Bushwalk Australia

Hi, can anyone help me with a list of the essential things we need to buy in order to camp out in the bush for 2 to 3 nights. My husband and I do a lot of hiking but never hiking that has entailed camping out before. We will be walking into the bush - pretty rough territory, climbing up rocks to a 300m elevation - obviously we will need large packs,a lightweight tent, sleeping bags, and who know what else? Can anyone suggest a list of things we would require and the best/lightweight brands to buy as we have been researching on the internet for days and are absolutely confused!!! Please help?
Thankyou, Jeanie

Hi blue fairywren and welcome,

I think what might help the best is if you can tell us what equipment you have rather than need. You have backpacks I assume from your walking and they might be large enough for you to use given there are two of you and you can share the load etc...... Do you have a tent and sleeping bags?
Try to prepare a list of your gear and its sizing and manufacturer. It's then a matter of how much you want to spend and how much walking your planning on doing, as this will help dictate the quality of gear that may be required.
Be warned though, its expensive to kit out two walkers with really good gear but there are always cheaper options as well and some of it is trial and error, as what suits me might not suit you.

G_U


"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

Good advice from Giddy Up, boy that trial and error comment rings true.

Jeanie, I would start by reading the below thread, there are several lists in there, all a bit different:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=31

If you wanted to go about it a different way, you can break your gear needs into meaningful categories and then mentally walk through the process of what you need to do for each of those categories. I'll illustrate:

1# Sleeping
2# Cooking
3# Walking
4# Hygiene
5# Safety

Then take one of them and imagine yourself doing those things on the trial. So say #2 cooking (probably the hardest to get your head around IMO), decide what you would like to eat and think through the process of preparing the food from start to finish. Say it's pasta, will you need 1 or 2 pots? How will you stir things? How will the strain the water? Will you serve into cups or eat out of the pots? How will you clean up? And so on.

I think if you tackle individual categories it gives some order to those big lists. I find I go through a similar process every time I hike now and that this process has developed into a fairly efficient mental skill for me.

I hope that helps.

Happy trails!

how lightweight do you want to go? and what season and where will you be walking?
thers lightweight
ultra lightweight
and super ultra lightweight..
i wouldnt advocate the bottom two options for anyone that isnt very experienced already in going lightweight
you start sailing close to the wind safety and reliability wise the lighter you go.

Thanks for the advice so far. I didn't go into too much detail to start with but I am a photogragher and will be carrying a considerable amount of photographic equipment in my backpack - I assume I could probably strap a sleeping bag onto this or wear another bag on my front but we will be doing quite a steep climb. The day packs that we normally carry when hiking will not be big enough for a tent and other stuff so I guess thats the first thing to buy? My husband, Ian will wear the big pack - what is a good brand that is comfortable and has lots of room?
In regards to a tent and in response to Wayno - the area is,Kakadu, NT -( in the next 6 weeks or so) but we are planning to climb up into the escarpment. Once we have achieved the elevation we need we will then be hiking in as far as we need to go - we were told from someone else that it is extremely hard going(no tracks - bush bashing) so we thought the lighter we can get our equipment the better.
Black wolf and Oz-trail tents have been suggested to us - any thoughts or better ideas?
Looking forward to hearing from you, Jeanie

depends how harsh the bush is, some bush can rip light gear to pieces... someone who knows what the bush is like in that area should comment on the appropriate gear to take.

Also I believe Kakadu is very different depending on the time of year, the wet and the dry have different needs. But shade and insect protection will be needed at either time.
A lightweight tarp or two should help with the shade aspect. I suspect that hammocks may be a second viable alternative if the ground is wet. At least the sleeping bags will be cheap enough as a winter bag won't be needed, indeed a backpacker quilt would be a viable option
http://www.golite.com/Unisex-Z30-Quilt-Long-P46994.aspx
and that may well be too warm

1. The first thing you need is a map and compass and dry storage bag to keep it in. I'm not sure how far of the beaten track you intend to go but you will need to know how to get there and back again safely. (Itinerary and stick to it, unless you have capacity to let people know your changes).
2. Personal Locator Beacon(PLB) would be a must, you can hire these and a google search will reveal those stores that hire.
3. First aid kit, a must have item and there may be a few items that you can add to this to make it more serviceable for the area you will be walking.
4. A very important factor will be water and how you carry it. It is the dry season now and they had very little wet season last year so high on an escarpment could be very dry with little or no access to water. This single factor alone will dictate how long you go for. Local knowledge of where your going would be invaluable in this case and something you should investigate. If there is no water, your pack just got very heavy.
5. Backpack with a good harness that suits you. Off the shelf will be fine but you will need to get it fitted to make sure your comfortable. I am thinking no less than 65l, but I don't carry camera gear and the space needed.
6. Tents and sleeping bags abound and I think a 3 season tent and reasonable bag will suffice( see the aldi sleeping bag thread). Tarps would be very useful, providing good shade and protection in most weather.

That's a start, and these are the basic things you will need. Accumulate these and then turn your attention to food, cooking, clothing etc.

Cheers
G_U

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"

If you're looking at packs for photographic equipment, I would recommend trying one of the Aarn packs with the photo balance pockets on them. They look pretty spiffy when it comes to carrying multiple lenses etc...

The best thing I learnt when I joined was the equipment Triangle.

COST

Quality Light Weight

Pick two.

I'd start you list here viewtopic.php?f=15&t=31

Figure out what you need from there and heaps of advice shall come forth.

Also ensure absolutely everything fits inside your pack and is appropriately waterproofed, not hanging off the outside. You mentioned earlier about possibly doing this with a sleeping bag - you would be in BIG trouble if that bag got wet.

blue fairywren wrote:Hi, can anyone help me with a list of the essential things we need to buy in order to camp out in the bush for 2 to 3 nights. My husband and I do a lot of hiking but never hiking that has entailed camping out before. We will be walking into the bush - pretty rough territory, climbing up rocks to a 300m elevation - obviously we will need large packs,a lightweight tent, sleeping bags, and who know what else? Can anyone suggest a list of things we would require and the best/lightweight brands to buy as we have been researching on the internet for days and are absolutely confused!!! Please help?
Thankyou, Jeanie

Hi, BFW.

You won't need too much in the way of expensive gear if you're planning on spending only two to three nights out bush. If you have aspirations of regular time under the stars, or of longer periods away, then you might want to give some throught to investing in equipment of reasonable quality, otherwise there are some bargains to be found if you look carefully.

Location and season aside, you could probably get by with some of your current and comfortable clothes, but it would be prudent to spend time choosing decent footwear: non-leather hiking shoes or low-cut boots would be appropriate. There are perfectly functional, inexpensive rain jackets to be had, and a decent hat doesn't cost very much. With judicous haggling a functional 45-60l pack can be secured for about $150.

It's likely the most expensive items will be your tent and sleeping bag. Snogum does some decent tents, fairly cheaply. A reasonable synthetic sleeping bag would be about $150, and a CCF sleeping pad is about $30. An alternative to the above would be to see if there's a local hiking club in your area, they sometimes loan or hire gear to let people try-before-they-buy. Then there's the second-hand option (Trading Post, newspaper classifieds, E-bay, etc).

Go slow, and build up your gear as, and when both the need and finances allow.

All the best.

My local walking club has gear that people can hire.. If its a once off.. Maybe that is not a bad way to get a mid range tent or pack to use? Also can I suggest at least one overnight before you go? It's a huge jump from day walking to overnighting, and you will learn heaps from your first trip.

Edited to add. I have enjoyed this pack, but I paid a lot more for it! http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Osprey-aura- ... 4fe&_uhb=1

Don't forget you're bushwalking in the tropics, physically climbing up, down & around the escarpment
( I'm guessing the mary river, koolpin gorge area) so dehydration & heat exhaustion will be a issue that you will have to keep an eye on.
Don't forget a wide brimmed hat & keep your fluid intake up.
With day temps of 34c (low humidity) & nights around 20c only a very lightweight bedding will be required.
You could go fairly light.....just a tarp, bugnet & pads.....providing shade during the day & good ventilation at night...
but that's your choice, whatever your comfortable with.
Should be no crocs to worry about up there...thats always a bonus.

Its a very special area that will leave a lasting impression on you. Enjoy your adventure.
Don't forget to share a couple of pics when you return.

I was in Kakadu about a month ago, for a one week trip from Koolpin through to Twin Falls. It was an amazing experience and my first experience on a walking trip more than one night long! (I was on a guided trip through Willis' Walkabouts.)

The weather was hot and dry, cool overnight but not that cool. Water was relatively easy to get, as we followed creek systems most of the way. It could be harder to get water now as the dry season has progressed along. You have to drink a lot in those temperatures, all day long...drink drink drink. The camping was really ideal, with warm temperatures, low wind, water easily accessible, and not much in the way of bugs.

I can give you a bit of an idea of what I took and what I'd change about it in hindsight.
- I wore a long sleeve collared shirt, wide brim hat, shorts, gaiters, and low cut hiking shoes. I wouldn't change any of this.
- I took a tent (MSR Hubba) with a fly. I would have been fine with the bugnet only, there is a very very low change of any rain at this time of year. But I guess it can happen. In fact the bugs weren't even that bad, and someone else slept under the stars with no bugnet and was fine. Maybe you could just sleep under the stars and bring along a tarp in case it does rain! That's probably what I would do in hindsight for a really really lightweight solution.
- I took a warm quilt rated at about -5C, it was not needed. In hindsight a summer-weight sleeping bag or quilt would be fine and preferable so that you don't wake up sweating.
- I took a thermarest prolite for a mat, but you could be fine with sleeping on a foam pad if you're camping on sandy beaches.
- I took a lightweight fleece to wear over my shirt at night if it got cold - I wore it once.
- I did not take a rain jacket. There was such a low chance of rain and even if we did happen to get wet, we would dry very quickly from the heat anyway.
- Our tour guide had an extensive first aid kit and PLB, its very remote out there and so I think this is a necessity.

As far as walking trips go I think this is a good one if you are new to all the gear - you don't need much warm clothing because the temperature is so high and there is such a small chance of rain. Good luck!