Rainbow passes Aussie inspection

Arrgh! Bipedal Possums. You residents of Oz actually encourage them? We generally only see their Noth American cousins in a 2 dimensional form on road surfaces but hear their nocturnal rummagings often.

Lovely pictures of the Rainbow, Franco. Henry should use them on his Website. I want to see a picture of it atop Mt. Kosciuszko. Bring your friend.

That is one CUTE joey!

Franco, you are killing me… I still have another week or so to wait before I get my Rainbow! :(

I want one!!!!

First person to deliver a 2-ft ‘Roo to my front door gets a free Rainbow.

-H

But is it a kangaroo or a wallaby?

Franco (6 months old)is an Eastern Gray Kangaroo, wallabies have a different tail and longer fur. He is not a pet, Franco is an orphan that is looked after (with 3 others) by friends of mine.
Henry, one of the other orphans, Hailey, is fully grown so over two feet. Is DHL OK?
Hailey spends some of her time with her adopted mob (term for a bunch of roos) but comes back every day.
All of these roos and occasionally a wallaby, are nursed and looked after till they are ready to join one of the various mobs around, they are never pets ( they do behave like a pet dog for the first 10 to 12 months and then they go, usually not to come back again, the females often come back to show off their first joy and then they blend in again with the local wild life. Most have a gradual break up, so they disappear, come back for a feed and a look and go again)

Franco, that is blatantly unfair! How can any of us other Rainbow aficionados ever hope to compete in such a lopsided promotion campaign? The officials here in Japan (great big jungle crows… smart and tough, but more apt to make potential admirers run away screaming than pump out those dewey eyes) can’t hold a candle to your grey roos. About the only super cute candidate remotely in the same league would be the flying squirrels (momonga), but unfortunately they only come out at night when everyone is standing on their heads sleeping in the Rainbow (and you’ve got your sugar gliders to sort of steal the spotlight even here!).

Nevertheless, that is so cool about the roos. I’ve always wanted to get to Australia, since I was a boy in fact, to see the wild animals there. One day I want to see a wild tree kangaroo, a wild echidna, a wild cuscus, kookaburra, emu, and moloch. Of course a lot of other animals, too. I’ve even considered, even now, of enrolling in a wildlife management program in Australia and working there with wildlife. So now I’ve got two things to envy you about… a Rainbow AND the Australian wildlife. Pough…

I want to visit Oz too!

Hey Franco: If Henry or Kevin or Miguel or Paul or I or any other Yankee wildlife were to show up at your doorstep with our hiking gear — will you feed and shelter us too?

Why not ?
Grass and roo formula awaiting for you.

Actually, i prefer eucalyptus leaves, thank you.

Actually, I was hoping for that ‘extra shrimp on the barbee’!

I prefer the local brew, mate. Then I can make cookpots out of it, afterwards.

You think we scared Franco away?

Maybe you did scare Franco off. But remember Fosters is the beer we aussies export, because we don’t drink it. Give me VB (not Vapor Barrier but Victoria Bitter) any day

Ben, Perhaps he’s scared, or maybe he’s taking Franco-the-Roo back to his adoptive parents? or, he’s fallen into a 100 year sleep in his Rainbow? Or, he’s “planting mines” in case we do try to show up on his doorstep? Or, he has a life outside of these Forums? If he does, i think that i’d like to borrow it sometime – at least just for a weekend.

No, I think Franco took me up on my offer for a free Rainbow and is on his way here to deliver my 2-foot Roo. Can’t wait!!! I’m working on my “Beware of Roo” sign right now.

Sorry I had to do some work, after all these tents are so damn expensive. Just got a parcel from backpacking light with possum gloves/hat/sweater all the way from NZ to the USA to me (great).
You are all very welcome to come and stay with my neighbour ( he does not know, but I am sure he will not mind). Henry you are very welcome, I am looking forward in spending a few weeks talking about the finer points of tent making.Our winter would be better for me.
BTW The floor of the Rainbow feels stronger than the one in the Lighthouse. Why?
BTW I also got the Lightweight backpacking and…. from BPL, 440 something pages, the heaviest book I have on camping.

Actually, I think Franco’s off in the Bush training a cohort of two-foot roos to send covertly into Japan to undermine Japanese tent-inspectors. He’s even gathered a fleet of Rainbows fitted with Insul Mat Thermo-Maxes so that the roos can float across the Pacific and sail under the cover of darkness into Tokyo Bay. Next thing you know we’ll be seeing photos of the Rainbow showing them floating on water and demonstrating their ability to accommodate rudders along the arch pole. Japan will never be the same. Pika-Chu, move over!

As usual, I’m late to the party. Franco did mentiion he could read minds, didn’t he?

Franco, tell me what you think of the book. I got it about two months ago. Mixed feelings about it.

Just got my own set of packages, of the Rab Vapour-Trail Smock and the RBH VB Socks (though I still have to stop by the post office to pick up the socks). The Vapour Trail Smock is comfy! Have to try both items out in the mountains this weekend.

…are still keeping this the comedic Thread here in the Forums. Puts one in the right frame of mind for getting down and serious in the other Threads.

Well,…all of Franco’s Posts here have been rather humorous, including this last one (your “neighbor” – Bravo, very good [applause], and your “winter” – very tongue-in-cheek humor, i’m sure it is NOT wasted on the crew here. Henry, a mob of joey’s – just what we need Stateside. What if they proliferate due to lack of predation or hunting? What if they find Bozeman a nice place to habitate and overrun the place? Just wondering,…can a Roo get up a snow covered hill faster than DrJ on snowshoes? So, you not only are a clever designer of Tents, but a have a clever wit too. Thanks for helping out here. I for one am running out of jokes (I know…I know…it shows). Miguel, “Pika-chu” – very funny. I’m still laughing. And the invasion of Japan. My advice to you: pray for a Kami-kaze, it helped preserve Japan in times long past from another invasion fleet. What’s next? Koala kovert operatives speaking fluent Japanese with native behavior/manners? Or, Advanced Warfare trained Platys SEALs swimming into every harbor and up every river in Japan? I’m getting pictures of Japan-imation in my mind now. As if Japan doesn’t have enough threats from the North, now y’all have to worry ’bout your southern borders too. Alert the USN and USMC in Okinawa. No…wait…you’re both our friends? What a dilemma. Glad i don’t have to make the call. Ben, send reinforcements… And, KD…no forget about Kevin…imbibed too much “local brew” as he termed it and is busy making Foster’s cook pots…one-hundred…one-hundred-and-one…one-hundred-and…

This has to be the SNL of Threads. I gather that’s a very funny show from what i hear, though I’ve neve seen it (past my bedtime).

Miguel, would you mind elaborating on “Mixed feelings”? Perhaps you might want to do a ReaderReview (maybe you have, i’m gonna’ “hop” over there to the ReaderReviews and check it out. I have it too. Haven’t started it yet. I’m going through BB a second straight time. Much slower this time. Hate to start a second book w/o finishing the one I’m reading – too confusing for my diminished mental capacities.

Paul, I have to get ready for my evening job at the moment so I can’t elaborate right now, but perhaps later. I’m a little concerned about stepping on people’s toes in this forum, since I have rather strong opinions about the book. As a professional writer and illustrator (with lots of editing experience) my review might be pretty opinionated (though, of course I’d be fair). If people want to hear these opinions, fine, but if it would create bad feelings, then I’d prefer to keep them to myself.

Understood.

I truly believe DrJ would take no offense. He might reply with kind corrections if he had a different opinion. I don’t believe that it would ever become an argument with him. I know this first hand, since i’ve emailed him-back-and-forth some time ago on a very minor technical matter upon which we disagreed. He’s quite the gentleman and also willing to take correction, and gently return the same. He agreed with me on that one, but gently corrected me afterwards on another in which i was wrong. He also had morning coffee discussions about our emails with his Bozeman staff. He seems to have no problems if someone disagrees with him – that’s one sign of someone with a good self-image. IME, he’s generally right and i’m wrong. He’s quite a clear thinker and reasons cogently on a number of subjects.

Most of the “Regulars” seem pretty even-tempered too. However, there is always the possibility that others may “take up an offense” (to use a Biblical phrase, i.e. one not their own or directed at them) and then like the Human Torch said in the comics, “Flame on!!!”. As humans, we love to defend our “heroes” if they are “attacked” – interesting psychology behind this fact which i won’t go into.

So, an alternative suggestion, your call, b/c i’d really like to hear your opinions, email me at mahuasheng0@yahoo.com (that’s the numeral zero, not a capital ‘O’ – which in most fonts appears rounder than a zero). No rush to do this. You can put all your comments in one email, or if that would be too lengthy, requiring too much of your time at one sitting, then a comment or two spread out over several-to-many emails and days. Once again, your call (including declining altogether – wouldn’t cause a problem).

I cannot comment on the book as yet because I just received it and have only been able to just flick over a few pages. Looks like I have seen the same information already but I do like to read a few pages before I go to sleep. I did order it for a co-worker that has just discovered lightweight backpacking, so he will read it first and then I will get it back. I will provably end up getting another one. I did not realize it was going to be so extensive (434 pages!!!)
The wool gear looks and feels great; I expected a thicker jumper, however compared to my synthetic top and to an Icebreaker mid layer (pure superfine Merino wool) I think that it will replace both in my “must have” list. The wool/possum combo gives me a lot of confidence, I get an instant positive reaction to it, and that is important to me. I could have provably bought it cheaper directly from NZ but I wanted to give the site a bit of support, after all I look at it most days of the week. I also ordered some O.P.Saks because I intend to move to boil in the bag only meals ( thanks Sarbar), not tested but again they look the part.
Also got the Dropstopper set, more for fun than anything else, for $9.99 I can afford to. They are the color of a healthy joey’s poo ( you can tell a lot by looking at feces) but could well end up in my pack for a day trip.
I am waiting for some rain to give it a test drive, the only size available was L/XL,(my size is M) strangely it could end up the right size to have something to put quickly on .
The parcel arrived in 5 days including the w/e.
Sorry about the long No Comment.