Off-Topic
I use these as well. They have a lifetime warranty, no matter what you do to them. There is a factory outlet off the Nepean Hwy in Frankston that frequently has sales.
You're officially my hero!
Bear Grylls has a lot to answer for...
Who wants to tell him that with the exception of dingoes and crocs, these are already in his backyard? *teeheehee....*
I love camping. My first camping trip as a clueless girl from the burbs was when I was 19 and I had a great group of female friends who taught me little ways to make camping more comfortable. I have two sets of stuff - comfortable camping and hiking/roughing it. These are my tips for comfortable.
- Choose a place next to flowing water with a drop shaft toilet and dry ground - leaches are horrible, your wife will never forgive you :eek We camped at a place where they were so bad they were dropping from the trees and we all slept in our cars.... so yeah, avoid disaster! With a toddler at foot, I would camp back from the waters edge, but without as close to. Yes the drop shaft isn't great, but for a girl digging a hole in the bush - it is much harder for us to aim away from our pants and shoes, my friends and I usually pull the new girls aside and give them tips, it had to be said!
- take hot water bottles for the kids and wife to keep warm at night. Fill them up with boiled creek or river water. Those disposable stick on heat pads are okish too - more for putting on your back when you are around a campfire/bonfire though to toast the other side.
- good sleeping bags are everything, try them on in the store to make sure they hold your body heat in (and you can laugh at each other anyway). Get bags rated for -2 deg. You can get some great hiking ones now that are really compact and weigh 1-2kgs. You can also get double sleeping bags for couples or you can zip two together - just make sure they are roomy or you'll find out how caterpillars feel :p
- air beds 20-30cm off the ground are so comfy and stop the cold seeping up from the ground - I have a double, awesome! Get an air pump with a cigarette lighter attachment - Kmart has some at the mo that look good. Give yourself enough space to be able to stand next to the bed to get changed standing up if you can and not have to duck around the curve of the tent or sit on the bed, it gets annoying especially in hot weather. I would get a 6 person tent with an enclosed annex. I got mine wholesale off ebay for $180 - just waited for a listing to go unnoticed and got it. Put the 2 older kids in a 3 man next to you with single air beds. Doesn't take long to set up.
- always set up camp in the daylight, its a major pet hate of mine setting up camp in the dark! You can't see what you're doing properly for things like finding a flat area, clearing the ground of sticks and stones, checking for bull ant nests and just seeing properly in general. I'd rather sleep in the car.
- take a dustpan and brush - keep the tent clean at all times, shoes off coming inside, bug screens stay zipped up, bedding should always be kept clean and dry. Outside you can get as messy as you like but thats the place you sink into at night without huntsmans, mud and sand.
- get the wife to join Pinterest and search for campsite recipes, its a goldmine (addictive...). You can also make infinite combos of dry premixes - soups, scones, pancakes, etc. 'Cheats' damper is just a box of scone mix from the supermarket :)
- premake your meals and freeze them, freeze all your meat with or without meat rubs/marinades, as much frozen drinking water as you can fit in the esky. The days of cooking on the camp fire are starting to be over with all the fire bans now. I take two of those cheap camp stoves (great for BBQ's on the beach btw!), plenty of butane cartridges, a big frying pan, a small saucepan for quick hot drinks for 1-2 people and a big pot for boiling larger qty's of water or cooking other food. If you get a two burner camp stove instead, make sure your combo of pans fit on it side by side. Also if you have a small pot, make sure it fits on the stove properly too. Super annoying to find that they don't fit once you're there. Also this is one of my fav things for lifting hot lids and pouring without burning my fingers: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/OZTRAIL-...26?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item417d476676
- get one of those big flexi buckets. Use it to wash dishes. You can also use it to wash yourselves. Get a tent with an enclosed annex you can comfortably stand up in. Set the flexi bucket up with a mixture of cold and boiled river water, stand in it and wash yourself down. If you want to wash your hair (girls), you can kneel on a towel and dunk your head in. This way you can use all your usual comforts - soap, shampoo, conditioner without adding toxins to the river/creek system. And you feel pretty clean every day. You can also use wet wipes for a quick freshen up. Also dry shampoo is the best invention ever!
- don't try to wash dishes without hot water and dishwashing liquid, cold water just helps you move the mess around the plate & wrecks your dish cloths
- roll on baby sunscreen (3 hours water resistant) and Moov Insect Repellent Spray (Melaleuca oil). I burn easy and mozzies love me - these actually work and they smell good too. Don't even get so much as a tan.
- have a big storage container of fresh water with you for extra drinking water, cooking, brushing teeth etc.
- if the kids are going to run around in the dark, give them torches but also put glow sticks on their wrists and around their necks so you can see where they are easily
- if you are camping with a group, organise your food together. I find that if we don't do this, someone always very generously feeds everyone and a lot of the perishable food goes to waste because it doesn't end up getting used. So talk about it beforehand or take turns providing meals for everyone.
- Choose a place next to flowing water with a drop shaft toilet and dry ground - leaches are horrible, your wife will never forgive you :eek We camped at a place where they were so bad they were dropping from the trees and we all slept in our cars.... so yeah, avoid disaster! With a toddler at foot, I would camp back from the waters edge, but without as close to. Yes the drop shaft isn't great, but for a girl digging a hole in the bush - it is much harder for us to aim away from our pants and shoes, my friends and I usually pull the new girls aside and give them tips, it had to be said!
- take hot water bottles for the kids and wife to keep warm at night. Fill them up with boiled creek or river water. Those disposable stick on heat pads are okish too - more for putting on your back when you are around a campfire/bonfire though to toast the other side.
- good sleeping bags are everything, try them on in the store to make sure they hold your body heat in (and you can laugh at each other anyway). Get bags rated for -2 deg. You can get some great hiking ones now that are really compact and weigh 1-2kgs. You can also get double sleeping bags for couples or you can zip two together - just make sure they are roomy or you'll find out how caterpillars feel :p
- air beds 20-30cm off the ground are so comfy and stop the cold seeping up from the ground - I have a double, awesome! Get an air pump with a cigarette lighter attachment - Kmart has some at the mo that look good. Give yourself enough space to be able to stand next to the bed to get changed standing up if you can and not have to duck around the curve of the tent or sit on the bed, it gets annoying especially in hot weather. I would get a 6 person tent with an enclosed annex. I got mine wholesale off ebay for $180 - just waited for a listing to go unnoticed and got it. Put the 2 older kids in a 3 man next to you with single air beds. Doesn't take long to set up.
- always set up camp in the daylight, its a major pet hate of mine setting up camp in the dark! You can't see what you're doing properly for things like finding a flat area, clearing the ground of sticks and stones, checking for bull ant nests and just seeing properly in general. I'd rather sleep in the car.
- take a dustpan and brush - keep the tent clean at all times, shoes off coming inside, bug screens stay zipped up, bedding should always be kept clean and dry. Outside you can get as messy as you like but thats the place you sink into at night without huntsmans, mud and sand.
- get the wife to join Pinterest and search for campsite recipes, its a goldmine (addictive...). You can also make infinite combos of dry premixes - soups, scones, pancakes, etc. 'Cheats' damper is just a box of scone mix from the supermarket :)
- premake your meals and freeze them, freeze all your meat with or without meat rubs/marinades, as much frozen drinking water as you can fit in the esky. The days of cooking on the camp fire are starting to be over with all the fire bans now. I take two of those cheap camp stoves (great for BBQ's on the beach btw!), plenty of butane cartridges, a big frying pan, a small saucepan for quick hot drinks for 1-2 people and a big pot for boiling larger qty's of water or cooking other food. If you get a two burner camp stove instead, make sure your combo of pans fit on it side by side. Also if you have a small pot, make sure it fits on the stove properly too. Super annoying to find that they don't fit once you're there. Also this is one of my fav things for lifting hot lids and pouring without burning my fingers: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/OZTRAIL-...26?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item417d476676
- get one of those big flexi buckets. Use it to wash dishes. You can also use it to wash yourselves. Get a tent with an enclosed annex you can comfortably stand up in. Set the flexi bucket up with a mixture of cold and boiled river water, stand in it and wash yourself down. If you want to wash your hair (girls), you can kneel on a towel and dunk your head in. This way you can use all your usual comforts - soap, shampoo, conditioner without adding toxins to the river/creek system. And you feel pretty clean every day. You can also use wet wipes for a quick freshen up. Also dry shampoo is the best invention ever!
- don't try to wash dishes without hot water and dishwashing liquid, cold water just helps you move the mess around the plate & wrecks your dish cloths
- roll on baby sunscreen (3 hours water resistant) and Moov Insect Repellent Spray (Melaleuca oil). I burn easy and mozzies love me - these actually work and they smell good too. Don't even get so much as a tan.
- have a big storage container of fresh water with you for extra drinking water, cooking, brushing teeth etc.
- if the kids are going to run around in the dark, give them torches but also put glow sticks on their wrists and around their necks so you can see where they are easily
- if you are camping with a group, organise your food together. I find that if we don't do this, someone always very generously feeds everyone and a lot of the perishable food goes to waste because it doesn't end up getting used. So talk about it beforehand or take turns providing meals for everyone.
You're welcome :rofl
At least you have been very much Austrlianised now, my English cousin still thinks if she goes outside at night here she'll get bats in her hair *sigh*
Here is a pic of our latest addition to begin camping (which is what we always had in mind).
We could drive pegs into the drive obviously so it's not really as straight as I would like it, but it did the job. We have "seasoned" the canvas so it doesn't leak.
Also picked up the 107 liter and 35 liter Techni-ice Signature series eskies on the weekend, an extra tongue for the tow hitch and bike rack.
All I need to do is buy and wire the battery system for the front and we are ready to take off :)
I'm hoping we should be able to escape off road and be self sufficient for around 7 days before we need to repack for food, etc.
We could drive pegs into the drive obviously so it's not really as straight as I would like it, but it did the job. We have "seasoned" the canvas so it doesn't leak.
Also picked up the 107 liter and 35 liter Techni-ice Signature series eskies on the weekend, an extra tongue for the tow hitch and bike rack.
All I need to do is buy and wire the battery system for the front and we are ready to take off :)
I'm hoping we should be able to escape off road and be self sufficient for around 7 days before we need to repack for food, etc.
Adam and I got most of our camping gear at anaconda because we weren't sure if we would like it. They have large tents quite cheap! Get some.
You need.
Tent
Tarp
Torch
Camping sink/table (just has a tub)
A toilet tent for the wife (if camping with no electricity or toilets)
Sleeping bags
Camping Kettle
Lighter
Camping chairs
Beer
Beer
& more beer haha
If you want to do a trial camp go to paradise beach it's free camping along 90mile beach and the beach is awesome
You need.
Tent
Tarp
Torch
Camping sink/table (just has a tub)
A toilet tent for the wife (if camping with no electricity or toilets)
Sleeping bags
Camping Kettle
Lighter
Camping chairs
Beer
Beer
& more beer haha
If you want to do a trial camp go to paradise beach it's free camping along 90mile beach and the beach is awesome
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