Son, Toby, has just spent three days with two friends bikepacking on mountain bikes in the glorious Blue Mountains west of Sydney. They covered 230kms mostly on dirt road and trails and climbed a total of 3533 metres. They were self contained carrying tents, sleeping bags and all their food and they topped up with water from town supplies and from streams. Carrying enough water is a major issue. Currently there is plenty of water in the streams which can be used after filtering but that's not always the case.
Toby says the trip was a great success. The weather was kind but he says that it would not be feasible in high summer and it could be too cold in winter.
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| Red Day 1.Blue Day 2 .Green Day 3. |
To record the trip Toby used an Olympus Mju 2 which he had last used in 2006 and which then had been retired early as he went digital. The camera had laid unused in a box for 14 years with an unprocessed film inside it.
The Olympus Mju 2 was a very popular camera in its day and going by the prices on eBay it is enjoying a cult following currently. It is a full frame, point and shoot, 35mm film camera with a good 35mm F2.8 lens in a very compact body. The Mju 21 fits easily into a pocket. My wife owned its predecessor, the XA1, for a number of years. We do not know where it is now but maybe it will surface again one day.
There is no digital equivalent to the Mju 2 today. That category of compact point and shoot camera has vanished from the market displaced by smartphones.
Toby loaded the Olympus with the excellent Kodak Portra 160 negative film for his bikepacking trip. Here are a selection of his photos.
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| Bushfire went through here earlier in the year. |
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| The distinctive Blue Mountains blue haze is due to eucalyptus droplets in the atmosphere. |
Wow - stunning John and Toby
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