Wild Australia with Ray Mears series

[Idleknight]

Missed it last night, but have just spotted its on ITV catchup. Looks to be 1 of 6 of a series in Australia.


http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week17/wild-australia-ray-mears

 

[Big G]

Yes.. i missed it to.. watched spurs v wba game.. if leicester beat man u this sunday they champions

Man city v Real madrid tonight

 

[Klenchblaize]

Left me cold and for the record I was NOT expecting the great man to do anything remotely Bushcrafty. It is more to do with how many moments of whale watching or swimming through a reef can one take before finding it really formulaic and frankly boring.

I've said it before but this programme after but one episode also demonstrates conclusively that Mr. Mears has grown more comfortable in his skin but whether that is good for the viewer of the next 5 episodes remains to be seen.

K

 

[Steve27752]

I must admit that I found it incredibly boring. And I am a RM fan.

 

[jimbo75]

I'm enjoying the robson green in Australia series.
What's the point in watching ray go whale watching?

 

[Dave]

No point at all. Id like to see him do some lars monsen stuff. Or not.....

 

[SCOMAN]

Yeah I guess he's planning to do more wildlife stuff for a while now. Thing is a 30 min slot equating to 20-25 min of TV doesn't actually give you enough time to garner any interest. As long as he's happy and I know I'll continue watching but ....meh!

 

[nic a char]

"I'm enjoying the robson green in Australia series.
What's the point in watching ray go whale watching?"

I'm enjoying the Ray Mears series as usual - great wildlife.
What's the point in watching/listening to greenrobson behaving like a naughty, spoiled, loud 5-year-old?

 

[Fraxinus]

Just watched it and enjoyed it too. The people he meets up with are often as interesting as the wildlife, also does not hurt that I thought the marine biologist lass was cute
It is a shame that the production companies/tv channels are so tight on the time allotments for such programmes when they have so much more to offer than any "reality" tv show or soap opera.
Thankfully there is utube and some pretty good home videographers to select from anytime tv is pants.
Rob.

 

[hog]

I only watched the first half at x3 speed... just had enough of people whale watching.

 

[richardhomer]

I have not had a chance to watch it yet. Iv recorded it and have set a series link.

 

[Gary Elson]

Hi
Missed the first one but just seen Ep2 on catchup where he goes (back) to Arnhemland which I enjoyed

The clue is in the title - Wild Australia - what were you expecting to see ? Cos I was guessing it might be about Australian Wildlife a bit like Wild Britain was about British wildlife !!

So, sorry if wildlife is boring and Ray is ONLY doing nature programmes but I liked it.
There was me thinking in some small way bushcraft is about experiencing nature and getting out in the natural environment
Anyway I'm off to be an off grid spoon Whittier (how many of us said yes to that) whilst you guys do your own thing variety being the spice of life, I guess for hard core bush crafters there's always Bear Grylls !!!!!!!
Bye for now he said cheerfully,
Gary

 

[redneck]

Ray lost his mojo many moons ago, time to get kirtley on the TV.

 

[beezer]

well said Mr Elson. shame its so trendy to knock Ray Mears, i wonder how many of us would be doing the bushcraft thing if he didnt bring it to the masses.

 

[redneck]

well said Mr Elson. shame its so trendy to knock Ray Mears, i wonder how many of us would be doing the bushcraft thing if he didnt bring it to the masses.

Quite a few actually as les Hiddens, lofty Wiseman, Mors Kochanski and Eddie Magee were doing it all long before ray ever came along.

 

[Gary Elson]

Quite a few actually as les Hiddens, lofty Wiseman, Mors Kochanski and Eddie Magee were doing it all long before ray ever came along.

I think the point that Beezer is making is that Ray brought bushcraft to the attention of lots of people who weren't aware of the aforementioned. Ray also made courses etc more commonplace and I guess set a pretty high standard in doing so hence employing Mr Kirtley.
The point is none of this needs to be a competition we can listen to all and take note of the bits that interest us from various sources even experimenting for ourselves and learning by our own mistakes (ref your blog !) to suit or own tastes and level of involvement
The world is big enough for all
Gary

 

[SCOMAN]

I've just copied his Wild Britain and Wilderness walks off my skybox and watched them, I'll be doing the same for the Aussie show. They are better than I first thought, not Bushcraft but they weren't advertised as such. They stand up for me but the big drawback is once the adverts are removed it only comes down to a 20 - 22 min show. For some of the area's he's talking about that barely scratching the surface.

 

[Jamie N]

I've been off this forum for a long time, but as I remember it, Ray Mears seemed to be revered to a god-like status. Refreshing to see alternative views (whether or not I agree with them). Personally, I was attracted to what we are now calling bushcraft from an early age, but moved up a gear or two when I bought the SAS Survival Handbook by Lofty Wiseman in about 1988. Until recently I lived in Sweden where the idea of 'bushcraft' is largely taken for granted. Even children know how to make a fire and mushroom and berry foraging is a national pastime. Wilderness camping - wherever you want to - is normal behaviour. But then, so much space, so few people.

 

[nic a char]

the only reservation I have about RM is his lack of fitness - his size suggests more restaurants than wood-ants...

 

[edjuh]

It's indeed a pitty.
Looks more like a sponsored come visit Australia advertorial.
Perhaps we have to high an expectation ? Or is it general TV being swept away due to our desire to have more indepth information instead of the more general public programming ?