We did a three week camping trip round central QLD in our Corolla. We took sleeping gear, cooking gear, chairs, shelter, pram and cloth nappies. Only one kid, but it's definitely possible without a trailer. We have a station wagon now, so we can take two kegs of beer and the second kid in addition. And a balance bike.

We have a 4 person tent. Setting up your basic dome tent is not difficult. I've been doing it for 15 years, but I still think it's pretty easy. Ours is just a basic tent with a vestibule (area covered by the waterproof bit but with no floor.

We sleep on self inflating mattresses lined up along the floor. We've been going since DD1 was 11 weeks old, so we had to consider safe sleeping. We go parent-kid-parent-kid and it seems to work. As they get bigger wel'll think of something else.

I reckon our initial outlay would be about $1000. In addition to tent, sleeping bags and mats, we have a folding table and little fuel stove. And four camp chairs.

My current method of campsite picking is to type the name of the campground and tap it into Google Images.