Brace yourselves......winter is coming.

Well I started with a sleeping bag and a tarp and a billy,( young and silly ) then progressed to a 3 man tent with a fly and a -10 sleeping bag ( a bit older then ) Woke up 1 day at "The Blue Duck " and I thought that I had wet myself during the night, the sleeping bag was sopping wet, turned out the temp got down to -6 at 10pm and the moisture in my breathe condensed over the top of the sleeping bag ( I've crossed that off of my things to do again ) So now I have a nice little 16 foot fully insulated caravan with a diesel heater in it, now that thing is magic , running on low setting it uses about .25 of a litre an hour and you're sitting inside toasty warm in a t shirt , oh yes, you do get smarter as you get older ( sometimes)

xcvator said:

Well I started with a sleeping bag and a tarp and a billy,( young and silly ) then progressed to a 3 man tent with a fly and a -10 sleeping bag ( a bit older then ) Woke up 1 day at "The Blue Duck " and I thought that I had pissed myself during the night, the sleeping bag was sopping wet, turned out the temp got down to -6 at 10pm and the moisture in my breathe condensed over the top of the sleeping bag ( I've crossed that off of my things to do again ) So now I have a nice little 16 foot fully insulated caravan with a diesel heater in it, now that thing is magic , running on low setting it uses about .25 of a litre an hour and you're sitting inside toasty warm in a t shirt , oh yes, you do get smarter as you get older ( sometimes)

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Struth mate your lucky your not over here, my bags are rated to -50*c. and I got some fleece liners made just to have a bit in reserve,

John.

It's supposed to be the middle of summer...
Two days ago I was in the Pilbara it was 47...
I am now in Kambalda it is 16.4 .....
I only have shorts and "T" shirts might have to go buy a coat ....bugger....

Cheers Nanjim
Jim

I know that feeling, going from hot to cold.
I must admit, I like going to cooler climates, its nice to be able to pull on a pair of jeans and sit by a camp fire on a cold night.
As far as camping in the cool, Ive got a reasonable sleeping bag, I think its rated to +5, and I also have a light weight one, that I put inside the +5 if its really cold, and so far, I ve been warm in it. (both inside a swag) Ive woken with frost settled ontop of my swag, and still been warm inside.

It was -5*c here the other morning and it did hit -12*c over Christmas 30 miles from here, And now they are talking about Snow showers in the next 24 hours.

I can Take It.

john.

A mate and I used to go camping up the Carrai Plateau at Kookaburra and Daisy Plains to hunt for gold and gems, we loved going in the winter as it was our only chance to see snow. We would just make a campfire and hope the radiant heat would keep us warm enough, canvas tent so that helped. We would toss a 2l bottle of milk for coffee in the morning on a rope and put it in the water tank at Daisy which most of the time in the dead of winter had a crust of ice on top.
There was a chip eater shower at Daisy, never been so happy to have some hot water.

One time a friend came and slept by himself in one of those low profile tents, even lower than most swags. We told him to put his tent near us under a big pine tree that helped keep the dew off like a big umbrella but he insisted on pitching it out in the open. We went to sleep and woke to discover it had snowed most of the night and his tent was covered in powder snow, he poked his head out and was cocooned in a mummy sleeping bag, I think it was rated around -5C/-10C said he didn't even notice the cold but his face told us otherwise as it was almost blue

I think the coldest I have ever felt was in Mangoplah in July, wen't to a friends 21st and when it came to grabbing some sleep I discovered someone had pinched my roll up mattress, sleeping bag and spare doona. I ended up sleeping in the hallway of the old homestead that was missing glass in the windows while at least 30 others were crammed like sardines in the old lounge room in front of the fire place. I rolled myself up in my drizabone thinking I would be ok, woke around 5am chilled to the bone turned out it had dropped to -8C overnight.

Certainly not the coldest temp I have been in though, I lived in Canada for a while right in the snow belt of Ontario, I can still remember being in -48C. After being there a while though I couldn't tell the difference after it dropped below -20C or so, just knew to not be out in it for long when it got that cold. I was even lucky enough to do some prospecting/small scale mining in the Yukon thanks to a friend that owns some land and claims up there.

If your mate had snow on his tent that would of insulated him a fair bit and his bag sent all the heat inwards which is why the snow never melted on his tent,

I don't take chances in the cold, my Parka is tested to -70*c and my Boots are rated to -100*c, I have had frost bite and it hurts like the worst Tooth ache and burns at the same time so I bought the best cold whether Gear that money can buy. Having been that cold is why all my gear is a bit over the top.

John.

Looking forward to winter, best for detecting imo... Good for going deeper into the scrub.

I didn't realise it was frosty till I got up..