Who Sleeps In Their Vehicle?

Here is an article on Wild Dogs in WA.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...on-dogs-the-bush/story-e6frg6z6-1225889672128

gcause said:

While I could sleep in my Troopy, I prefer to sleep out under the stars.

Heres my sleeping arrangements:

A swag with a sleeping bag and pillow, a stretcher bed to get you up off the ground and a heavy duty tarp with some tent poles and guy ropes are all you need for a good nights sleep.

The sleeping bag I have is rated as -20 degrees celsius so most of the time its just extra padding. I put a cotton sheet on the inside of it and use that.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1497/1424957151_img_0647.jpg

I do have a 4 man dome tent but I prefer this tarp setup.

It can be set up in 5-10 minutes and packs up in about the same time.

Heres my kitchen setup:

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1497/1424957863_img_0652.jpg

I got one of those cheap camp tables and cut it in half.

I use the end of one of my sliding drawers with one half of the camp table top on it as my kitchen.

As you can see I have Solar Gutter lights (can get a pair of these for $15 from the Reject shop) up on the roof rack to provide light for the kitchen at night.

Cheers,

Grant

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With you on that one Grant!!



Swag for me in back of ute, adjust camp accordingly and all is good in the world.

That's the way. Perfect home away from home!

Interesting read on the dingoes/wild dogs. I hear them howling every night here in WA but haven't seen any since i crossed the Nullarbor. Was forced to kill one with my prospecting pick in Qld 2 months ago. I noticed the animal limping along the side of the road. I pulled over noting its unusual behaviour and grabbed my pick just in case. It became clear it had been struck by a car and had a broken back leg though on seeing me approach it must have sensed having no escape and charged at me. There was not way I was going to outrun it as I was about 10 meters from the car so I just stood there and hoped I'd be able to fight it off. I had to allow it to within a foot of me due to my short handled pick and like digging a hole thorugh concret I struck down on its noogin with all miy strength. Lucky it dropped like a sack of proverbial and it's suffering was over in an instant. It did leave me thinking I'd be in trouble if I ran into a whole pack of wild dogs while out detecting.

Hi wolfau
Cars and swags are ok, for single nights, or when you are traveling longer distances to different spots (doing reconisence) , no setup or pack down.
but for any longer i opt for the setup below, Two man tent, inflatable double matress and a couple of sleeping bags (just incase it gets cold), all below takes up the same space in the car, as a swag, costs less than a decent swag and like zuke said comfort makes a big difference to how much prospecting you can do.

anyway you do it, just get out there and have fun.
best of luck
Boyd

I've been sleeping in my 4 door wrangler. very comfortable with a single mattress and a stack of room in the cabin. But yeah condensation can be a pain if the temp drops near zero.

I can also lock the doors so the drop bears cant sneak in.

I put some safari racks on and have been thinking to splash out on a rooftop tent for the coming summer. I havent selected a brand or anything. I figure its gotta be comfortable up there off the ground away from the bitey's.

something like this;



and throw in a dune 4wd mat to sleep on.

Anyone have any experience using these rooftop setups?

Tent that I had at Tuena cost me $60.00 at a garage sale.
Takes about 10 minutes to pitch and is very water tight.
It more than proved it's self a few times.
Has no center pole and has two side poles.
Can sleep six if you have to but designed for 4.
.
http://www.camperdeals.com.au/deals/jardine-tourer-canvas-tent/

mmmm - just got back from a 4x4 weekend (3 nights) at Loveday, Barmera. It was -2 deg on Sunday night and am I glad I wasn't sleeping in the car.

BTW the diesel heater worked a treat in the caravan......

So versatile!
the, "ol ute campin thing"



One of my problems is, I don't do enough of it!!! :|

Take the bare minimum, let nature decide the rest

Cheers,
Billy.

My Suzi - as the missus says - the other woman lol

bazza2210 said:

My Suzi - as the missus says - the other woman lol

https://www.prospectingaustralia.co...ges/1112/1437827256_2015-03-19_16.52.27_1.jpg

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Nice baz!
How on earth did you get her there without a rear axle etc??? :lol:
Not commenting on the comment made by your missus tho!!!!!

Back to topic:

This works too sometimes....

Say...thats a nice looking ute there Billy :lol:

Noice chair Billy.

You can consider putting one of those sleeping pods onto your roof rack.
2 of us travelled from Townsville to the tip and back. It was great 3 minutes to set up, set up chairs with a tinny in hand.
Sits above the mossies as well.

MJB said:

Say...thats a nice looking ute there Billy :lol:

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Hmmmm MJB, its funny you should say that!
I hear she's down your part of the world now, with a new name???
Battle wagon rings a bell!
Hopefully she is doing what she loves in the great Aussie bush! :lol:

Jaros said:

Noice chair Billy.

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Why thank you Jaros.
I have 2 of them and yep the blue matches the sky perfectly doesn't it!
Occasionally the oval wins a race too!!!!

Billy said:

MJB said:

Say...thats a nice looking ute there Billy :lol:

Click to expand...

Hmmmm MJB, its funny you should say that!
I hear she's down your part of the world now, with a new name???
Battle wagon rings a bell!
Hopefully she is doing what she loves in the great Aussie bush! :lol:

Click to expand...

She most definitiely loving the bush down this way, in the few months I have had the battle wagon she has been to the Eureka Stockade, traversed some wiley goat tracks to some long lost Victorian gold fields, taken my family on several panning trip to Ararat and carted numerous loads of firewood so we can stay warm in winter.
And the occasional bit of light hearted 4x4'ing just to keep the kids entertained, well thats what I tell the missus anyway :lol:

Note: No 4x4 was harmed in the making of this photo and she was promptly cleaned afterwards

Looking good MJB, that's what she loves!

Took my newish bus down to the diggings on the weekend for a few nights, didn't get her as dirty as that though!!! :lol:









Had a great weekend out in the scrub and tested out a new dry blower that some awesome member made for me.

Unfortunately didn't find any of the yellow stuff but I wasn't really expecting to and had I been digging in the right spots I am 100% confident that the shiny new "air beast" would have retained it for me!

I will start another thread in "prospecting equipment" and show her off.

Cheers,
Billy.

Thats a cracking looking spot you picked to camp at Billy.
Shame about the no colour but that will surely come but I reckon that would have been good enough setting up camp there for a couple days mate.

LOL...'Air Beast'. its definitley a beast mate

What's the doova hanging from the tarp pole.?