MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Brooklyn on April 12, 2015, 05:54:59 PM
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I have struggled a bit to figure out how to give back to the MySwag community from which we have gained so much. I am not a regional expert of any part of Australia (I'm from the US), I have no applicable technical expertise and I am relatively new to camping. So for many weeks (months) I have been thinking about what I could add given so many folks on the site are so much more knowledgeable in so many area than me.
I realized that what I do know is what it is like to travel this beautiful country living in an off-road camper trailer for the long term. Our family of 4 have been living in our 100 series Land Cruiser (Cave Lion) and Cub Supamatic Off-road (Siberian Tiger) for the past 8 months. You can read more about our set-up here http://milesfrombrooklyn.com/set-up/ (http://milesfrombrooklyn.com/set-up/) I am not sure if this info is useful to others, but I wanted to share just in case. We are also happy to answer any questions or chat with anyone else considering a similar endeavor.
A little about our trip for context... We began our journey in Sydney in August 2014 and have since traveled through QLD to Cape York and then through Western QLD to SA, VIC and then 2 months in Tassie before making our way to WA. Some of our travel has been off the bitumen (Cape York, Strzlecki, Fraser Island, Vic High Country), but much of it does not require off-road capabilities. We have covered a range of conditions in this time ranging from -5 to 45 degrees and all sorts of weather in between. We stay in a range of places free camps, national parks to caravan parks and everything in between. We usually stay 1-3 nights places. In the past 8 months, we have spent a week or more at a place five times.
We have learned lots along the way and I thought I would share a few lessons learned about our set-up beyond the usual "don't bring too much stuff" advice. (Solid advice and frequently offered.) Obviously, this list is just our experience and many people will offer different opinions...
Power related
- All gauges should be accessible while the camper is packed up. Our water and battery level gauge are only accessible when we are unpacked which is irritating. If we come across a drinking water tap in a town, we end up guessing whether we need water.
- Similarly, if you get an inverter, I would make sure it is accessible when the trailer is packed up. We have a pure sine wave inverter, but it is only accessible when our camper is open meaning if we forget to charge the camera batteries, we are out of luck.
- One win on the power front is that we have two USB jacks running off our auxiliary batteries in our car. They are in-use constantly.
- Knowledge on the road about solar is limited. You can find lots of other campers that will help with all sorts of other issues, but few really understand solar set-ups. If you find someone that truly gets it, buy them a beer and get their phone number :)
- To conserve power, we tend to put all of our lunches, snack and daytime drinks in our car fridge. We never have to worry about the power level of our auxiliary battery in our car, so it works to open that fridge during the hottest part of the day. We have to be more careful with our camper power, so we try to just open that in the morning and at night.
Set-up / Gear
- We rarely set-up our awning and even less frequently use the walls. It adds about 20 minutes to set-up and pack-up and when we move every couple of days it is not worth it to us. When we do stay for several days (and we know we are going to stay when we arrive), we always enjoy having the awning up, but it is pretty rare. The walls have only been used a handful of times. I thought we would end up using them in Tassie, but even with the wind and rain, we didn't find it worth the effort. (Wow, we are starting to sound a bit lazy!) I think they are fantastic when we set-up a proper camp, but we haven't done it much. Next time around, I would put the walls and tropical roof on the nice to have list.
- The large floor covering for under our awning is really helpful in places with black or red dirt or rain. Otherwise, we usually just use a couple of foam squares outside of our tent. I would put this item on the nice to have list next time around.
- During the days of long daylight, we don't use our camp lights much. For months, I would have said we have rarely used our outdoor LED lights. Now that it gets dark at 6PM, that has all changed.
- We rarely use the awning on our Land Cruiser. The only time it is in use is when we drive the car onto the beach. If I was to buy a new awning for the car, I would choose one that has a cover over the zipper. Our ARB awning has an exposed zipper and it gets so dusty, it is difficult to open and we always have to clean it first.
- The size of your fridge(s) and the amount of water you can carry go a long way to dictating how long you can be in remote areas. Seems like common sense but we have met many travelers with amazing set-ups frequently limited by these two elements. We can carry 260L of water (200L in camper and 60L in the car). We have a 85L fridge in the camper and a 45L fridge in the Cruiser. We have never come to the end of our water (I don't want to), but on longer remote stretches, we use everything in both fridges.
- We have a portaloo, but we don't use it. Turns out we all fear it and it continues to waste space... Eventually we will get brave enough to use it or get rid of it.
Weather
- I don't care what people say... If it rains heavily for several days, canvas gets wet and everything inside the tent starts to feel damp. One lesson learned is that if it is raining, make sure everything, particularly bedding is pulled away from the walls, otherwise it gets soaked. If we can easily avoid rain we do, when we can't if it is going to rain for a few days, we usually use that as an opportunity to call into a caravan park. Having a place to sit with actual walls and the ability to cook indoors makes lots of rain less irritating. We also added extra press studs to our tent to make sure that all of the water runs down the outside of the canvas and doesn't get stuck in the seams.
- We had an electric heater early on, but didn't use it. We ended up getting rid of it and just layering up on very cold nights.
- Tropical roof is probably quite useful, but it doesn't fit to stay on when our camper is folded up with bedding for 4 on our mattress. As a result, it is rarely used.
Food
- It's been mentioned before, but cryovacing meat is miraculous. The meat lasts forever. When I go to a butcher, I get all of my meat cryovaced except what we are eating that night. That way, we never have meat go bad.
- Wraps, burritos and Nori (seaweed paper) are all great to have in the pantry because they store flat, can easily be combined with whatever is available to eat, can easily help recycle leftovers and they last forever.
- I always stock up on ethnic ingredients (mostly spices and sauces) when in a big city, which provides much more eating variety when going weeks and months between big cities.
Car Maintenance
- If you meet someone on the road that loves their vehicle and knows a lot about it, ask them where they live and get the name of their mechanic. When you roll through that city, do your scheduled service. It is easier to plan servicing for the car around known reputable mechanics than to end up somewhere and have no context to find a mechanic... And when in doubt, ask on MySwag :)
And finally...
Last but certainly not least, this is a really beautiful country and we feel so lucky to have seen as much as we have. Even more than the beautiful country has been the kindness of strangers. We came to this country not knowing anyone and we have found people so willing to help and share information with us and we now have many people we count as friends. We have only met one MySwagger in person (Hi Mark!), but we have found this the most amazing resource. I wish I had as much to return as we have gained from it!
I will add to the list as more things come up in the coming months.
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Great post Brooklyn
Some good stuff in there
You confirmed a few points I've been weighing up in selecting our new hybrid.
Glad the family are enjoying the trip.
Isnt funny how peoples disposition change when away from the pressures of city living. No wonder everyone loves getting away, as you mentioned most people are decent.
Anyway thanks for the post and I'll keep my eye on your travels
Cheers Glen
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It sounds like you are having a great time touring the country Brooklyn.
Couple of things you touched on gave me a laugh, as it's much how i think also.... we've had the side walls of our camper for years now and used them twice, the first time was just to see how they work actually, so like you i don't bother with them. When we are in touring mode i rarely set up the awning (actually even if it's just a weekend away i sometimes don't set up the awning), it's not being lazy, it's just a waste of valuable relaxation time if the weather is fine and you plan to hit the road again tomorrow, so why bother.
As to the portaloo...we didn't own one up until about a year ago, now we have one i wonder why we didn't get one sooner, it's great for my wife and daughters as far as keeping them happy over the old shovel and dig a hole. The thought of emptying them is worse then doing it IMHO, though it is hilarious watching me old mate Clouty empty his and be dry reaching at the same time...lol.
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G'day Brooklyn,
Thanks for the post, always good to read a real write up by someone who's done it.
A lot of what you wrote rings true with me too, all the bits about the stuff you think you need and find out you don't........ less is more, is so true.
And yep, not lazy, just real..... Why set stuff up if u don't need it, i really do believe sometimes when you see people "all set up" it's more of a display of "look what i've got" , hehe
Anyway, glad u enjoyed your trip........ do you live here permanently now, or was this just a holiday?
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ah the memories! We 'only' did the trip for 5 to 6 months and would do anything to do it all again. We too found out about canvas eventually getting wet when we caught the tail end of a cyclone - after feeling pretty chuffed that our camper held up on the first day of torrential rain, the second day was a different story and once it starts coming through that's it!
We had a portaloo thingy and used it all the time with a pop-up shower tent. We used biomagic that was far nicer than the chemical solutions and it was my job to dig a hole every so often and bury it. Sounds worse than it actually was. We did use drop toilets when they were available but that changed when we stayed at Karajini and at night the cockroaches would climb out of the toilets and you would find them on the toilet and the ground and you'd see some scuttling back down the drop...nice topic!
You certainly become efficient and don't bother with things that waste time, unless you know you're staying a few days so you might then put up the extra walls or the tropical roof (a big tarp for us).
Enjoyed the read, keep it coming!
Mark.
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Top post mate. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Cheers
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Great advice there :cup:
I do like about grabing any mechanic contacts at any town that you might travel through..
Cheers Rumpig don't bring that up again :laugh:
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What a great read, thanks mate :cheers:
On the awning walls thing, when we ordered our camper, I didn't even bother getting walls for the awning, figured if we needed them could get them later. 2 1/2 years now and not once have I thought geez wish I had Walls for this.
Enjoy the rest of your travels, how long do you have left?
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Great info., and all food for thought for us as we know we haul way too much stuff as it is - but we aren't doing big trip - yet...
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Good read Brooklyn, thanks for sharing. BTW if you use good chemicals the porta loos are nothing to fear.
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Pleasure to meet you guys before you hit the Cape.
Mark
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Great post Brooklyn, thanks for sharing!
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Excellent read Brooklyn. Lots of great tips for those who are starting out camping as well as some reminders for the seasoned travellers.
Looking forward to your next instalment.
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Thanks for the post, Brooklyn.
Some great information provided that seems to follow my thoughts (setting up the walls, cryovacing, portaloo).
If you dollar had remained stable we would have visited Brooklyn in May...... :D :D :D
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Hi Brooklyn. So you just wrote off my night having to read your whole 8 months trip report.
Glad to hear you guys are going well I remember when you first posted about your trip picking up the car ect, glad to see how it's all working out.
Have fun and stay safe.
Oh and snakes really an't that bad, and the whole Croc-Gator thing there are significant less fatalities with gators than crocs but both will take a limp no problems. Personal I like my limbs attached so would stay out of both their ways.
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Thanks for the Post, Brooklyn...
Myswag is truly great!
I have learnt sooo much :)
I am seriously thinking about purchasing a Lifestyle Reconn - and now am 90% convinced that I will not be bothering with the Walls Option on the annex....
Previously I had a Travelander Slideon that came with annex and walls...
Never used the walls.
Thanks for sharing all those insights about your trip
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Another good read from you guys, We enjoy reading about your exploits around Oz, and great photo's too .. safe travels Brooklyn ..
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Great post/thread. Thanks for spending the time to think about it and write it up. Thanks to everyone else for their thoughts too!
We're heading off for 6 months from June and I'm currently going through the list of wants needs and must haves, and rereading some of our journals from past trips - nice to jog the memory as part of the planning process about what did/didn't work in the past.
I've always thought it would be nice to have an awning on the truck but reading your post I think I'll skip it now. put that money aside for a new tyre down the track.
With regard to the camper awning and walls - our awning has only ever been used a handful of times to keep the cook (either my wife or myself) dry when cooking in the rain (our cooker is a side slide out model - Cub Brumby). the walls - only ever used the cooker end wall once or twice to keep wind driven rain off the cook (me) after I was saturated and the wind kept blowing the cooker flame out and knocked my beer over three times...... tragedy.
A port a loo is useful (ours is pretty much just a sealable bucket with a toilet seat and lid attached - liners and powder to keep things clean) - keeps the girls happy when the only other option is a hole in the ground.
Hope to hear more from you guys over the next few weeks before we head off.
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Great idea for a thread Brooklyn & we agree with all of your observations. We have been following your blog & love it. Makes us remember our trip as well & helps us get through the "dark days" now we are back & started back at work today! Thanks for sharing.
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Gee, I must one of the few to love my camper awning. Put it up more often than not. Often just the kitchen end wall, but the full walls go up for most stays of over a week. But then, we do tend to camp in the cold.
Brooklyn, it is great to hear you have been enjoying your trip. That time has passed so quickly!
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Thanks everyone! I would never have guessed the awning and the portaloo comments would have elicited the most response.
One update on the walls. We are considering having the walls altered to add large mesh windows with clear plastic that can be zipped up on the inside. One of the reasons we don't use them is it feels a bit claustrophobic when they're up so we were thinking the windows may help. That said, we don't use them so we are hesitant to invest more money in them... Probably not something we will do right away regardless.
As far as our plans, we are in Albany, WA now. We will be heading north in a few days and looking forward to seeing as much of the state as we can over the next few months.
And thanks for the compliments on the blog. We have been slow to update lately, but now that we should have Internet access more frequently for the next couple of weeks, we should get some content up.
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Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences :cup: :cup:
Look forward to reading of your continuing adventures. Safe and happy travels
KB
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Cheers Brooklyn, and welcome to Australia, glad to see you enjoying it as most new Australians with open curious minds do - and probably more than some of the miserable bigots we seem to breed here that sit around home on weekends grizzling about it (and those of us that get out and enjoy it)
did you know in ww2 your military offered to build railways all around Australia? the Australian special force boat (confiscated trawler fishing illegally in our waters) that snuck into singapore harbour to cripple Japanese ships still has the 'band aid' repair on the broken propeller shaft that one of your navy ships crew did to get it back to port shortly after the mission started (look up the m.v. krait)
interested to see your recommendation for press studs - I myself find that wind blowing the zippers and tails against the canvas promotes water getting through, as does having the zip at the top where the water drips onto the canvas (hard to win on that one).
one thing herself and I do with every tent/camper - BRELLAPROOF!!! we get an extra couple of days water resistance with it, and of course seasoning before use is good too )SO many people don't...)
enjoy the rest of your trip!
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www.suncoastcaravanservice.com.au/prestashop/index.php?id...80 (http://www.suncoastcaravanservice.com.au/prestashop/index.php?id...80)...
A$73.00 - ?In stock
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Thanks everyone! I would never have guessed the awning and the portaloo comments would have elicited the most response.
One update on the walls. We are considering having the walls altered to add large mesh windows with clear plastic that can be zipped up on the inside. One of the reasons we don't use them is it feels a bit claustrophobic when they're up so we were thinking the windows may help. That said, we don't use them so we are hesitant to invest more money in them...
Instead of having your walls altered maybe just use 50 or 75% shadecloth panels hemmed and clipped on to the awning .. can be had cheaply [bunnings etc ] lets light in and some breeze not a lot of water, bit of privacy during the day [ beware at night it reverses with lights on its easy to see into from the out side ]..
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Great read Brooklyn,
Hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Aussie.
Cheers Tracker.
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One update on the walls. We are considering having the walls altered to add large mesh windows with clear plastic that can be zipped up on the inside. One of the reasons we don't use them is it feels a bit claustrophobic when they're up so we were thinking the windows may help. That said, we don't use them so we are hesitant to invest more money in them... Probably not something we will do right away regardless.
what you're thinking of doing to your walls we have as standard on ours, we still don't use them. If we were away somewhere and the forecast was going to be rain for a few days I might consider putting the one up in the kitchen to make cooking a dry affair, but haven't had to as such yet.....just wait and heavy showers usually pass over pretty quickly we find.
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Brooklyn,
Great read. thanks.
In relation to the Landcruiser awning....I have been one of the few not to accessorise my 4wd with one. A lot of my mates and family members have......always ribbed me for not having one......but I didn't see the sense. After researching I believed there was more value in a portable compact pop up shade gazebo that can be moved around depending on the position of the sun, or closer to a creek etc than you can get a car. Also gets more use at home....weekend sports events. The compact ones fit in the boot of a car...back of Prado etc.
After buying one and having others see it in use, they are now purchasing one themselves and not using their awnings....
The other point I thought interesting was camper restrictions around water. When I was looking for a camper on the secondhand market before buying new, it amazed me how many campers had less than adequate water carrying capability. These were not cheap campers,,,,very capable to go to out of the way places,,,,but I wouldn't look at them as they were not a camper you could stay isolated in due to the water situation.
Cheers, Dave.
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The walls from my Cub are always at hand ,,,,,,as long as in the back of my shed on the top shelf . l did unpack them to have a look at them . What you have said is spot on . We should be traveling to enjoy the countryside not to deploy kit . :cheers:
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Heh. Annex walls. We've owned our camper since late 2009 and used the walls for the first time over Easter as it rained for days and we wanted the extra shelter. Even then, I only used 2 of the 4 walls (the ones at either end).
Your blog is a great read ;D
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Great Post mate.. :cup: :cup: :cup:
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Great idea for a thread Brooklyn & we agree with all of your observations. We have been following your blog & love it. Makes us remember our trip as well & helps us get through the "dark days" now we are back & started back at work today! Thanks for sharing.
Great read. Thanks
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We only use the end wall over the kitchen, prevents dew getting over the kitchen. The previous owners of the camper had never used the walls either. The awning goes out in a few minutes without the spreaders so I put that out each time without the spreaders, some spreaders are used with the kitchen wall.
I did put the screen walls and floor up once for our littlest to be able to crawl around in but that was a mistake as we got some rain and made a swimming pool at the front door and didn't use the area anyway. The screen walls live in the shed now.