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Oooh Tinks - let me know if you do because Southend is only a few kms from Beachport! We will be there from Boxing Day for 2 weeks! I have seen people doing it but I have never done it. Please do it and come and hang out and have a few drinks with us while you are there :D
Will do Nai! Is your car 4x4? You're welcome to tag along with us when we go.
That sounds awesome Tinks! We drove along the beach when we were in Esperance on our big WA trip in 2010. It was amazing, I'll never forget it :D
ETA: Here's a photo of us driving on the beach at Cape Le Grand, Esperance: 3118
It's AWD Forester so not sure if the clearance would be good enough.
Yay, I love when this thread gets going, it's exciting to hear what everyone is up to.
We finally bought a caravan. The tent was just too hard in fickle weather and the van is sooooo awesome. We got it the day before Father's Day and have been away 6 times already!! Taking advantage before the kids have weekend sports commitments. It's been mostly 4wd stuff, and its been great.
We are taking 2 whole months next year and driving from Melbourne to the top end and then back again. So excited. The tent would have been too hard.
Guess I should add a picture. Oh, I'm on an i-thingo so ill put a picture in later.
Question - does anyone have a dream pot or some kind of thermal cooker? We are going 4x4ing over cup weekend (no van :( ) and I think they look awesome, but would love some advice.
Lenny, that trip sounds awesome! I'd love to just take off for an indefinite amount of time, just drive and see the country. I don't have any experience with the cookers, sorry. We bought a vacuum sealer thingy so we can cook food at home, seal it up and then we can just pull it out to heat as needed when we're away. Congratulations on the caravan! How exciting!
So the fun and games begin with the new caravan lol. We have to park it out in the paddock, which is fine normally. Our old one was out there for months. The other day we were towing it out and one of the feet got caught somehow on a tuft of that spiky grass stuff that grows like a weed. Ripped the foot off. We were driving slow too Grrr. Then we noticed that the front padding had holes in it. Upon further investigation, noticed the trailer plug had been eaten. Poddy calves!!!!!!!!! They've eaten the plug and their budding horns are ripping the padding......laugh away ladies! It's frustrating but I can see the funny side. Shame DH can't though....
That is funny! Until you've had them you don't really realise how cheeky calves (and cows) can really be.
In saying that i wouldn't mind a paddock for our caravan - we are very cramped for space now.
Hi ladies - I'm in and looking for advice.
Looking to do some family camping with our DS who has just turned 3. Starting off we will probably stick close to Sydney and just do a night or two and depending on how things go we will venture further afield for longer. We've got a couple of other friends with littlies the same age who are going to join in the fun too.:D
Questions
- need to get a new tent. Make and/or model that you would recommend? DH was used to serious survival type camping from his early days in scouts and adventurers in UK but don't think we will need anything that can survive gale force winds or sub zero temps like he did. Saw one (think it was called a Huntsman) which had 3 bedrooms and central area which looked okay as was thinking one room for DS, one for us and another to stash stuff away leaving central area free if we wanted?
- air bed type matress or self inflating number from Dune or similar manufacturer? From pre kid (and I think even marriage) time we got an enormous one that was self inflating but seriously it literally needs its own trailer to be taken anywhere so we need to downside - I think it might even had been a queen! Air bed matresses I was concerned if there was any stones etc they could puncture. The self inflating numbers still seem to be quiet big. Would you recommend a double for DH and I or two singles or just go the matress.
- Any essential items you think are a must have?
Will have to go through camping stuff in garage to work out what we have since last time we camped - 6 years ago I'd say - and what still works lol!
Really looking forward to it. Will be fun and loving the idea of introducing it to DS and his friends. Want to make sure they don't grow up to be just "city" kids.
Cheers
Now we're 3 - Not sure about the tent but with the mattresses I'd be inclined to get single air mattresses on stretchers so you're off the ground. We had a double but we found whenever DH moved at night, I'd bounce around! Once we were on singles it was better. We only had one puncture too but that was on a really old mattress. We just made sure we had a couple of repair kits on hand.
We have a blackwolf tent and I highly recommend them. We got it second hand on eBay much cheaper. We also just use self inflating mattresses which we all sleep on. They do the trick even in winter in Victoria. Although we do have good sleeping bags. The girls have black wolf ones.
I think what you need depends on how long you go for and what facilities they have where you go.
We have Dune 4x4 mattresses that semi inflate and although they take up huge amounts of space they are so comfy and you don't have to worry about punctures etc. If you have room for them I would use them!! Otherwise I agree with being off the ground, makes a difference with the cold. We have a 3 room Coleman tent from Anaconda that was great - I think if you are looking a dome type one most within the price range are very similar unless you jump up to canvas! We are weird campers though and take all our doonas and bedding and not use sleeping bags :rofl:
Lol Tanstar I don't think it's that weird to take doonas, I do! But then again to get a sleeping bag as comfy and warm as my doona would cost a fortune. :)
Also because we are on such a tight budget we bought the tent and then went camping with what we had (have been buying other stuff slowly).
I must admit our matresses are the ones from Kmart. My DD has a single on her bed permanently as it helps her asthma.
Can't wait until DS3 is a bit older so we can go camping again.
Now we're three - we also have the same blackwolf as Nai. They are very good. A bit dearer to start with but robust and no flimsy stuff. Makes it a bit heavy (for lifting up onto the roof rack) but worth it.
Everyone - where are you all going this long weekend? Weather in Vic looks ok.
Staying home Lenny. I've seen so many caravans on the road this morning, very jealous! We're off in two weeks though so shouldn't complain!
I would love to go camping but we have a corolla and two kids - anyone think that if we had one of those roof capsule things we would have enough space? I am thinking once rid of stroller maybe? Bedding alone takes up so much room, have found when staying in cabins on caravan parks (always pay for bedding now). When on a working holiday years ago we had a Yaris and no kids very small tent and in QLD and managed just but everyone on campsites would say "Oh your the ones with the tiny car" - so any small car campers out there?
We have stretchers with air mattresses for the kids it's just to cold to be on the ground. No camping for us this weekend as we are flying out to Fiji Tuesday!
Have fun in Fiji, BR!
Wysiwyg - been thinking about your small car question. Our neighbours drive a Honda Jazz and they bought a tradesman trailer style to tow and have all of their camping gear in that. Simply hitch it on and drive away. But I guess that would depend on if you've got somewhere to store it. I don't know how much those pods actually store.
PRMG - you are right a trailer will prob hold more. Trailer could go in garage I would think. Would need to work out towing capacity of a corolla - I wonder if could pull a trailer tent. In Europe they have Eurocamp where you go and tent already there - is there anything similar here do you know? Not luxury camping - I have seen a few of those just sort standard family tent types.
DH is not a camping fan and would struggle to convince any monetary outlay on gear towbar etc (is all pie in sky till I get a job anyway) so something like eurocamp would be great to convince him.