Setup and equipment
A few people have been asking about our setup so here's a bit if a summary of our gear!
Vehicle stuff
We're travelling in Ford Ranger Ute with a camopy on the back. For anyone living anywhere outside of Oz just have a look at the photos cos its the easiest way to explain. It's basically a 5 seater, 4 door, high clearance 4WD with a big box on the back (the canopy bit). We've fitted tow points to the front in case we get bogged or meet anyone else who is bogged. Hopefully we never get to use these. Also bought snatch strap and proper towing kit to go along with these. Fitted good quality truck tyres which have tougher walls so hopefully less punctures on rougher tracks. Also have two spare tyres plus air compressor, tyre repair kit and a comprehensive tool kit just in case.
Safety
As mentioned already have a comprehensive tool kit, tyre repair kit plus 2 spare tyres just in case,
We have a full on first aid kit plus we all know what to do for snake bites. Kids have been warned about crocodiles, snakes, centipedes, etc etc. Plus we've also talked about being more aware and a bit more sensible when hiking, climbing etc in remote areas.
We have a satellite phone for emergencies plus UHF radio installed in the car and we carry mini UHF handheld radios when away from the car.
On longer sections we have a couple of diesel jerry cans that will go on the roof basket so we don't run out of fuel.
We'll carry 2 * 4.5kg gas bottles on the roof rack as well so no fear of blowing up the canopy (it's a reasonably well sealed environment altho I'm sure the bull dust will find a way in).
We have capacity to carry 130lt of water. This includes a 70lt bladder that sits in behind the back seats. This is awesome as great use of unused space plus good for weight distribution. Also have 2 * 20lt jerry cans, 5 lt cooler, water bottles etc. We will always top up whenever we can. We also fitted a 25lt custom built hand washing tank made out of PVC pipe and attached using a couple of tie down straps. We spent a stupid amount of time on this as we attached with hose clamps initially but that forced a leak on the joins. Plus we also have to drop the pipe to get access to the spare tyre so that was very inefficient. Anyways we put on a new tap, fill point and breather plus the tie downs seem to be pretty rugged and easy to detach.
We will always fill up on fuel in remote areas wherever we can as often some places run out of fuel for a few days.
We also have recovery tracks, shovel and axe to get us out of sticky situations.
Sleeping and Living arrangements
Fairly basic but very well tested and tried setup here. We each have a very warm sleeping bag, sleeping liner (kids ones are made out of old sheets doubled over), camping pillow and self inflating air mattress. The mattresses are the really small hiking ones but we have found them really comfortable and reliable over the years.
The tent is a Blackwolf 6 person Turbo Plus Dome tent. These are now off market and replaced by the better Tuff Tent 7 (which has steel poles). BUT we really like the original one as its light for it's size, the floor is super water resistant (6000 rating) plus it's stood up in storms (dust and thunder and wind). We can all comfortably fit in, stand up and move around and bring in our clothes bags etc. It's also got a vestibule which is super handy for taking off dirty, wet clothing. We put some perforated, lightweight matting under here which keeps the tent clean. Under the tent floor we put some shade cloth which works really well as a breathable protection layer (altho we did get an air mattress puncture last year out west from some nasty, evil, bull heads ). The main issue with the tent is that we got hit by a dust storm in Yowah last September and it's stressed all the aluminium poles. As a result, the shoulder section of every pole (6 poles, 12 sections) have snapped in the last 6 months. We've reinforced every section and also carry a complete spare set of poles so that we have backups when they break again.
For shade, we have a coleman deluxe event shade gazebo. We seam sealed this and also carry a tarp for the top section which lets in rain in really heavy, stormy conditions.
We also made a little shade out an old tent for the fridge to protect it from sun, rain and dust.
Canopy Fitout
Under tray drawer is long and not very tall but carries axe, gazebo poles and stools plus spare tarps and a couple of spare tarp poles just in case.
Spare tyre fits in and bolted inside canopy.
Shovel attached to roof rack using quick fist clamps (way cheaper then the branded roof rack stuff).
Recovery tracks also fit in a gap on the shelves/drawers at back of canopy.
There are 3 pull out drawers which will store all the food, electronic equipment, picnic stuff, coffee making tools. The tent, small esky (very handy for quick access to snacks), stove, clothes bags will fit on the shelves on the top of the drawers.
We bought a fridge slide and built a custom cage around it. The back has space for the canvas bag that fits all the sleeping gear (this is sooo handy). The fridge is a bit awkward but with the slide is easier to manipulate. Tied down with some straps so it doesn't go floating around on rough roads.
Top of the fridge cage holds the table, and a box with seldom used stuff like snorkels, gaitors, spare stuff.
Next to the spare tyre we squeeze in 2 water jerry cans, 4 camping chairs and our on the road washing machine This consists of a bucket with well sealed lid that sits in a milk crate. Add some washing powder, water, dirty clothes. Drive on corrugated, bumpy roads. Rinse at destination. Hang out to dry.
We also built a set of shelves for books, more food, and on top some tools like air compressor, drill, etc.
Behind this there's space for a slimline battery, invertor and dc to dc convertor that charges off the main car battery and powers USB points and 240 volt option also.
Food and Eating
We have 4 camping chairs and a table with 2 stools.
For cooking we have a 2 burner high output gas stove (think its outdoor companion make these now) which has been tested well over the years. Its super fast for boiling water. The stove has a custom made steel plate for frying, grilling, toasting. Thanks Dion! We also carry an emergency hiking multi fuel stove that runs on shellite (just in case we run out of gas or bust the stove).
The fridge/freezer is one of the old 3 way gas/dc/ac dometic chescold brand. Fingers crossed it endures for the trip. We run it mostly on gas but also plan on running it off the battery on longer drives to save gas and keep it cool! Its very well insulated so it's almost like a giant esky. We always try and keep the air space packed with woollen insulation (the stuff that comes in hello fresh boxes!!)
With 2 gas bottles, we should in theory be able to run the fridge and stove for 10-12 days but depends on day/night temps, wind, etc.
We have an aeropress and hand grinder for coffee so that means we can always have coffee (even if its luke warm)
We'll bring all the basic food supplies like milk powder, oats, flour, eggs, oil, herbs, pasta, rice, cheese, milk, snacks, wraps, bread, curry packets, long lasting meats like prosciutto, salami, black pudding, bacon, also chocolate, tea, coffee, tinned beans, fruit, tomatos, sundried tomatos, olives, etc. Stock up on fresh meat, veg, dairy where we can. I promise we will not go hungry as I have a 4 week meal rotation going (well for dinner) which we can supplement with fresh ingredients as we go. Have recipes for quick pastas, rice, curries, cous cous, wraps, pancakes, drop scones etc all made un under 15 mins.
Other stuff
A couple of IPads, (for ebooks, podcasts, research and music), one laptop (for blogging and research), couple of mobile phones with Telstra reception (so not expecting coverage full time).
Hema Australia Road & 4WD Atlas, Hema Great Desert Tracks Atlas & Guide plus the Hema Iconic paper map for the Pilbara and Coral Coast and also the one for Top End and Gulf, We'll also bring a compass for any hikes we do so we're not reliant on battery power. Most of our road navigation will be done the old fashioned way with paper maps and atlases. No tech fails!!
Some reading books, activity books, suduko, cryptic crosswords (thanks Laura!!), pencils etc.
The plan is no screens except for reading or listening to podcasts.
Apps
- Windy Maps free and really good for hiking as shows contours and some trails
- What3words in case we get really lost and can't get a GPS location
- Maps.me - good but only limited areas
- First aid apps
- Podcast addict and apple music for podcasts
- Wikicamps, Camps Australia, HipCamp and CamperMate for camping sites, water, toilets, parks info
- Avenza maps (can download 1:25k)
- Gas Finder, FuelMap Australia, Petrol Spy and Toilet Map. Self explanatory
- All Trails for hiking stuff but aussiebushwalking.com.au has very reliable hike reports
- We won't be using google maps as it's really really unreliable outside of the cities
- FrogId and Asutalian Birds plus some of the free field guides produced by the Australian Museum for flora and fauna
- BorrowBox for ebooks
