For the next few weeks, we’re going to check out some brilliant excerpts from the book. Today we learn some of the methods he employed to stay hidden and undetected in the forest for so long. We also are introduced to the pet names he thought up for different parts of his leafy domain.

“Although I was going to be nice and dry on the lava rock, I’d have to fashion some kind of mattress or bedding. I also figured that preserving the vegetation around me, so as not to create any kind of footprint, would be crucial to remaining undetected in the forest. I vowed to always collect firewood from further afield. Ferns and grasses, for use as bedding, would also have to be gathered at least half an hour’s walk from camp.“

“Even though I’d removed myself a little way from the waterfall, I still considered the entire gully to be my domain.

I came to think of the creek and the cliff top as my lounge room, because that’s where I spent time just hanging out and relaxing. My camp up on the nearby shoulder of the waterfall was my kitchen and bedroom, because that’s where the fire and the bed were. My bathroom was quite a hike away – across the other side of the creek and down another little gully. Far away from my water supply.

We learn of the moment that prompted Gregory to go fully vegetarian while living in the forest.