Suggestions what to take camping for 1st timers going to Cape York

Hi Robin,

You ask "Maybe some of you experienced [female] campers know of some special things that may be particularly useful". Here are my thoughts.

First up a sense of humor, and curiosity for all the sights that you will see. And lots of flexibility about schedules and getting to places "on time". Take a camera and diary to record your adventures - dont rely on memory. Understand the route that you are taking so that you can track your progress on a map or GPS.

And take a good lot of determination to share the driving, and the fun, including some of the tricky bits. If you haven't much experience 4WDing try to do some training before you go, and then follow it up with practice behind the wheel. And do try to get involved in vehicle preparation too, especially knowing where all your gear is to be stowed. But there is no harm in knowing a bit about tyre pressures, oil and water either. Two sets of eyes are better than one when doing regular inspections around your vehicle every time you stop.

I'd guess that's probably not the advice that you expected to get but if you and your partner are going on a trip it adds greatly to the experience if it is shared in as many ways as you can find, including setting up and packing up your camp, lighting the campfire etc.

Take as little "stuff" as you can manage. Clothes that can handle getting dusty, sensible footwear, swimmers. Heaps of insect repellant. 12volt shower and somewhere to use it eg shower tent or a tarp rigged off the side of your vehicle. Lots of plastic bags to hold rubbish (and that includes toilet paper) until it can be disposed of properly. Plenty of moisturiser and sunscreen. Just enough cooking gear to prepare the food that you like to eat. Share the washing up.

And finally, have a wonderful trip.

Cheers,

Val.

We did this trip as a part of a tag-along tour in 2006. We had an OZtent and found that without having the fly over the OZtent there was an annoying amount of condensation in the tent each morning. Fortunately we had the fly with us and once we took the trouble to use it, with the extra poles etc, we could leave the back window open and minimise the condensation.

Make sure that you have a ground sheet to go under the tent also.

There are green ants up there and you will probably need to sprinkle talcum powder around the edge of your tent and pegs to prevent them from annoying the hell out of you.

We will be up there at about the same time.

Best of luck

Insect repellant- 50/50 baby oil and dettol, the only thing that worked for us.

Great replies from other members. Take a good first aid kit, plenty of insect repellent, a shallow plastic dish for an "APC" wash if you're too tired to rig up a shower. I always take imodium (anti-diarrhea), Ural, some antibiotics against UTIs, in fact anything you might need to treat any minor to medium medical problems that you might be prone to. Some girls swear by shewees but I'm buggered if I can use one :-) CHAPSTICK - don't forget that. You'll be outdoors a lot more than usual and lips will dry out. I always find a couple of cotton bandanas handy. You might not have the opportunity to wash your hair as often as usual and to be honest, sometimes you just can't be bothered (feral alert!) so a bandana can really save the day. I've never been a fan of wipes. It's amazing how clean you can get with a bucket of water and the aforesaid plastic dish if you don't use excessive amounts of soap and shampoo/conditioner which we tend to do in town. A small shaving mirror is a godsend. Otherwise you are relegated to using a compact mirror (too small) or annoying your husband by rearranging the rear view/side mirrors of the car.
Above all have fun!

Robin,

Re the plastic bags for the portable toilet.

Not sure what kind of toilet you have but I got some of these, there are various sizes and not too expensive. They are certified biodegradable.

Biodegradable plastic bags

Also medium to good head torches for everyone are a must. Forget torches, gas lights etc etc. Annaconda regularly seem to have a sale of them with 50 - 70% off and you can get some good ones for $20 - $50. IMO the ones with a single bright LED and a RED non flashing LED are the best. Red works well around the camp fire to see without blinding everyone.

Other things I like are a few good books, a radio that receives ABC Short wave Like a Tecsun PL600 or PL 660 or a Sony
ABC short wave frequencies

On the food front ( Yeah I know you didn't ask about that) go and buy some Dried mash Potato, Dried peas and .....the dreaded Spam and cook it one night for dinner, well before you go for the guys. You might be "surprised". They are great back up products that don't need refrigeration.
Also if you have a camp oven consider making bread. Another thing to test before you go. You can get bread improver and yeast at the supermarket these days. And go for Pasta Dura bread flour if you can get it. It makes a great loaf without the need for a tin.

I took 4 kids on my own to Cape York and did the OTL so we mostly bush camped. All I took with me to cook in was a Chefs Toolbox Saute Pan and every single meal we ate came out of that including roasts, risottos, paellas, birianis, roasts and boring stuff like frying eggs, bacon etc. It was so damn good that when I came home I decided to start selling them. You can check them out on my website www.chefstoolbox.com/my/frances. I have done other major camping trips since and still only take the saute pan with me.