Camping at Noosa River Caravan Park

We have just come home from a magnificent weekend camping at the Noosa River Caravan Park. This is a top spot to camp for a few days or a week. We were lucky enough to get one of the waterfront camp sites. It was pretty special waking up only about 10 metres from the water and hearing it lapping the shore in the morning. I thought it was a little ironic the people with $200,000+ caravansmore »

OZtrail folding chair vs bargain store junk – and the junk wins!

I tend to view OZtrail camping gear as mid-range. It is reasonably priced for okay quality: sometimes quality can be excellent, such as my experience with the OZtrail UltraRig poly tarps; other times quality can be bad, such as my experience with the OZtrail Junior Deluxe folding chair. We bought the Oztrail Junior Deluxe folding chair maybe two years ago (I can’t put an exact date on it). The chair has been taken to a couple of partiesmore »

Traditional swag review and purchase of Burke and Wills Ironbark swag

Burke & Wills Ironbark swag

After using a traditional swag and enjoying how comfortable it was, I decided to purchase a Burke & Wills Ironbark swag to add to my camping kit. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, I think that a swag is a more practical solution to self-inflating air mattresses (the big ones can be time consuming to roll up and are still bulky) and sleeping bag (sleeping bags are not easily washable; amore »

Snake in the grass

The unseasonal hot weather in Queensland this winter has brought the snakes out early — this photo was taken on 4 August! We spotted this carpet python in the grass near some children’s play equipment at our local park in Brisbane. By my guess the carpet snake was around 2 metres long. The snake was a little slow as it was not really warm enough for it to have come out of hybernation.more »

Make a protest vote, but make your vote count too

Like many people, I am already fed up with the Federal election. The two major parties seem to run negative campaigns against each other, but then promise to outspend each other to buy our votes. I am fed up with it, and I suspect many other people are too. While some people simply will not vote, other people still want to take up their democratic right to vote. Many people also believe that votingmore »

How to make a traditional swag using simple materials

Making your own traditional swag or bedroll in the style of an original Australian swagman is easy using just a sheet of canvas, mattress, blanket, pillow and rope. Today we do not have to carry a swag long distances on our back so we can add in a few extra creature comforts, but why spend $400 or more on a top-of-the-line mass-produced swag when with a little ingenuity you can be sleeping just asmore »

Darche tent and shelter set-up

I have worked out a set-up for my Darche camp shelter. I have set up my canvas touring tent standard, but without the awning poled out. On the Darche camp shelter, I have used two double guy ropes with springs from my camping kit on the pole ends of the camp shelter. I have also run a 4 mm rope as the ridge of the shelter. The poles and ridge rope will stand onmore »