – FTP / HFP / A2DP (Stereo) / DUN
Size 117mm x 51mm x 16mm
Weight 119g (including standard battery)

The phone was apparently designed by ZTE in Australia, after Telstra’s request for a good regional NextG phone, and manufactured by ZTE in China.

At the country property, about 100km east of the Melbourne CBD, i have never been able to get my mobile phone to work or had any luck getting a working internet connection (except with a very funky modem and high gain antenna from work). I can’t get ADSL or ISDN because the place is to far from the closest exchange, the standard NextG modem won’t work accorsing to the NextG website, so that left me looking at a possible dual satellite setup. Even with the government rebate, the cost is excessive…for $500 a month you et a 4GB plan (15c per MB on excess) and speeds of 800kbps for downloads and 128 kbps for uploads.

Well…the T165i works fine as a NextG modem (with the external antenna) as i wrote this post with it from the country property :)

It was absolute luck that Anaconda currently have a sale on, and it includes some extra bonuses for Anaconda Club members…like 8-24×50 Zoom binoculars (made by a company called “Tactical”) which normally sell for around $160 on sale for $79 :)

So i popped into their Bayswater store on Monday morning and couldn’t find them anywhere. It turned out they didn’t have them in stock but they told me that they had a replacement item…hmmm…

So there i was, expecting to be passed a pair of inferior binoculars for the same price when the Anaconda salesperson handed me a pair of Bushmaster 10-30 X 50 Zoom Binoculars. The shelf price on the Bushmasters was $199 and she told me that i could have them for the sale price of $79.

It gets even better when i tell you that in the mail last week i received the latest Anaconda sale catalogue and it included a voucher (for club members) for $20 off a sale if the sale was over $80. I threw in a small Tactical “mini led” torch, which was on sale as well and marked down from $27 to $15.

So the total purchase, which would have cost me $226 if i wasn’t a club member, only cost me a grand total of $74…a true bargain :)

Bushmaster 10-30 X 50 Zoom Binoculars

Grey rubber armoured, multi coated ruby lens.

Bushmaster 10-30x 50 binoculars employ Multi-Coated Optics helping to increase the amount of useful light coming into the binoculars, thus providing an image that is brighter, sharper and clearer.

Having every single surface of lenses and prisms coated with light-enhancing chemicals, Bushmaster binoculars promise a light transmission efficiency of up to 95%.

In addition, most Bushmaster optics are treated with a layer of Ruby Coating on top of the normal coatings. It protects user’s eye from UV emission and further increases the light transmission. It offers brilliant, crisp daylight viewing and is especially suited for use over water, snow an in other bright conditions.

I’ll get to try them out later this week while I’m up on top of a mountain in the Great Dividing Range ;)

It turns out that they had the following map: Aus148 Plans in Bass Strait – Hogan Group (Nautical Chart). Having never bought a nautical chart before i was surprised to find that they cost substantially more than land based maps at just under $30 instead of around $10.

No doubt it probably costs more to map nautical area’s, and they probably don’t sell a lot of these maps so i can’t say that i was that surprised at the price.

Anyway…i scanned in part of the map and put together a mashup using the MapCruncher Beta for
Microsoft Virtual Earth.

You can click here to access it.

It’s a shame that they are moving from a great location that they seem to have occupied for ever, but I’ve bought many a map from these guys over the last 20 or so years and will continue to visit them at their new location.

It’s on a little piece of rock which measures 85m east-west and 160m north-south, is located about 40km from the south-east tip of Wilsons Promontory and is called Boundary Islet.

Image from wikipedia

Latitude and Longitude details:

Latitude: -39 degrees 11 minutes 54.7362 seconds
Longitude: 147 degrees 1 minute 16.8954 seconds

-39.198537926698286, 147.02136039733887

From the GeoScience Australia website:

Of all the land-based borders in Australia, this is by far the shortest. Officially, the border between Victoria and Tasmania is a parallel of latitude 39°12′. Off the coast of Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria, there is a group if islands and islets known as The Hogan Group. Within this group is one islet, about six hectares in size, that straddles this boundary. Once called North East Islet, the name was changed to avoid confusion with another islet of the same name in the Kent Group, a short distance to the south east. In honour of the islet’s position, lying across the border between Victoria and Tasmania, it was renamed Boundary Islet.

From the Wikipedia entry:

Boundary Islet is an islet about 60,000 square metres in size in the Hogan Group of islands and islets at latitude 39°12′ S, south of the Wilson’s Promontory, the southernmost part of
both mainland Australia and mainland Victoria. The boundary between Victoria and Tasmania is a parallel similarly at latitude 39°12′; on it is thus Tasmania’s only land boundary, and at 85 metres long it is the shortest land border between any Australian states. The position of the island was surveyed in 1801 by Captain James Black, who erred in placing the islet further north than it is. It was later found that the border at 39°12′ S actually passed through the islet.

Boundary Islet was once known as North East Islet.

This article in The Age from 2005 talks about Boundary Islet.

Hmmm…i wonder how hard it would be to get a boat to take you out to Boundary Islet? It would certainly make for a great little expedition :)