Cape Woolamai: In Which We Test Our Wet Weather Gear

Jul 27

Saturday's hike out to Cape Woolamai came with a bonus feature I hadn't exactly asked for: a proper winter ocean squall, the kind that arrives sideways and tests both your gear and your enthusiasm (both survived). Actually it was rather exhilarating with horizontal, wind-blown rain doing its best to relocate me, my hood and my eyesight.

Nothing tests your gear quite like nature deciding to have a go at you, and I’m super happy that the gear that I was wearing that was fit for purpose came through with flying colours. The rain jacket did exactly what it's meant to do and the real star of the show was my merino socks, which kept wicking the water dripping down my legs without turning my feet into two sad little swamps. One teeny learning: normal hiking pants don’t cope so well with extended rain - I did end up with very damp legs with water running down into my socks for an additional test of their wicking capabilities. I was quite impressed however at how quickly the pants dried.

The one lesson from the day: squalls, my current setup handles beautifully. Anything heavier or more sustained, and I'll need to actually pull the waterproof pants out of the bag rather than just carrying them around for moral support.

The other genuinely pleasing bit of news, fitness-wise, I did a 5km run just a few hours before the hike and had zero issues, during or after. Well, no issues that a heroic dose of extra strong Deep Heat couldn't sort out afterwards, but I'm counting that as a win rather than a symptom.

We rounded the day off with a trip to the little penguin parade, which felt like exactly the right way to end things after a morning of being battered by the elements. Tiny penguins waddling home from a day at sea, utterly unbothered by the weather that had just tried to take us out.