Curious - My post has disappeared 
so here it is again:
Hello Everyone!
Time for a re-introduction! I signed up to the forum last summer, posted a tiny bit, then disappeared into the digital ether whilst I travelled to Australia to visit my parents over winter. I spent a month on the road living out of a 4x4 with my wife; first heading inland then back down the East Coast. Camping included Frasier Island (look it up!), various campsites and reserves. Unfortunately we were very unlucky with the weather in the latter part of the trip and had to leave Frasier ahead of schedule due to tail end of a cyclone which chased us south for a about 4 days.. in the end I knocked out 900km of driving in one day to put us ahead of it as it kept catching us up every night whilst we slept in our tent.
Fraser Island Roads
Lucky none were sighted!
Our Pitch
Morning visitor - Came everyday looking for scraps!
Cyclone Moving In!
I have been lurking back in the Forum for the past few weeks, and have been having a good read of the forum now that the weather is improving and my outdoor pursuit desires are increasing again!
About me:
I’ve been fishing and camping for about 18 years (since mid-teens) mostly teaching myself and buying equipment; I’m guilty of being a bit of a kit collector. I am also into sailing in a big way... My job involves yachts/waterways/oceans so boats play a big part in my life.
My first taste of 'proper' camping (away from an commercial campsite) was when I lived in Australia for 2 years living in rural northern Victoria. I was fortunate enough to befriend a farmer that owned about 6000 acres of land with 9 miles of woods/bushland which bordered the River Murray. Access was by a 'Ute' or 4x4 for a stay of usually a week at a time only in exchange for a bottle of whiskey, keeping the area tidy and as a deterrent to poachers/intruders. A ‘base camp’ evolved over time and included: a 'long drop' thunder box, woodland timbers hand-cut to make: benches, tables, cooking area etc. We made a firepit from an old tractor wheel rim. We fished, watched wildlife, cooked on the camp-fire; usually canned food we brought with us, or fish we caught - crayfish/shrimp, Murray Cod, Yellowbelly, and slept in swags or under tarps with mozzie nets (Ikea net curtains!, we washed in the river (the freshwater shrimp loved the soap too!).... it was magnificent.
Our Main Plot
Basic Shower Area - We used Solar Bags to heat river water
Swags Aplenty
Supervisor!
Thunder Box
I came back to the UK in 2009 to buy a boat to sail back to Australia, but (ultimate cliché) met a girl who last year become my wife. I have tried camping with her in a few different places - one was in the corner of a farmer’s field in the Yorkshire Moors who gladly accepted a few pounds for the weekend - it rained and without a shower and toilet for her she hated it. We followed the next year by going to a holiday-camp which I hated - noise, lots of people, expensive beer! Last year we found a little site in Sussex which had a small empty tent field bordering woodland that had a small fishing lake (I was the only one to ask to use it in months). Our tent/camping package has been upgraded to include a porta-porti; so we have found our camping compromise…. But I still prefer a Swag.
I am really missing the off-grid outback/bush camping I had when living in Australia though... sleeping under the stars with just a: swag, tarp, camp-fire, a book, and some bushcraft and self-reliance to keep me occupied.
I am looking to build on my own skills, experience and knowledge with the help of this forum, a few books…. Starting again right from the basics such as learning to sharpen my knife/axe (properly), making tent pegs, setting up a tarp properly, though to some more advanced things I’d like to learn. I quite fancy the Daniel Boone challenge and have most of the kit already so currently trying to rope some of my friends into a summer excursion.
I am looking to make local like-minded friends too for conversation and banter; I left a lot of my friends behind when I moved back to the UK and the ones I have here are quite spread apart.
So to summarise from my epic introduction:
Like Camping / Sailing / Boats, Lived in the UK, Moved to Australia then back to the UK again. Looking to increase / learn new skills, make some like-minded friends! From reading the forum it looks like I’m in the right place!
so here it is again:Hello Everyone!
Time for a re-introduction! I signed up to the forum last summer, posted a tiny bit, then disappeared into the digital ether whilst I travelled to Australia to visit my parents over winter. I spent a month on the road living out of a 4x4 with my wife; first heading inland then back down the East Coast. Camping included Frasier Island (look it up!), various campsites and reserves. Unfortunately we were very unlucky with the weather in the latter part of the trip and had to leave Frasier ahead of schedule due to tail end of a cyclone which chased us south for a about 4 days.. in the end I knocked out 900km of driving in one day to put us ahead of it as it kept catching us up every night whilst we slept in our tent.
Fraser Island Roads
Lucky none were sighted!
Our Pitch
Morning visitor - Came everyday looking for scraps!
Cyclone Moving In!
I have been lurking back in the Forum for the past few weeks, and have been having a good read of the forum now that the weather is improving and my outdoor pursuit desires are increasing again!
About me:
I’ve been fishing and camping for about 18 years (since mid-teens) mostly teaching myself and buying equipment; I’m guilty of being a bit of a kit collector. I am also into sailing in a big way... My job involves yachts/waterways/oceans so boats play a big part in my life.
My first taste of 'proper' camping (away from an commercial campsite) was when I lived in Australia for 2 years living in rural northern Victoria. I was fortunate enough to befriend a farmer that owned about 6000 acres of land with 9 miles of woods/bushland which bordered the River Murray. Access was by a 'Ute' or 4x4 for a stay of usually a week at a time only in exchange for a bottle of whiskey, keeping the area tidy and as a deterrent to poachers/intruders. A ‘base camp’ evolved over time and included: a 'long drop' thunder box, woodland timbers hand-cut to make: benches, tables, cooking area etc. We made a firepit from an old tractor wheel rim. We fished, watched wildlife, cooked on the camp-fire; usually canned food we brought with us, or fish we caught - crayfish/shrimp, Murray Cod, Yellowbelly, and slept in swags or under tarps with mozzie nets (Ikea net curtains!, we washed in the river (the freshwater shrimp loved the soap too!).... it was magnificent.
Our Main Plot
Basic Shower Area - We used Solar Bags to heat river water
Swags Aplenty
Supervisor!
Thunder Box
I came back to the UK in 2009 to buy a boat to sail back to Australia, but (ultimate cliché) met a girl who last year become my wife. I have tried camping with her in a few different places - one was in the corner of a farmer’s field in the Yorkshire Moors who gladly accepted a few pounds for the weekend - it rained and without a shower and toilet for her she hated it. We followed the next year by going to a holiday-camp which I hated - noise, lots of people, expensive beer! Last year we found a little site in Sussex which had a small empty tent field bordering woodland that had a small fishing lake (I was the only one to ask to use it in months). Our tent/camping package has been upgraded to include a porta-porti; so we have found our camping compromise…. But I still prefer a Swag.
I am really missing the off-grid outback/bush camping I had when living in Australia though... sleeping under the stars with just a: swag, tarp, camp-fire, a book, and some bushcraft and self-reliance to keep me occupied.
I am looking to build on my own skills, experience and knowledge with the help of this forum, a few books…. Starting again right from the basics such as learning to sharpen my knife/axe (properly), making tent pegs, setting up a tarp properly, though to some more advanced things I’d like to learn. I quite fancy the Daniel Boone challenge and have most of the kit already so currently trying to rope some of my friends into a summer excursion.
I am looking to make local like-minded friends too for conversation and banter; I left a lot of my friends behind when I moved back to the UK and the ones I have here are quite spread apart.
So to summarise from my epic introduction:
Like Camping / Sailing / Boats, Lived in the UK, Moved to Australia then back to the UK again. Looking to increase / learn new skills, make some like-minded friends! From reading the forum it looks like I’m in the right place!
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