Wild Oates Productions

Mark Oates of Wild Oates Productions is an Outdoor Education Teacher now based in Hobart who enjoys spending his time either having outdoor adventures with students, family and friends, or dreaming up ideas for more epic adventures. A keen whitewater kayaker of many years, Mark has turned to the darkside recently and these days he can frequently be found in or beside a packraft with rarely a kayak in sight. Originally from Victoria, Mark fell in love with Tasmania's wild places many years ago but made the permanent move to Hobart with his wife Jen and their Border Collie Hamlet in 2010. In the last couple of years Mark has made the move to videophotographry to try and capture some of the stories of his, Jen's and Hamlets 'Wild Oates' adventures.

icon light bulb Wild Oates Videos

Ski Mountaineering in the Southwest

Agency for the Understanding of Terrain, Department of Terrestrial Exploration, Feature Article, Issue Forty Two, Note, Video, , , , , , , , ,

During the first week of August Tasmania received two of its heaviest snowfalls in decades with snow settling on the ground down to sea level in some areas. Almost all the areas I wanted to explore with significant snow were inaccessible due to closed roads but fortunately on the morning of departure of my trip the Gordan River Road was listed as open as a single lane to 4WDs only. After passing a line up of cars waiting for the road to open at Mt Field, I continued on into the South West National Park for a solo ski mountaineering trip to Mt Anne. Although I had climbed it with snow previously, I had never had the opportunity to take skis up there so I was really excited by the chance to get up there with them and with some great snow and weather.

At the car park it was fantastic to see a group of six which actually consisted of four of my students and their dads. They headed up onto Eliza and had an amazing time up there. I also met two day-walkers who were headed for Mt Eliza too. Other than that no one had been up there for weeks.

Huge thanks to a highly talented local Tasmanian musician, Jed Appleton (verbal permission to use music granted June 2015) for his music:
– Sweep Me Away
– Home
Check out: jedappletonmusic.com

Filmed entirely on a Sony RX100 iii

Ice Climbing Tasmania

Department of Terrestrial Exploration, Feature Article, Issue Thirty, Note, Video, , , , , ,
I was fortunate enough to be able to partner up with climbing guru Kim Ladiges for a day of ice climbing on Ben Lomond. Kim spends most of the year travelling around the world climbing hard rock and mountain routes. We climbed at The Knuckle and had a great day out despite the lack of a decent winter and little snow.

Music: Stolen Dance by Milky Chance

Packrafting the Franklin and Climbing Frenchman’s Cap

Issue Seven, Magazine, Note, , , , , , , , , ,

Courtesy Wild Oates Productions:

Mark discovered the joys of packrafting in 2009 and having previously kayaked the Franklin River and walked Frenchmans Cap thought that combining the two trips would make a classic Tassie packrafting circuit with the best of both worlds – a short and relatively easy trip on the Franklin and not having to walk both in and then back out of Frenchmans. Mark, Jen and Todd enjoyed perfect conditions as they completed the trip over the Hobart Show long weekend in 2011.

Packrafting the Franklin River and Walking out via Frenchman’s Cap from Wild Oates Productions on Vimeo.

This is a movie of Todd, Jen and Mark paddling down the Franklin River for two days to the Irenabyss and then walking out over Frenchman’s Cap in South West Tasmania for another two. An awesome piece of Tasmania!

We had one epic swim in Descension Gorge but apart from that a fantastic time! The walk out is beautiful although it is an 1100m ascent out of the river to the top of Frenchman’s.