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Tent recommendations and general camping advice


Silver Girl

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Silver Girl

I haven’t been camping in many years but the kids (we have 2) are keen to go. We’ve booked a powered site at a camping ground.


Which tent would you recommend? I don’t want to invest too much but am happy to pay a bit for a tent that’s not too hard to put up/take down.


Any other camping tips, dos and don’ts, what to take?


TIA

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  • Basil

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  • amdirel

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  • lozoodle

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  • Zogee

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I like the air pole tents. Just roll out the tent, peg it down, inflate the poles using the hand pump or tyre pump and you’re done.


Pack up is simply opening the valve, get a kid to roll around and push out the air, unpeg, fold up and shove back in the bag.


By far the quickest set up/pack up solution. Not as solid as a canvas tent but if you’re not doing anything that requires that level of durability, the air tent is the way to go.


Editing to add, we only sleep and dress in our tent so size isn’t an issue. We take a big pavilion gazebo with side walls that can be easily added. If it rains, we hang out in the pavilion rather than the tent.

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We've been really happy with our Coleman tents.

The proper (not instant up) one we used during really strong winds that flattened every other tent around us and we barely felt it move.

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Other camping advice - I pre-prep meals so cooking is really easy. Even casseroles I will pre cook at home and just finish off over the camp fire so it still gets that Smokey flavour without all the palaver. I measure out damper, dumpling and cake mixes in ziplock bags so I just need to add the liquid component at the campsite. Saves packing unnecessary extra stuff as well.


I love my instant hot water system for a hot shower before bed too. Makes dishwashing easier too.


I also travel with my Jetboil for tea and coffee. It boils water in no time so I can have a cuppa when out on a day trip or when we first arrive and we haven’t unpacked the kitchen yet.


With all the physical activity during camping, we tend to eat more than when at home. I take some instant noodles for the kids as snacks (Jetboil is handy for this too) to prevent those hangry moments.


I also freeze water in bottles to keep the esky cold. Larger blocks don’t melt as quickly as bags of ice and if you can organise the esky into the days you’ll need the food, they can be surprisingly effective. We drink the water as it defrosts and it can feel decadent to have icy cold water when camping.

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Kiwi Bicycle

Alternative to buying a tent ( especially if you not sure) and if you have a towbar, would to hire a popup camper trailer in which the tent expands out of a trailer base. A bit more comfy too as some fit better mattresses, but you still get that under the canvas tent feeling.

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Spidey_Senses

If the kids are young, think about how you will safely contain them while putting up and putting down the tent


Dont forget mozzie repellant and sunscreen. Lots of torches or light sources.

An activity if the weather is bad (eg card games or colouring in)

Make sure everyone has thongs for the shower

Particularly with small kids take warm clothes for night time, quite often the temperature will be warm and sunny in the day but quite cold at night. Well, in regional SA anyway.

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We bought a spinifex 9 person tent which is still going strong. There’s a sale on at anaconda at the moment. Try to borrow a good camping mattress for yourselves, the kids aren’t so fussy but a nice comfy bed is super important! Definitely get some chairs and take some spare blankets for sitting around in the morning/evening when it gets chilly.

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I emergency bought the k mart six person instant up tent when the tent I borrowed off a friend broke (that she paid $1500 for mind you!). It was fine, stood up to reallllly strong winds and some rain. I wouldn't use it I stormy pouring rain but for nice weather it was perfect. I ended up getting a second one and used it just a few weeks ago when we went away with 3 other families. DP and I in one, and the three kids (plus two or three of their friends) crammed into the other all fine.


I would like to get a "better" one if we were to do a longer trip, but for a quick trip this was perfect and easy to assemble at $110 per tent. I loved having a separate space from the kids.... I had a no sand no bug no mess tent and they had their feral cesspool of kid stuff :D

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I emergency bought the k mart six person instant up tent when the tent I borrowed off a friend broke (that she paid $1500 for mind you!). It was fine, stood up to reallllly strong winds and some rain. I wouldn't use it I stormy pouring rain but for nice weather it was perfect. I ended up getting a second one and used it just a few weeks ago when we went away with 3 other families. DP and I in one, and the three kids (plus two or three of their friends) crammed into the other all fine.


I would like to get a "better" one if we were to do a longer trip, but for a quick trip this was perfect and easy to assemble at $110 per tent. I loved having a separate space from the kids.... I had a no sand no bug no mess tent and they had their feral cesspool of kid stuff :D

 

Do you know what... I think kmart stuff is generally disposable crap .... but 10 years ago when I decided to try camping for the first time, I got a kmart 9 person tent, I think it was like $150-200. I didn't want to buy anything expensive in case we didn't like camping. Turns out we love camping! It's been used several times a year for 10 years, was perfect through torrential rain, strong winds, week long trips, 3 kids. A couple of trips ago it started having a few leaks, and last time a zipper broke, so I think it's going to officially retire now. But 10 years! I'm so impressed.

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I agree with [mention]lozoodle[/mention] about having a separate tent for the kids. I have teens and an older primary aged child so rather than having one expensive, massive tent, we use 3 separate smaller tents. The teens like to share a tent with their friends or just have a private space. I like having a nice clean tent too.


I agree with [mention]Zogee[/mention] too re the throw blankets. I have woollen ones because we always have a campfire. Synthetic ones are more of a risk of the blanket catches fire, it might melt onto skin. I hang a pop up mesh basket on one of the poles of the pavilion to store the blankets of the ground when not in use. It just helps to keep bugs off them and keep them dry incase of unexpected rain or morning dew.


I like to ‘glamp’ so sleep on these mats with 1000 thread count sheets 😆 If we have enough space, I also use an underlay. This gives us a really comfortable night’s sleep. For DH and I, I use 2 double sized mats and we are as comfortable as we are at home in our innerspring king size bed.


https://www.anacondastores.com/camping-hiking/sleeping/4wd-mats/dune-4wd-supreme-3d-mat/90112251?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAiAhbeCBhBcEiwAkv2cYyzYwAzhtCYsgvIKxjaiXTgRpJs6ZiSmzAnsC_UnFJsPSqfNSO0qMRoCnaYQAvD_BwE


The kid’s have a mix of bedding options depending on their personal choice.

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Great recommendation above re the mats, that's been our trickiest thing so far, finding a suitable bed surface.


When we started our camping adventures 10 years ago we bought a bright blue tent from BigW for about $120. We were so embarrassed when we realised that everyone else has neutral/ khaki toned tents, but at least it was easy to find in busy campsites. We camped in all sorts of wild weather and it stood up really well. My advice is to get heavy duty tent pegs and a good mallet for banging them in.


Now that we've got kids we need something bigger, but I'm liking the idea of a separate tent when they're older!

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So I have been eying off some tents at Big W.


Depending on your kids ages either a 6 person

https://www.bigw.com.au/product/hinterland-6-person-instant-tent/p/875680/


Or older kids a 2 or 3 room tent.

https://www.bigw.com.au/product/hinterland-10-person-instant-tent/p/873568/



Bedding - for the kids cheap air mattresses are fine.


But if you have the room to store a 4wd sleep mat is worth the cost. And is great for a guest bed.

https://www.bcf.com.au/p/wanderer-tourer-extreme-4x4-mat-queen/521030.html



Pinterest has heaps of lists/ideas.

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