Welcome Everyone

[Aegist]

I split Katie's question about an introductory course into abseil and canyoning and my own and Lucas' reply off into the canyoning forum because it is a really good discussion to have there.

New thread: http://www.tdmskp.com.au/community/index.php/topic,25.0.html

[Rick]

Hi all,

Saw your info on OZCanyons so i thought i'd dropin and say "Hi"!

Love the idea!

So a little on me...I'm Late 40's, into Canyons, Bushwalking, MTB, Geo cashing and have been a previous member of both the Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad (VRA) 3yrs and Campbelltown SES, 6.5yrs. Im currently with both Bankstown Bushwalkers and Springwood Bushwalkers. I try to get out and do 1 activity at least 2/3 times a month with 1 overnighter if possible.

So thats me!

Cheers Rick.

[Aegist]

Thanks for popping in Rick! You would have probably noticed int he OzCanyons emails then that there is a trip intentions forum here now which you can use to post important information about your trips (if you want to do it that way).

Would also love to see some of your experience coming out in the guidebook

One day we will have a complete guide to all of Australia, and we will all wonder how we used to live without it....

[Kelly]

Hi everyone,

I found this on Facebook too, and thought it's just the thing for me since I want to get back into oudoors type things.

I don't do much outdoors at the moment, but I used to do a lot of long outdoor horse rides, and walks, which I miss and should take up again, and I've started indoor rock climbing to help get over my fear of heights, and when I'm good enough I'd like to take that outdoors too.

I'd also love to start caving, and a few other things.

This site looks great, I'm glad I found it.

I'm over in Perth, and I'm twenty-someting.

[joel]

Hi All

my name is Joel, SA boy mid 20's who thinks this is an awesome idea, ussally just trek but also enjoy the odd paddle every now and then. grew up in NSW so did a few walks around the traps when i was there. limitted places to do who i love in SA unless i head up to the flinders.

heading to kilimenjaro on thursday to try my luck at altitude.

if there are any outdoor groups/orgs from SA out there would be great to hear from you

[Bec]

Hi guys,

Had this site on my facebook profile page.  Awesome!  I'm new to the hiking world after a hard introduction on the Kokoda track.  I've just come back from the Tasmania Overland Track, so to receive this site is perfect timing.  I've been looking at the blue mountains and it seems there is enough hikes and places to explore to keep anyone busy for a year.  I hope to get there soon.  But my next couple of trips are around Victoria - where i'm from.   I'm keen to meet any other Vics to hike with.  But mostly want to hear of all the not so common hikes - where you can't get lost. lol.

Happy days

Bec

[Aegist]

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

Looks like we are starting to build a good representation of all of the states now!

Bec, I think there are more walks in the Blue mountains than one person could do in a year - you would probably need quite a few years to really explore the blue mountains!

[rustyblade]

Hi Everybody,

My Name is Russel, i'm 26 from Sydney (Siberian Husky in my photo is Blade)...  In the past i've enjoyed a bit of horse riding, bush walking / hiking, camping, coastal exploration, gemstone/gold fossiking, and have been on a few cave tours - including Jenolan in NSW.  Unfortunately I've let myself get distracted by the 'tediums' and haven't done anything like that in a while (although have thought about it many times), I would like to do it all again - and some new, more challenging things aswell.

I must say that Shane has done an excellent job getting the site to this stage since November 2007, a lot of insightfull work has gone into this!  I do believe this site will meet its goal in being 'the definitive guide to Outdoor Sports in Australia', and the more help he gets - the faster it will get there (and benefit us all sooner)..

So, I read the section in the Guidebook about how we all can help and had a fews spare minutes up my sleeve and decided i'de give it a go! The ultimate goal of the Guidebook is to have detailed 'Guide Articles' covering all outdoor locations across Australia, including information about the sports, history, dangers, equipment, and other relevent information for the beginner and/or enthusiast.

I found out that Shane had planned to include Surfing as a 'non-standard' outdoor sport, but the page did not yet exist - So I copied the info from wikipedia and pasted it into Surfing!  AND NOW IT EXISTS!!  At the moment it does require editing to make revelent to Australia, but it's started...  I don't happen to know anything about surfing - If you do, you may want to have a go of improving it!!!

Then I thought: It will need an article about a surfing location in Australia, and made as an example a page on 'Maroubra Beach' a popular surfing location near me.  I made sure that I added into the region catagory:Sydney and catagory:NSW Surfing, and finally into the catagory:Surfing - Now it is easy to find aswell...  Go and have a look at the page, once you know how to do it (few minutes for me) - it's very easy to do! 

http://tdmskp.com.au/guide/index.php?title=Maroubra_beach

[Aegist]

Thank you so much Russel!

You know I will keep plugging away on this site, adding to the Guide, the trip reports, the photo galleries and the videos for a long time yet, but no matter how much work I put into it, it will never reach the ultimate goal unless people like you just give it a shot.

I know it is very confusing at first (remember, I only started doing this myself 2 months ago!), but it is actually very easy to learn. And once a few people start giving it a go, even though there is no obvious immediate gratification for your work, more people will be inspired to add their 2cents, and so forth until we have an army of people all adding their little bit at a time. And once we have that, TDMSKP will be the most useful resource for outdoors Australia ever created.

The reward will be there for everyone to use, and everyone will benefit from it all the same.

In 5 years, people won't know how anyone did any of this stuff without something like the TDMSKP guide Just watch.

[Marls]

Hi all.  I have to say this is an excellent forum.  Whilst I love my friends they aren't quite as adventurous and I am (being a bunch of girls) and often will choose to drink rather then get out and smell the fresh air.  Things I'm into are:

Snowboarding
Scuba Diving
Hiking
Camping
Mountain Bike riding
Swimming
Snorkelling
but there is so much more to do and try...

I'm based in the Eastern Subs so will be keen to meet up with people in the area who are keen on similar interests and stuff.

Well done on the site.

Cheers!

Marls.

[Aegist]

Hey Marls, I'm in Randwick. Maybe we should head out together some time
I've actually just organised two beginner trips for the UNSW outdoors club over the coming weeks in kayaking and canyoning.

You can see them here: http://www.unswoc.org/trips/upcomingTrips.htm

If you want to come along on the canyoning trip, send me an email and we'll chat.

[JoshCaple.Com]

Hi all!
I'm Josh Caple, living in Kenthurst. I've been climbing/surfing/skating/snowboarding/paddling/walking/mtbing/canyoning etc for as long as I can remember. I guided abseiling/climbing/canyons/mtb for 4 seasons (mainly in the Blue Mountains, in between winters living in Jindabyne or hitching around the country as a dirtbag climber) 
I'm currently working as a Rope Access Tech/Rigger in Sydney while growing my business as a travel/adventure sports photographer & writer. In my 'spare time' I'm the photo editor at CRUX Magazine.

[Aegist]

Hi Josh. What a resume! Welcome! I look forward to seeing you around

[Julz]

Hi all,

Did a canyon with Shane the other day and was asked by his friend if I was a member of this group and the look of horror when I said no spurred me to joining.

Some of you may know me from OzCanyons, and will know that I'm a shift worker who spends all my days off in one canyon or another. I've been canyoning since December 1994 when I did Claustral as part of my army adventure training, and haven't stopped since. I occasionally go out on my own much to the initial horror of many OzCanyoneers. I enjoy the solitude and pitting my skills against Mother Nature. So far I'm winning!

Apart from 6 years in the army,  I've done 12 years in the SES where I gained vertical rescue quals, then had about 18 months off  before rejoining last year. And work? I'm a full time security officer - a patrollie.

Look forward to meeting some of you out there - stay safe!

Julie

[Aegist]

Thanks for joining Julie.

I never intended to replace OzCanyons when I set this up (actually, I didn't even know of OzCanyons when I set this up), but I think the open nature of this style of forum has many advantages over the rather secretive style of OzCanyons.

There is a horde of knowledge locked up in OzCanyons, and only the members can access it. Google will never find any information in it, and so there is a lot of stuff which is brilliant advice - advice intended for newbies - which they will only discover after they are experienced enough for it to be mostly old news to them (because you don't usually find out about OzCanyons until you meet someone who tells you about it.

Thats why the canyoning section of this forum does have that slight advantage of OzCanyons - When you give advice, such as using SRT, using particular anchor types, wearing helmets, wearing wetsuits, not stealing Rapides from canyons etc etc - at least that valuable insight from experienced canyoners can get out to the people who most need it - the people who are already well entrenched in the canyoning community.