Ray Mears Goes Walkabout - Your Views

[Nightwalker]

So 'Ray Mears Goes Walkabout' just aired on BBC2. What are your views on the first episode?

 

[hammock monkey]

enjoyed it, interesting stuff.
Showing the Aboriginal guy effectively denouncing the European pioneers was a thoughtful inclusion.

i also liked the bit about travelling light, its something i feel is often overlooked.

 

[fishy1]

I honestly didn't like it, I thought it was poor. The stuff in a museum was a bit boring I though, if I wanted a history lesson I'd watch someone else.

And when he got onto car maintance, it just got worse.

If he'd been by horse or something, it would have been more interesting, but he just drove.

Those wee pools on the tops of hills were interesting though.

 

[John Fenna]

Is Ray trying to muscle in on my Flint and steel fire lighting kit business?
Good prog - nice to see that he is admitting that he burned the outside of the damper while the centre was underdone, that it was he who bogged the 4x4 and that he put a hole in the polybag...in fact that even he can get it wrong!

 

[spamel]

To be honest, even though I fopund it very interesting, I still wish he had done a UK based show. I probably won't be going to Oz any time soon, not through choice though but just because I cannot afford to. Whereas a trip to my local british woods is quite possible!

I stress that I found the programme interesting, and I am sure that all the fire starting lovers here will join me when I say that the fire lighting kit was brilliant. Many of us have seen the char tube or tinder tube kit before, but not quite like this one. I may have to have a go at knocking one up, it was neat.

 

[mick miller]

I enjoyed it as usual, very informative too, for instance I never knew that there was an enormous aquifer beneath that area of Australia.

One question that was left unanswered was where the water for the aboriginal waterhole came from. It was mentioned that the other water was brackish and the water from the aboriginal hole tasted 'sweet' so was it from the same source only more filtered or was it an accumulation of rain water?

Those mounds were pretty amazing though, it really is a very alien environment.

 

[g4ghb]

I thought it was ok but found myself drifting a tad towards the end...

Did anyone else think the opening sequence was rather 'tracks' esque? - complete with the odd harmonica music

will still be watching the other episodes though!

 

[spamel]

I honestly didn't like it, I thought it was poor. The stuff in a museum was a bit boring I though, if I wanted a history lesson I'd watch someone else.

And when he got onto car maintance, it just got worse.

If he'd been by horse or something, it would have been more interesting, but he just drove.

Those wee pools on the tops of hills were interesting though.

I have to say that i find the museum stuff quite interesting, maybe it cannot be applied by us to life outdoors but it interests me to see how men lived outdoors a few hundred years ago with much simpler kit than ours. I've got to agree with the car maintenance though, I'm starting to get bored of seeing Ray digging Land Rovers out of loose sand and showing similar techniques series after series.

The dilemma he has though is showing too much. People may think they have the knowledge to go outdoors after seeing his programmes and get into strife, or they only know half the info and don't clear their fires and rubbish away properly and the UK becomes an even bigger cess pit than it already is. He's between a rock and a hard place, but I still maintain that a UK based skill set and living outdoors through the seasons series would be the best programmes he would ever make. I live in hope.

 

[Allie]

To be honest, even though I fopund it very interesting, I still wish he had done a UK based show.

Same - his UK based episodes are by far my favourites - we can actually use them!!
Despite that I did find it very interesting, although maybe I reckon he should expand his Bushcraft series rather than these history based ones. Little history anecdotes are interesting, but a whole hour on it and I think it tails off a bit. But I definitely wouldn't pass up watching it, still very good stuff.

 

[Dan1982]

I enjoyed it! although was a little slow in some places. still an informative show and 100 times better than alot of the droz on tv at the moment.i'm sure the series will pick up as it goes on and i agree that it was nice to see him make afew mistakes. we are all human afterall!!

Dan

 

[Wayland]

History and Bushcraft. Not such a bad combination in my opinion.

 

[illumeo]

very good.... i liked the link one show before... "He is smarter than the average bear"

 

[Sheng_ji]

Personally I enjoyed the show a lot, the history was interesting to me, I like seeing low tech kit, especially as proven as the museum kit was. I do wish he would do more in temperate climates, it does seem he's trying to balance his personal love of the mesolithic era (hence Aussie, I'm sure we will be seeing a lot of hunter gatherers in the series), viewers expectations of extreme environments (Again why temperate woodland is limited), following in the footsteps of his western explorer hero's and still trying to pass on useful tips in his own relaxed style. I guess he did just do wild food in the UK! It really does take all sorts in this world though, personally I would have been happy for another hour, doubling each topic!!!!!

 

[bushscout1]

I missed the show, but am currently downloading it on iPlayer so i'll post back with my thoughts in due course.

I fully agree about british based episodes being of more relevance, but does he concentrate on elsewhere for the following reasons?:

• we can learn british bushcraft from the many bushcraft schools (like woodlore for example) so he'd potentially be doing them out of business,
  
• most of us probably have less chance to get abroad & learn such stuff, so he's able to communicate such info we would otherwise be without,
  
• there is less solid information available about british hunter gatherers, in comparison to that which can be studied from existing tribes in australia / africa, hence learn their skills and interperlate our past from the fragments of evidence we have.

Sorry to go off topic, just a few thoughts.

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

It was very interesting, would have like abit more bushcraft, like when he told you about how those type of tree were safe to get water from I'd have liked him to go into recognition etc.

but I suppose it was sort of an introduction into the series and who and what we are following.

But Very good.

 

[Sheng_ji]

Unfortunately going into recognition would lead him into dangerous legal territory - there is no reliable way to know which plants release alkaloids, other than to know each plant individually!! I would suggest it would be the topic of an entire book to create even a eucalyptus recognition guide, as many plants in Aus can be mistaken for them, and many eucalyptus' don't follow the regular eucalyptus rules!

 

[rik_uk3]

Very good episode, I really enjoyed it.

Nice to see him using 'Bulldog' type billy cans instead of those overpriced Zebra things

 

[jimmyh]

I thought Ray's programme, was, as ever, great.
I gained knowledge of a determined person, other than a celebrity.
With the admissions of all the little failures by Ray and his subject i think humility was the intended message of the episode.
What did i miss on the other channels?

 

[stevesteve]

I really enjoyed this first programme. Beautifully shot as always and an interesting balance between history, techniques, and the landscape. I felt that he also tackled his own conflicting feelings between his admiration of the early explorers and the impact they had on the aboriginal people in a thoughtful way.
Cheers,
Steve

 

[Indoorsout]

Well shot, mostly interesting and nice to see him making mistakes Like others I would prefer a temperate woodland series but I guess Wild Food will have to do there.