The Camping Thread

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

Mate of mine bought the 4x4 Supercentre single dome swag, been camping in it for a week, real camping came back today and absolutely rates it, said it would be a bargain at twice the price.

Reckons it's the best swag he has used, and will be buying another double swag as well.

https://www.4wdsupacentre.com.au/pro...ag-escape.html

how does he find the half opening, i always feel a bit trapped like its a coffin,
my double opens all the way to the end

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Like I said he loves it and is ordering another one next week.

Depends on how you feel, I prefer a bigger one, thats why I have the double one for myself gives me some room to move and keep some spare cloths, my boots and gear in the swag.

[Junkyard-Dog]

It's ridiculous but I still haven't had my time off to go camping and review my new equipment but next week has been "locked in." Let's hope so!

[blackf6]

Camping is sleeping in the dirt. Anything else is glamping. Sorry.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by blackf6

Camping is sleeping in the dirt. Anything else is glamping. Sorry.

Enjoy sleeping in the dirt, I like my swag, especially when it rains at night

[prydey]

Originally Posted by blackf6

Camping is sleeping in the dirt. Anything else is glamping. Sorry.

camping is whatever you personally are comfortable with. there is no right or wrong. whether you lie on the ground, sleep in a swag, go tenting, have a camper trailer or haul around a van, if you are out there enjoying our great countryside, then thats all that matters.

if you go by someone else's comfort level, then it won't last very long.

[fordomatic]

I'll take my glamping in the swag thanks. Spent many more nights than i care to remember sleeping in the dirt, a swag is much more fun.

[prydey]

Camping trip #2 happened on the weekend. Went north of adelaide and camped in the southern flinders ranges, in a great little spot called Spear Creek caravan park. Its part of a 7000ha working sheep station, although you don't really see much of that. We camped in their 'bush camping' section, which is about 1km from the main site. Weather wasn't great to start with, but there's not much you can really do about that. Holiday was booked and due to work and school holidays, it couldn't be moved. First night, Port Augusta, which is about 25km away by road, recorded wind speeds around 50km/h and gusts up to 70km/h. We were in a gully, surrounded by hills and the site caretaker reckoned the wind would easily have been as high as those recordings where we were, if not higher. Our brand new tent held up fine though not a lot of sleep was had that night. I did venture out multiple times to check the ropes/pegs etc and thankfully there were no issues, although from inside the tent it felt like we would be relocated by morning! The caretaker drove down to check on us in the morning and was impressed that we were unscathed. Others that were tenting in the main park had left, some due to tents ripping etc. He resides in a 2tonne van and he said the wind moved his van during the night. It was quite eerie as well, as you could hear the gust coming, getting louder and louder.
The next day, it rained off and on, and quite heavy at times. Again, the tent held up fine. No leaks in the tent, although the awning did get a couple of leaks along a seam that holds a zip for attaching an optional side panel (which we had). the next 3 days were fine, sort of cloudy early with a couple of light showers, sunny and hot in the day and then cooling down to single digits in the evening and night.
This was my first visit to the flinders, and i won't be doing it again anytime soon in the warmer weather. The flies here are the worst i've ever experienced. They even get in behind your glasses and then buzz all around trying to get back out. Really tested your resolve for those few hours in the middle of the day when the sun was shining.

some pics of the weekend

[BENT_8]

What were the facilities like Rob, looks fairly basic from the pics.

Did you do any sight seeing around the Mt Remarkable/Mambray creek area at all.

You're right though, the Flinders is a mid year school holiday destination when the creeks are flowing and the flies dormant.

Im currently at Barmera for a few days, been a really stressful week so i thought i'd get away for a few nights with a bit of Luxury, 3 nights in the Lakes resort with lake views is doing the trick.
Just wish i'd dragged the Kayak or boat up with me, weather is perfect, 27* with light breeze and 32* forecast tomorrow.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

What were the facilities like Rob, looks fairly basic from the pics.

Did you do any sight seeing around the Mt Remarkable/Mambray creek area at all.

.

the bush camp section has a flush toilet for each section. There are 3 sections with 2-3 large sites on each. it's designed to cater for groups. It seems popular with the 4wd crowd and there are some tracks on the property.

There are two blocks of toilets and showers, a camp kitchen with games and TV etc in the main camp site which is about 1km away.

The track in is about 8km of dirt so we just stayed put all weekend and just explored the surrounding bush.

[prydey]

Any recommendations for a decent bush camping site around the grampians? only 'must have' for us is a toilet. a shower would be a bonus but not critical.

the sites i've looked at in the grampians NP are ok but hoping to find something with a bit more privacy from other campers.

Looking to go away just after easter and even though vic holidays are finished, its still pretty popular. Also, the NP sites are on the expensive side as far as camping goes.

always good to get first hand feedback.

[Trevor 57]

My recent venture to a nice spot beside the Murray River

[prydey]

Just got home from 5 nights in the Grampians.

Stayed at the Boreang campground in the national park. Really nice little spot, with very generous sites and plenty of wildlife.




This is the track in and out. 8km of winding unsealed road with cliff on one side and literally nothing on the other. Thankfully, of the 8 times we travelled it, only once we encountered someone coming the other way.


Some well known grampians features

The Balconies


Mackenzie Falls


Boroka Lookout


This was my first visit to the grampians and Halls Gap township. What a cracking place. We got rained out for virtually 2 of the days there, so didn't get to see/do as much of the walks and stuff that we wanted, but will definitely go back. They even have a zoo, which we went to, and its very well priced ($70 2 adults and 2 kids) and one of the best wildlife parks i've been to.

The views are simply stunning.

[sgt_doofey]

Planning to go there next month Rob. Looks fantastic!
First camping trip with our boys, 2 & 4 years old. Should be fun!

One question for you Rob. You mentioned that the camp stove you had got blocked. Did you manage to unblock it and how did you do that?
I've bought a cheapish one from BCF so hope it doesn't get blocked.

[BENT_8]

Looks good Rob, what's the facilities like at the site?
I wouldn't mind having a look around that part of the woods, its only half a days drive from Adelaide, no further than Wilpena really.

Are there many sites, is it busy and what's the coin for entry and camping, self registration?

I spent the weekend down on Hindmarsh Marina, a mate who just returned from Mackay has a place 6 houses off the Goolwa channel so we took the Kayaks and new tinnie for a bopeep around the area. They had the wooden boat classic on which was packed but the wether was perfect so expected.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Planning to go there next month Rob. Looks fantastic!
First camping trip with our boys, 2 & 4 years old. Should be fun!

One question for you Rob. You mentioned that the camp stove you had got blocked. Did you manage to unblock it and how did you do that?
I've bought a cheapish one from BCF so hope it doesn't get blocked.

the stoves pull apart pretty easy. i removed the burners (they just unscrew) and took the jets out and gave them a bit of a tap and blow etc. also the knobs come off and there are some filters in there i think. memory is a bit hazy. i also turned the gas on (carefully) with the jets out to blow out any debris.

that was all a while ago and i've since bought a new one as that one was borrowed. bought a primus 2 burner in a 3 burner size https://www.snowys.com.au/2-burner-high-output-stove

i think the blockage was related to not having a regulator. i learnt my lesson. new one comes with a regulator and haven't had any issues to date. its a great burner but being a high heat rated one, it can chew through the gas if you take advantage of it and crank it up.

for all your camping needs, you can't go past snowys. bcf are a rip off and i have no idea how they manage to sell stuff. i only assume the boating side of it keeps them going. anaconda are ok because they will beat any price by 10% for the same product. when shopping at anaconda though, i only by brand name stuff, not anaconda brands. been there. its very much a case of you get what you pay for. 95% of my stuff comes from snowys. the other option is tentworld.com.au. they are generally around the same price as snowys and have a slightly better range on some things.

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Looks good Rob, what's the facilities like at the site?
I wouldn't mind having a look around that part of the woods, its only half a days drive from Adelaide, no further than Wilpena really.

Are there many sites, is it busy and what's the coin for entry and camping, self registration?

facilities at this particular campground (boreang) were 2 drop toilets. the building and room was clean enough and paper was kept stocked by vicparks, but it was my first experience with drop toilets, and the smell was pretty feral. we did camp immediately after easter long weekend so they'd probably taken a hammering.

there were 23 sites at this campground. 1-12 are for tents and are separated from the carpark by a row of small bollards, so you have to carry your gear in. not a problem if you get a site next to the park bays i guess but not really suitable for people with larger setups or needing access to your car. sites 13-23 are vehicle accessible and vary in size to accommodate most setups. our site (site 15) was classed as 8x14 but with no hard boundaries it was plenty big enough.

being a national park, booking is all done online now, same as here in SA. its all done via vicparks website. a ranger did come around while we were there and one group of people got told to move on. pricing is middle of the road. we paid $136.50 for 5 nights, which is $27.30/night. price is for the site, although i think they might specify a max number of people per site.

it is a fantastic part of the country though. there are no walks or anything starting from the campground, so there is an 8km dirt road to get in and out but you soon get used to it. you wouldn't want to be doing multiple trips each day though.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

its only half a days drive from Adelaide, .

it took us about 7-8 hours which included a stop for fuel and a stop for lunch. being my first time there, i asked google maps for directions, which suggested cutting through to halls gap from horsham. i rang the visitor centre and asked them the best way to get there, and they recommended going through to stawell and then back to halls gap and in from the east. They said save the other way for sight seeing. Boy am i glad i took their advice. its a bit longer, but the roads are 100km/h and time wise, probably quicker. we travelled the other road through to zumsteins during our stay, and glad we didn't come that way (c222 i think is the road number). its narrow and windy and we were flat out averaging 40.

[sgt_doofey]

Looking at Google Maps, it tells you to not take the C222 road in, but to continue towards Stawell and take Mt Drummond Road in towards Halls Gap. Looks like the C222 takes you over the ranges where you need to go around them to get there quicker.

I'll be buying a regulator before we head off, so hopefully that means our stove won't get blocked jets. Will have to wait and see. It was a cheap $70 stove, so the jury is still out on whether or not it's any good.

[BENT_8]

Thanks for the feedback Rob.
With all these different camping destinations around maybe we should start giving them a star rating from 1 to 5 based on factors such as..

Site conditions (road conditions, site access, ground conditions etc.)
Facilities (toilets, showers, BBQ's nearby shops etc.)
Fees (camp site, park entry etc.)
Activities (bush walking tracks and scenery, on water activities etc.)

And more as people give consideration.

For example, I recently spent a bit of time camping on the shores of Lake Bonney in Barmera.

Site conditions- Bitumen access to all campsites, combination of firm soil and loose sand on setup area's less than 50m from the road. 3 stars

Facilities- no toilets or showers or BBQ's onsite but pubic toilets and free BBQ's on the town foreshore 24/7, $2 showers at the caravan park, campfires allowed, food/fuel/gas within 5km. 3 stars

Fees- free sites around 50% of the lake shore. 4 stars

Activities- Swimming, fishing, boating, sight seeing, wine tasting. 4 stars

Thoughts?

[prydey]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Looking at Google Maps, it tells you to not take the C222 road in, but to continue towards Stawell and take Mt Drummond Road in towards Halls Gap. Looks like the C222 takes you over the ranges where you need to go around them to get there quicker..

i would ignore google maps and continue further toward stawell and take grampians rd (c216). its the most straight forward route to halls gap.

google maps was sending my down the c222 as i was putting the destination as the boreang campground, not halls gap.

whereabouts are you camping?

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

I'll be buying a regulator before we head off, so hopefully that means our stove won't get blocked jets. Will have to wait and see. It was a cheap $70 stove, so the jury is still out on whether or not it's any good.

yeah, you'll be fine. the larger units just allow you to fit bigger pans on, and more than one at the same time. we bought the primus 2 burner in a 3 burner body as it allows us to fit a 30cm pan and 20cm pot side by side, or pan and kettle or whatever.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Thanks for the feedback Rob.
With all these different camping destinations around maybe we should start giving them a star rating from 1 to 5 based on factors such as..

Site conditions (road conditions, site access, ground conditions etc.)
Facilities (toilets, showers, BBQ's nearby shops etc.)
Fees (camp site, park entry etc.)
Activities (bush walking tracks and scenery, on water activities etc.)

And more as people give consideration.

For example, I recently spent a bit of time camping on the shores of Lake Bonney in Barmera.

Site conditions- Bitumen access to all campsites, combination of firm soil and loose sand on setup area's less than 50m from the road. 3 stars

Facilities- no toilets or showers or BBQ's onsite but pubic toilets and free BBQ's on the town foreshore 24/7, $2 showers at the caravan park, campfires allowed, food/fuel/gas within 5km. 3 stars

Fees- free sites around 50% of the lake shore. 4 stars

Activities- Swimming, fishing, boating, sight seeing, wine tasting. 4 stars

Thoughts?

i just use wikicamps and google search to try to get an idea. its hard with rating sites as everyone has a different idea of what is good and what isn't.

speaking of reviews, we were booked in to halls gap lakeside leisure park for xmas. long story short,we had to cancel as my youngest ended up in hospital diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Anyway, every review for that caravan park is glowing with praise and it certainly looks fantastic. given we were in halls gap we decided to go and check it out in person. the staff certainly were very friendly and let us in to just wander around the site and check it out. It certainly is a very good caravan park, but it is also extremely popular with the busy periods selling out up to 12months in advance. looking at the site we were meant to be on, i was actually kind of glad it fell through. i phoned and emailed and was told more than once that the site would be fine for my size tent, but there was no way i would have fitted. that would have put a real downer on it for me. sometimes it doesn't matter how well something is reviewed, if it doesn't suit you, then you won't be happy.

having said that, if you don't mind the crowds, it is a very good park. you pay for the privilege though.

[Sox]

I camp too, but usually bring my smaller home with me.
You can probably guess where I am...





This was near Kings Canyon.





On the way to the Rock.

[sgt_doofey]

We're not going to do anything too exciting. We're going to stay at the Halls Gap caravan park as it's our first camping trip with the boys.
Going to have a mate and his family come across with us and we're going to meet friends from Melbourne there too. We've all got young kids so doing the safe option for now
Will be handy as the shops are across the road so it'll save bundling the family in to the car to go to shops. There are also a few walks that start from there so will be easier for the kids, although I suspect I'll be carrying one or the other on my shoulders most of the way.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[prydey]

If you like kangaroos, quite a few gather every evening on the sports oval and you can pat them.

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by prydey

If you like kangaroos, quite a few gather every evening on the sports oval and you can pat them.

Thanks for that tip! If we don't see any, we'll take the kids there!

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by prydey

i just use wikicamps and google search to try to get an idea. its hard with rating sites as everyone has a different idea of what is good and what isn't.

Yeah, fair call.

Originally Posted by prydey

long story short,we had to cancel as my youngest ended up in hospital diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. .

Sorry to hear that, hope everything is going well now.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Sorry to hear that, hope everything is going well now.

thanks. all good now, or as well as it can be. my eldest (i only have the 2 daughters, 8 and 16) was diagnosed when she was 5, so we've been dealing with type 1 for 11 years. with the aid of modern technology, its very manageable these days.

[prydey]

For anyone interested, we have decided to move on from the tents in to a jayco swan.

This means some of our gear is now for sale, mainly the blackwolf turbo lite twin 300 tent. The tent, when last used, developed a small leak in the floor. It was returned when we got home, and fully replaced under warranty with a brand new 2017 model. This retails at the moment from $1299.00 at its cheapest (snowy's or tentworld).

So, tent is brand new, still in its box, totally unused. it will also come with an awning side panel and 20 foam squares to put on the floor of the tent.

Looking at $1000. It is bulky so shipping it isn't really viable, so local pick up only.

This is about $500 saving over current pricing. If you know anyone looking for one of the best family tents on the market,let them know.

I haven't confirmed it, but apparently the lifetime warranty isn't transferable, but i'm happy to deal with any warranty issues as (or if) they arise.

[Trevor 57]

Just spent the last 4 days in the Wonnangatta vicinity, not far from the Talbotville camping area. Swagging it

[Trevor 57]

A pic of the scenery, my swag is way over the back behind the GU with the roof top tent, I am old and like to sleep - the wood was for one night - LOL. The 2 blokes on the left are my twin sons