When traveling to places with unpredictable rainfall like New Zealand or Australia’s Snowy Mountains the difference between a happy trip and a miserable experience often comes down to the quality and appropriateness of your wet weather clothing.

Great Fun During Wairaurahiri Jetboat Trip photo credit: Jules Lund

A few years ago I joined a UTS Outdoor Adventure Club trip to Kosciuszko National Park in Australia’s Snowy Mountains with the aim of spending New Years Eve on top of Australia’s highest mountain and taking a photo of sunrise on New Years Day.

We were still an hour or two away from the top of Mount Kosciuszko when a big thunderstorm gathered overhead and it started to rain heavily.

My previous experience was doing bushwalks around Sydney in good weather so I was wearing really inappropriate clothes and wet weather gear (cotton tshirt, fleecy jumper, thin pants and cheap basic raincoat) which meant I was sweating heavily inside the cotton tshirt and my raincoat let in a fair bit of water (see photo of me bottom right).

In the years since then I have learnt a lot about enjoying travel during potentially wet weather.

The key is to wear layers of clothing with water repellent features on the outside (make sure they use quality seam seal tape) and moisture wicking features (non-absorbent synthetic fibres that insulate while wicking liquid away from your skin) on the inside.

I was recently invited on a whirlwind week exploring New Zealand South Island via Dunedin and wore:

• Goretex Windstopper and Jacket (their research lab had sent me these to try out and test for them),
• Marmot fleecy mid-layer,
• Mountain Designs (synthetic) plus Glowing Sky (Merino wool) base layer long sleeve shirts
• Gondwana pants with additional polyester overpants for really rainy conditions
• Water resistant boots with long fleecy moisture wicking socks

Neerav Bhatt – Photography in Milford Sound photo credit: Craig Mullis

The result? I had a great time despite the cool weather and constant rain because I was wearing quality appropriate wet weather clothing throughout the trip.

DISCLAIMER: I was not paid for the NZ trip and have sole control over what I write and say about it. All expenses for the trip were covered by Tourism New Zealand and regional subsidiaries. Camera gear was loaned by Canon (except for my own personally owned Canon S90 camera). Some clothing was sponsored by Goretex

JVC has sent me 2 of their Picsio GC-FM1 Handheld Video Recorders to giveaway in a competition.

The winners will be 2 people who write a comment on this blogpost with a photo taken by them (Picasa or Flickr link preferred) in a remote location they’ve visited during travels in Australia and 200 words describing their experience.

Conditions: Entry is only open to people with an Australian postal address. Entries close 11th February. This is not a competition of chance but of skill in writing and taking photos. The 2 winners will be chosen by me and informed via email.

GUEST ARTICLE: Skype has gone from being a novelty when it launched 6 years ago to being really essential for me.

I’m now half-way round the planet from friends in the UK and want to catch up. I also need a visual connection with family and people who have questions about work.

And the things I still can’t quite believe:

• Skype is free – No phone bill. If I’d made these calls using a Telstra landline phone it would have cost lots of money
• It’s available from where ever I happen to log on to the internet
• It’s useful for chat, voice calls and conference calls

And I have the choice to put the “I’m busy, not answering” sign on so it’s not intrusive (all the while still being able to see who is online)

I use Skype in a variety of ways – if people have work/how to questions, I ask them to use Skype Chat instant messaging. It’s a very quick and efficient way to communicate without cluttering up my email

If they want a coaching/work session, I video skype and if they are not online, I leave a message, for when they do log on. Easy.

Even my folks (who view all things interweb and computerish with great suspicion) use Skype to call. The nice thing for me is that I know it’s not costing them a penny, and I can see them and how they are doing. Nice

This travel gear article has been written by Heidi Allen

Heidi has over 15 years experience in the publishing, health and education industries, working internationally in England and Australia. She presents on social media marketing and strategy and is also part of the team at HealthEngine.com.au, a medical search directory launched in Australia. She can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

It’s the season for giving and being thankful for what others have done for you so thanks to Sandisk and Skype Shop I’m giving away some nice stuff to upcoming guest writers on this Road Less Travelled Blog

Guest Articles about Photography

1. If you write 4 guest articles about photography for Road Less Travelled you get 8 x 2GB Sandisk Ultra II CF camera cards.
2. If you write 2 guest articles about photography for Road Less Travelled you get 2 x 4G SDHC camera cards with built-in slideout usb connector. EDITOR: Wolfcat has offered to do this so he gets the 2 cards.

Add a comment to the bottom of this article listing 4 guest article ideas about photography. The person with the best article ideas wins the 8 CF cards.

Examples of guest article ideas could be: What is an SLR, How To Take Photos of Rainbows, Taking Care of Your Camera At the Beach, Explaining what ISO means etc.

Guest Articles about Communicating With Friends & Family While Travelling

Write 1 guest article for Road Less Travelled about communicating with friends and family while travelling and get a Skype Starter Kit with FreeTalk Buddy Cam Webcam, Freetalk MicroTalk earphones and upto 30min Skypeout talk time.

Add a comment to the bottom of this article listing 2 guest article ideas about communicating with friends and family while travelling. The person with the best article idea win a Skype Starter Kit. EDITOR: Heidi has offered to write one article so she gets the Skype starter kit.

Examples of guest article ideas could be: why people should use specific global roaming SIM cards to avoid bill shock, your experience using VOIP or Skype to call home while travelling etc.

EDITOR: Giveaways are only available for Australian readers

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Joby “Gorillapod SLR” flexible tripod while on holidays in Australia’s Snowy Mountains and found it to be very useful and surprisingly popular with other people in my ski lodge who were fascinated by it’s ultra flexible bendy leg joints.

I had chatted with a representative from Joby at the recent PMA Australia 2009 Imaging Technology Show and asked if I could get a review unit of their “Gorillapod” flexible tripod which I’d seen other photographers using to take creative photos in situations where a traditional tripod would be useless.

read my full review of the Joby Gorillapod SLR Flexible Tripod

When I went on my first backpacking trip to Europe I made a big mistake – I took my ordinary bath towel that I used everyday at home to dry off after having a shower. My bath towel took up lots of space, got heavy when wet and dried slowly so was really annoying.

Now when I go backpacking I take a specialist Travel Towel, designed to be Light, Small and Quick Drying

The main difference is that a Travel Towel is made of fast drying synthetic materials like nylon/polyester/polyamide/viscose and a bath towel is made of heavier, slow drying cotton. Don’t make the mistake of carrying around a bathtowel in your backpack that becomes a smelly haven for bacteria because it never dries properly.

Whether you are an avid traveler, backpacker or outdoors enthusiastic taking a travel towel with you will help you:

• Dry quickly after a shower because its highly absorbent
• Spend less time drying the towel itself (a good one usually has an attached loop for quick air drying)
• By lowering the total weight of travel gear in your backpack
• Because its compact and takes up less space in your backpack

An XL (Extra large size) travel towel cost me $27.97 – smaller towels should of course cost less. Ask a sales person at your local travel gear store to open a Travel Towel packet to make sure the one you buy is big enough for you and also that you find its fabric texture comfortable on your skin.