Camping has become our new obsession. We just love getting away from the daily grind and taking it easy. Just because we are camping doesn’t mean we have to rough it. We are slowly (or at least impatiently) building up our camping kit – here it is so far.
Getting around is made possible by our 2005 Jeep Wrangler TJ known as Pumba. The Wrangler looks just like Pumba from the Lion King or at least we think he does. On top we have a $147 ridge rider cage from supercheap sitting on rola racks. Pumba has a fibreglass hard top so we are limited to 40kgs on top but enough for table, tent and clothes. In the back we have a cargo net suspended from the roll bars and a custom made shelf to make use of the space under the dogs and waeco.
Refrigeration is made possible by the Waeco CF40. We picked up the Waeco on sale from Anaconda for $450. We were planning to stick with ice and esky for a while but just couldn’t leave that bargain behind.
Power – we have a excide MSDP27D marine battery. No particular reason for the choice other than it is 105AH deep cycle. We haven’t got solar panels yet but they are next on the list and we are still deciding between the blanket and hard panels. To charge the battery from mains power we have the projecta 16A charger which takes us from empty to full overnight. The battery is housed in a projecta battery case with 12v outlet.
Tent: We have two tents. The first one is a Hinterland from BigW. It’s marked as a 10 man tent. So that means it’s just big enough for us and the two dogs. A strange setup with the fly being the main structure with the poles going through channels in the fly. Two rooms are suspended from the fly at either end. There is a third room in the middle. While it’s a little different it is good value at $139 and with some rainy nights it kept us dry. Our second tent is Spinifex Daintree Instant 4 Person Tent from Anaconda. We haven’t tested it out yet but this one is used for overnight camping as it’s much quicker to put up.
Cooking. We use a single burner butane canister stove. It’s basic but does the job.
To keep clean we have a spinifex 12v camp shower and shower tent.
Well that’s the main stuff…. the rest is the normal bits and bobs… but we don’t go far without the Kmart $8 coffee plunger.