Are countries considered off beaten track?


I thought that more  applied to how far off an actual road you went.

Off the beaten track?

Hmm   

I went 3 kilometres down a salt mine in Poland once.

John Smith wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:17pm:


Yeah, they turned out the lights about half way down the salt mine I went in.

They DID give us warning, though.

This is one of the many rooms down the mine.

https://scontent.fcbr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15977724_599824130213414_9223853...


And also me

greggerypeccary wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:35pm:



Does the link work?

well done bojack ... That looks a little more hard core than anything I've done. I've just done the touristy stuff with boardwalks and paths already laid out for me.

Love the abseiling down the waterfall. Tried abseiling once, loved it. I want to do it again

John Smith wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:39pm:



1st pic is Mammoth Cave Jenolan. 2nd is Kanangra main canyon.

greggerypeccary wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:40pm:



Ah k, 1st pic was Near the railway tunnel in Mammoth Cave at Jenolan. I'm in NSW cave rescue, so the pic is from a training exercise last year. The 2nd is the last great abseil at Kanangra Main canyon in NSW. Another CRS exercise

We just had this years exercise on the weekend, went to Wiburds cave on the Sat, did a search in the cave as well as the extraction. Sunday involved heading to bottomless pit cave and abseiling the 50 metres to the bottom.


I can't go this year, but my plan for next year is to go to the big caves in Tasmania.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:41pm:


I've done one of the caves at jenolan  .... Would love to spend a week there some time and do them all

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:43pm:



did that once while I was driving, shortly after getting my P's ... except I flicked the butt myself and the wind blew it back in and down the back of my shirt

I don't know how I didn't crash that day.

John Smith wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:51pm:




Tourist caving or proper caving?

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:42pm:


Ah!  Impressive.

I don't think I've ever been out to Jenolan.

Just Katoomba   

https://www.facebook.com/PrincipleOfEvilMarksmanship/videos/10158040581285317/


Hope that works

https://www.facebook.com/PrincipleOfEvilMarksmanship/videos/10158040712190317/

Bugger sorry lads.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:46pm:


Be careful of those flash-floods, Bojack. The water comes down the dry gully like a tsunami.

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 2:37pm:



In the broadest sense, nature is the physical world. I'm interacting with the physical world. So no apology.

John Smith wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 12:11pm:



Well done.

We stopped on the road to The Dig Tree. Far south west Queensland.
Outside the gateway the the Nappa Merrie Station.

It was one of the few times in my life there has been no noise. Total silence. No 50 Hz hum from a city. Noone talking. No wind. No birds. No animals.
My ears strain to hear anything, the intensity of total silence becomes overbearing.

I call it the 'Roaring Silence.'

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 2:49pm:


Captain Obvious?

You're a Boofhead.

Have a look from 3.15 minutes.




Torrential rains suddenly burst upon the highlands while down below in the gullies the sun is shining and there's no hint of rain.

But then the watershed feeds all that mountainside rain into small ravines which lead into bigger ravines until it comes like a wall of water upon the naive and the ignorant down below where they're kayaking or hiking in the gully.

Check these out, Boofhead, this might save your miserable life one day.

link

Hmm?
Me thinks that 'off the beaten track' basically means something not travelled before ...by anyone.
Something rarely able to achieve these days.

Anyway. I've been up the Himalaya's. Got lost (didn't panic and hide right next to a major track near a village and live off Mars Bars  ) and had to cross a mountain slide of rock and rubble that had just fallen 3 days earlier. Some locals were crossing, so I thought "what the hell" - it provided a short cut and had me come out ahead of the others I was travelling with. Kinda gnarly though as both I and the locals crossing the slide were always looking up with slightly worried looks.

Going 69m deep off Stoney Creek and getting totally 'narked' !
Penetrating the Lermontov Wreck in NZ.
Using the large Stormwater drains as a safe passage between suburbs in Mt Druitt. Wanna get to Emerton past the Letho boys - you gotta get deep down!

Diving solo off Port Lincoln and having 3 big Kingies side up to me for 'protection'. I got out asap! 

Various, goat-track 'trampings' around New Zealand.

Snuck into the Lodge with a mate (who went in further) during the Keating era. We lived a few doors down. 3 days later on front page of Daily Telegraph - pic of guards asleep   
Some guy later bettered us and went for a swim in the Lodge pool during the Rudd era.

Used to sneak around the disused Power-Station at Pyrmont at night (keeping my cat-like prowling abilities up to scratch) - just recently rejected by Google as a possible new head office, etc.

Used to sneak around the old Erskine Park Quarry: ability to break into the 'kitchen' and drink their beers and eat their wonderful food, without actually 'breaking' anything to get in. Could even do it when Security was around (not giving up my secret here) and just 6 metres away.
They couldn't work out how I got into their Excavation vehicles and steal all their porn mags. 

Being a male model and getting to change in 'uni-sex' changerooms with the females: definitely off-track! 

Having my Cortina 'break down' 25kms outside of Broken Hill ...a long walk.

Being  stuck in Melbourne for 7 years and discovering that it is the same poo as Sydney but different smell. One is full of Asians, the other exists as part of Asia.   

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 25^th, 2017 at 4:20pm:



Again thanks Captain Obvious.

What's the pic Bojack?
I just get a blank white square.

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 26^th, 2017 at 12:39pm:




More than likely, I mean checking weather patterns is what I do.

Lord Herbert wrote on Oct 26^th, 2017 at 8:05pm:



Holy poo, you don't say, I can always check that its raining where the river is.


bugger you're a genius dude.

...but to add: Trekking around the Himalaya's was 'off track' to some extent. But I would pass about 20 other 'trekking groups' each day, all making up the 3rd Religion of 'Tourism' that shared Nepal with Buddhism & Hinduism.

Gordon wrote on Oct 20^th, 2018 at 9:01pm:


Cheers.

...Laos wouldn't be a bad place to visit. Probably still pristine and untouched by mass-production Tourism?

Captain Nemo wrote on Oct 20^th, 2018 at 9:14pm:


Wow    So would you say that PNG of the 70's is remarkably different to the PNG of today? The level of violence in Port Moresby is an obvious change.

Alas, is nothing infested by Chinese -  with the lowest variation of genetic diversification?

They say, if you put a statue of a dirty Tasmanian Feral with dreads on a street corner - it gets rid of evil Chinese spirits. 

Some things that come to mind, that I wonder why I got into that situation at all, was river rafting on what looked like bamboo strewn together, and with no life jacket, in some big river in Fiji.

Now I think of it, looking at the photo, none of that what we did 17 years ago would have passed safety. I do recall someone saying that none of those fijian chaps had any 1st aid training, and them long (skinny easy to rock) boats had no life jackets.
I won't ever do that again.

Last year, went to a monkey forest in Indonesia, hubby got pissed on by one cheeky monkey, I had a monkey bite my leg (lucky I had long slacks on, and it didn't break through the material).

I won't be doing that again either!

We used to camp off the beaten track in "The Pines" at Lake Bonnie Doon. Took about 2 hours to drive in, the middle of no freaking nowhere!


In Alaska, we went in a small plane (I hate small planes)....and went for a long flight over rugged mountains and fjords, and landed in one fjord for a while, it was so isolated and beautiful, the peace, the quality of the air was astounding.
I was just looking at the photos with hubby the other night of our Alaskan adventure, and the small plane photos clearly show me looking a bit freaked out, while hubby was smiling and pleased looking.
(Only found out later that another guest sitting in the front with the pilot, was also a pilot and built his own plane, which made the hubby feel more comfortable about the flight....pity I didn't know until after!!  )

Went to Columbian Snowfields with an awesome big 6 wheeler truck. The tyers were as tall as my 5 ft height!
Tasted and drank some melting glacial water.

Did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb about 6 years ago.

I did a plank walk on a cruise ship 2 years ago, with all these safety strapping on, but it was so windy, I couldn't do it, could not let go and just lean back at the edge over the ocean.

I would really love to go to Manchu Picchu.
Heights are okay for me (except small plane rides and plank walking on windy days!)