So How Do You Camp?

So. How do you camp? Are you a trailer person? Do you tent it? Or maybe swag? I tried one of those Kings swags with the 50mm mattress and sold it after one use. I'm not interested in towing at the moment either, so no trailer for me. I have 3 tents and a stretcher tent. Something for every occasion so to speak. First of all, I have a 3x3 Oztrail Blitz tent. Large and heavy, but heavy duty canvas and not bad to use. It sets up easily, has great standing room, gusseted windows that can stay open in the rain and great ventilation. Did I say large and heavy? They don't make then like this anymore. Next I have an Oztrail Highlander 2x4, or 8 man tent. They don't make these anymore either. We purchased this one specifically for a trip around Australia on the Harley Davidson towing a trailer. It packs up fairly small and gave us heaps of room with reasonably large window/awnings. Very practical for its purpose. This one also came with us to the cape to be used for a couple of longer than one night stays. Third is the 3 man pop up tent. Again its an Oztrail bought specifically for fast set up and pack up for our trip to the cape. We'd set it up under the vehicle awning extension. It would slip in anywhere due to how thin it packed up. With all these we used air beds. This started on the Aussie lap due to the size and limited space. I like the new design of the air beds these days. We found them comfortable and robust. We kept it in the box and had no flats on our 2 month trip. Lately we're not into the hands and knees camping, so the pop up tent is all but retired and we have a new double high air bed with a built in pump and carry a 150w inverter with us. Lastly, when travelling alone, I have a stretcher tent. Again, its an Oztrail. It sets up quick and packs up fairly small. It's easy to get in and out of. Weather proof or open and screened. It fits easily under the awning and I use a 5cm self inflating mattress. I absolutely love this thing. I could strap it to the Harley and pack a single air bed if I wanted, as it's only about 100mm wider than my handle bars, it doesn't stick out that far.

Probably the best bit of kit I ever purchased would be the fridge. I have a Waeco CFX 40. Touch wood, I've never had a drama with it other than the LED display losing a line or two, but there's still enough there to indicate the temperature. I have a remote read out unit anyway so even if the whole screen gave up, I could still get by. The second and third best items would be the toilet and shower. The toilet being a Thetford and the shower being a battery item and a 20 litre bucket. We used to heat the water on a stove, but now I'm playing with a copper coil and coals or heat beads. These things happen when you sit drinking beer in the shed.

Anyway, as I write this, my mind is drifting off to next Saturday. We, and a couple of mates are departing Gladstone for Fraser Island. Second time for Me and the better half and the first for the others. So to say we're a little excited is an understatement. We are camping, but not bush camping. We'll be camping at the "Cathedrals Campground". A privately run camp, with a dingo fence, for a little extra comfort for some of us. Even though Fraser is not technically in the Gladstone area, it isn't that far away. I remember talking to someone in Perth. "So you're from Queensland. Have you been to Fraser Island?" Ahhh...No. "How far away from you is it?" About 400k's I replied, a little embarrassed. I recon I'll post a story after we return.

Here's to staying dry and hydrated.