Hello awesome scout leaders, it is Caro from Lots of Fresh Air here. I'm a big believer
in what you guys do, all the volunteering hours that you put in to help young people
be the best that they can be. So I am absolutely delighted to be able to share with you guys
with Scouts Australia, the training resources that I've put together about bushwalking and hiking.
So one of the important things about safety in the bush is always being able to keep yourself warm
when things go a bit awry. Now one of the key things that's going to keep you warm is always
going to be your sleeping bag, it's going to be the warmest thing that you have in your pack.
So it's so important to keep it dry.
Now some people look at waterproofing a pack by putting a liner in the whole pack and then
just putting everything inside the liner. But this is a trick that was taught to me by an old
Mount Nearing friend for when he went and did Everest. It's a really cool trick. All you need is a
garbage bag and the normal stuff sack that comes with your sleeping bag. So start by undoing all
the buckles all the way around making sure that you're going to have maximum space inside
and stuff your garbage bag inside your stuff sack and then open it out at the top so you've
got a nice big hole inside. Then like the name stuff sack suggests we're going to stuff our
bag inside but inside the plastic. And as you're pushing it in you're going to be trying to compress
air out of your sleeping bag as you go. Now if you've got a down sleeping bag like I do
you've got to find that it holds a lot more air than a synthetic bag.
So just working the way around pushing it into the plastic garbage bag as you go inside your
stuff sack. But the trick is yet to come. And you start having to get a little bit physical with it.
Okay so now the trick starts. What we want to do is gather up the plastic bag at the top
and hold it in your hand. Now what you're going to try and do is actually create a little bit of
a vacuum seal around your bag whilst you're pushing the air out compressing your bag every
time you push down release your hand and then when you let go close it again so the air doesn't go
back into the garbage bag. So push down compress the air out. So what you're doing is compressing
all the air out of your bag which is not only contracting it down making it a smaller space
so it'll fit better inside your pack but you're also waterproofing it.
So as you work your way around then maybe start working on your compression straps.
And when you think you've got all the air out you can probably still get some more.
All right that's good enough for now.
All right so make sure you keep it sealed at the top just spin it around a few times
and then just stuff the tail down at the side of the bag.
Pull it tight and as you can see it's actually compressed to the bag a whole lot more than
just the normal compression would. It hasn't finished yet. I'm poking a little bit in as you
go around. So it's a bit of a wonky shape but I actually think we've done pretty well in
compressing it down to a lot smaller than it would normally be inside the stuff sack
and it's waterproof. So I hope you found that useful but it's really just the tip of the iceberg
so if you'd like more tips tricks inspiration for maybe some places to visit here in the great
Australian outdoors please check out my website at lotsafreshair.com or the YouTube channel or
even pop over to the Facebook page and say good day. See ya!
