Tomorrow I'm going camping for a few days. The weather forecast is pretty average but it'll be fun nevertheless. I'm going to join up with some friends at Bundjalung National Park (in the Black Rock area - camping right behind the dunes and the beach) and I'm loaded for bear, gear-wise.

This is going to be a lazy and comfy time, with all the frills of civilization, and that's why the pile is so big:

 camping gear pile camping gear pile

To the right are tent, mattress, sleeping bag, chair, table, pillows (because my hip hurts when I sleep multiple nights on the side, and without pillows I can't sleep on my back - yes, I'm an old fart!).

Then there's the white porta-shitter (brand spanking new), the shower/shitter tent, the hot water unit and its gas bottle, the Bee (R/C glider), my own old Oasis paraglider and a lightweight harness in the blue bag and there's also my eski (which is small for oz standards, only 45l).

There's no water at Black Rock, so I'll bring 20+20+10+4l, which should be enough for drinking and cooking purposes and at least one quick shower.

In front there's the Crawler King box and at the far left is my #1 xmas present to myself, a drifta camp kitchen which already holds all my cooking gear and the non-freezer food. Very nice but heavy and not cheap; we'll see how it performs. The drifta also comes with a plastic sink :-)

Already in the car are a new tarp and some poles, pegs and lines (remember: lousy weather forecast).

 subaxtreme sumpguard

Apropos car: xmas present #2 has already gone where it's supposed to be, underneath the car. This is a cast alloy sump guard for my Sooby, which got delivered yesterday (and of course I bolted it on immediately, after reparing one ripped-off bolt in a subframe on the car. Dremels and impact drivers are Cool Tools...). The sump guard replaces the crappy factory-standard plastic tray/guard, which got bent and mangled by both me and the previous owner and which mostly served to scoop up loads of sand last time at Teewah beach.

 beef stew and curry

Not Apropos my nice, new porta-shitter: this looks pre-used but actually it's great tasty goop!

I decided to be pretty lazy this time and pre-cook some stuff (also because I didn't want to lug my cast-iron camp stove). The right bag is full of beef curry, the other contains a beef and vegie stew. Filling the vac bags was a bit of a pain (tip: fold over the top 3cm to keep them clean), but then my vac sucker/sealer worked very well. goop in, air out, heatseal, done.

Not on the photos is my one smallish rucksack with clothes and stuff (because I still have to pack those), and the slab of beer (because I still have to buy that and some ice). And that's it. Let the fun begin :-)

[ published on Thu 23.12.2010 23:18 | filed in interests/au | ]
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© Alexander Zangerl