AUSTRALIA'S ORIGINAL AND BEST CAMP OVEN AND OUTDOOR COOKING CAMPING AND LIFESTYLE FORUM

Mar 9^th, 2017 at 7:43am

diesel Offline
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Sapphire, Central Qld, Queensland, Australia

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For a lot of years, my wife and I travelled around the country in a layback fashion – single cab Hilux, a couple of swags, a red cattle dog, an Engel and of course, a camp oven. Our travelling life was very simple, we could set up camp in a couple of minutes and pack up just as quick. We would see others with camper trailers and caravans and the vast amount of gear they carried and at the time we figured that we would never progress to that style of travel.

Well, things changed and we went from just swags to a tent and then the inevitable happened – we bought a caravan, a Royal Flair dirt roader. We enjoyed the caravanning life and still do, but in recent times we have come to realise that our most enjoyable trips were when we did it without a couple of tonne of caravan hooked on behind and all the accumulated gear that goes with it.

After a trip down south with the caravan a couple of months back, we decided to go almost full circle and get back to that simple, basic style of unrestricted travel and camping. The gear available today is leap years ahead of what we used back in the last century. Tents and sleeping gear are high tech and the whole camping experience has reached a new level of comfort.

Our ‘basic’ kit for camping consists of a Black Wolf Turbo 240 tent, a couple of Black Wolf self inflating mattresses, a pair of Jet Tent Pilot chairs and some of the gear that we used for caravanning. One item that we will be using more of is the camp oven. With caravanning, we used a Weber Q and rarely took the CO away with us. I think the Weber turned me into a lazy cook, just couldn’t be bothered to set up the camp oven, so it got left at home in the shed.

I have spoken to other travellers who have gone back to this basic style of camping and all have stated that they should have done it earlier as it created a new list of destinations and experiences that they had forgotten about during their years of towing a caravan.

I guess it is not for everybody, but it suits us.

Jeff

Never trust a man who doesn't drink or a town without a pub.

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Reply #1 - Mar 9^th, 2017 at 9:05am

Smokeydk Offline
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Old Noarlunga, South Australia, Australia

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Hi...we have a small caravan (12ft)....we get away from March till November bush camping mostly...we have a campfire (depends on fire bans) either in a dug fire pit ..but mostly using a choofer above the ground.
A choofer is a cut up gas bottle..takes no more room than a normal gas bottle would..I store mine in one those.square plastic crates...we camp as we did with our campertrailer useing the van just to sleep in

http://smokeydk.blogspot.com.au/

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Reply #2 - Mar 9^th, 2017 at 11:54am

BGW71 Offline
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Had plenty of good nights on the river with just a camp oven ,swag ,esky full of ice and a bucket of bait Diesel so I am hearing you went you say back to basic is the way to go .

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Reply #3 - Mar 9^th, 2017 at 12:11pm

Derek Offline
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I started out like most sleeping on the ground, progressed to a tent and air beds, eventually upgraded to a camper trailer and am now on my second caravan that does have all the bells and whistles and love them.

Have told this story a couple of times. We were camped on the Murray River in Victoria. Not far away were a couple, most likely also in their 60's, in a tent. They had vey basic equipment and kept things cool during the day in an old style esky.

At night the temperature got down into minus and to keeep warm they needed to huddle around a fire in thick winter coats. They also used the fire to cook in the freezing cold and make their hot drinks. To keep the fire going they had to often drag tree branches several hundred metres or more.

About a 50 metres away we were sitting in our mansion with the diesel heater going and I was in shirt sleeves in a warm 20 degrees. We had not long dined on a piece of grilled Tassie salmon and salad. The salmon had been frozen in the freezer for a few weeks. We were watching a new release movie on the 12 volt Blu Ray DVD player.

After the movie we had a piping hot shower then turned the diesel heater down to maintain around 12 degreees inside and had a very restful sleep on the memory foam mattress only to be woken at dawn to hear the neighbour chopping wood to get the fire going after a freezing cold restless night.

Prior to getting out of bed, Maggie reached up to the control panel and turned the heater back up to 20 degrees and we stayed in bed until the van was lovely and warm.

After an Espresso Coffee and a visit to the onboard toilet in the ensuite we enjoyed a fruit smoothie made with the blender attached to the 240 volt inverter that was attached to the batteries now being recharged by our bank of solar panels then waited for the suns rays to warm the outside air before venturing out.

Do I miss the simplicity of back to basics, not really but then I am getting old Cheesy

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Reply #4 - Mar 9^th, 2017 at 4:12pm

diesel Offline
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My wife and I are in our late 60's Derek and sure, we do like a few of the creature comforts when we travel, but there are places we want to see where it is impossible to tow a caravan, especially some of the remote fishing camps up the Cape and the Kimberleys.

Most of our trips now are only short duration, 3 to 4 weeks away and then back home to plan the next journey.

There was a time when I believed that camping/caravanning was one the great equalisers in life where practically everybody out there got on well together. You didn't give a damn what the other bloke had, what he did for a living or how rough his camp was. I think that has changed in recent times, especially amongst caravanners and not so much with campers.

Jeff

Never trust a man who doesn't drink or a town without a pub.

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Reply #5 - Mar 9^th, 2017 at 4:31pm

Derek Offline
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Overall, I don't think things have changed that greatly. We have camped with and amongst a lot of really great people, more so free camping in the bush though. Have learnt a lot and also shared a lot.

One of the great things about camping in the bush is wandering around the camp site having a chat with those who want to.

My little story there is a little tongue in cheek actually and while true it is really only a story of the difference between camping and glamping as it is often called these days.

We did spend a bit of time taking to the couple mentioned and in fact he showed more interest in our rig than most people we have encountered. From those talks I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have a caravan now as that is where they were looking.

We were pretty well heading in the same direction and we shared three different camps grounds together along the Murray.

Now that is an area I want to see more of and have some time coming up down there in June/July/August this year prior to the COG in Silverton.

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Reply #6 - Mar 9^th, 2017 at 10:06pm

Rufzgutz Offline
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I would get back to basic camping if my body allowed it.

Enjoyed many relaxing times tenting without the hassles of towing.

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Reply #7 - Mar 10^th, 2017 at 10:40am

diesel Offline
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Yes RG, there is something about tenting that has always appealed to me. Perhaps it is nothing more than the simplicity of it and the freedom of unhindered travel. I am a keen fisherman, both salt & freshwater and I just love getting away for a few days on a river in the kayak, pull up for a camp and enjoy the solitude. It is magic.

Jeff

Never trust a man who doesn't drink or a town without a pub.

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Reply #8 - Mar 10^th, 2017 at 10:47am

diesel Offline
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Derek wrote on Mar 9^th, 2017 at 4:31pm:

My little story there is a little tongue in cheek actually and while true it is really only a story of the difference between camping and glamping as it is often called these days.

I figured that Derek and my comments were not directed at what you had written, more an observation of a change in attitudes amongst the travelling public.

Maybe I am just over reacting to comments I read on other forums where some issues have divided people.

Jeff

Never trust a man who doesn't drink or a town without a pub.

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Reply #9 - Mar 10^th, 2017 at 11:22am

TBF Offline
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If I was travelling on my own, Would probably be happy with a rooftop tent on a Landcruiser ute.
Would be well equipped though.

As I have a wife who would not care to travel that way, we have a Kimberley camper and a 20 foot van. She is very keen to travel with those.
She needs no encouragement to hit the road.
She did 7 weeks Cape York and Gulf country in the Kimberley and we did it rough quite often at times, regards to facilities where we camped. She didn't complain much at all.

Happy wife = happy life.

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