I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you walkin' on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
- Glenn Campbell -
I was thinking about running today...I mean running away, not jogging. To clarify, I was thinking about the wilderness, far away places, and the peace and quiet, the solitude I find there, and through getting away.
I mentioned it on an email to someone, that one of the most prevalent thoughts in my mind is of the wilderness, or wandering and roaming free and unfettered. I mentioned a song I love and, more specifically, the accompanying video that always makes me want to run when I see it. You can watch and hear, Gentle on my mind, by following the link to YouTube. Warning: It may make you want to head to the mountains.
Of course, walking off with a backpack and leaving everything behind isn't all that easy in reality, even if I was able to just turn and walk away a certain amount of practicality is required. So with this in mind, I do the next best thing by hiking a lot and camping when possible.
Australia is blessed with some of the most beautiful locations and it's those with four wheel drive vehicles and who know how, and want, to camp that see the best parts; I am one such person.
What's really cool is there's so many free-camp areas where a person can simply pull up and stay. Sure, some care needs to be taken, but generally they are safe and enjoyable locations to camp. One needs to be self-sufficient though, there's no shops, Uber deliveries, running water, and often no phone service out there...just the planet we stand on, the air we breathe and a million stars overhead at night.
Everyone's idea of self-sufficiency is different I guess. I've done the wilderness and backpack thing at times, and have hunted for food, built my own shelter and generally lived off the land; it's not very comfortable though. I have camped in just about every way though, from lean-to shelters, to a swag, tent and my off-road camper trailer which is pretty much camping in luxury. Most has been done a long way from other people, although some has been in established camp sites like National Parks and the like. I prefer being away from others though, so I focus on that.
My thoughts today drifted towards free camping in far away places and the equipment and items required to do so, and I thought I'd mention a few here.
Keeping in mind here folks, I'm not really talking about wandering off with a back pack, knife and pair of boots, I'm talking about some of the equipment I have on my off-road camper trailer, a rather comprehensive camping rig, or my vehicle so if you happen to read this and say, why do you need an inverter...well, because I have the ability to do so and it makes life, and free-camping, far more enjoyable.
So, here's a few items that can make free-camping a little more enjoyable, sustainable and comfortable - it's certainly not meant to be a definitive list as there's so much more a person needs, or could use.
I have a battery system on board my camper trailer and an auxiliary battery system on all my four wheel drives. They exist to power my fridge/freezers. I rarely use both vehicle and trailer fridges though, unless on a very long trip. They systems also power my laptop, LED lights, Bluetooth speakers, camping fan, mobile phones, camera batteries and so on.
I use AGM batteries which are heavy (older technology) but these days some are moving to the lighter-weight lithium version although they are bloody expensive and not readily available in remote places and small towns so failures can mean one has to go without power. That's the main reason I haven't switched yet.
This is the onboard fridge/freezer with a 60L capacity on my vehicle. The battery system powers this whilst the vehicle is running and while stopped also. This image shows it on my Ford Ranger.
Top left is the battery system on my camper: DCDC charger on left, inverter on the right and batteries below. and pure-sine wave inverter on my camper. Also, the fridge/freezer with a 80L capacity on my camper trailer. The battery system powers this whilst the vehicle is running and while stopped also. I can input solar power also as you will see later.
To effectively charge batteries on my vehicle I use a REDARC DCDC charger which takes the power created by the alternator and pushes it into the auxiliary battery, when the engine is running. With smart alternators in most vehicles that turn off or reduce output in set conditions, the DCDC charger keeps the batteries topped up by boosting the charge to full capacity - This is not the technical terminology of course. I have one of these DCDC chargers on my vehicles and the trailer also.
Power comes out of the alternator to the DCDC charger and into the auxiliary deep-cycle battery under the hood. Cabling also takes power to the back of the car transferring it by Anderson Plug to the trailer's DCDC charger which feeds the battery system on the trailer. You can see it pictured above.
When at camp I feed power in by solar panel which I can plug directly into the trailer system and the DCDC charger on the vehicle. I get about five to six days out of the batteries when camped and not moving, and with the solar input I have virtually unlimited power.
The green arrow points to a deployed solar panel connected to my camper trailer and feeding power into the battery system. I prefer the moveable ones rather than the vehicle roof-mounted ones as they can be adjusted to chase the sun
This item provides the same stable power I have at home. It produces constant power rather than the fluctuating power a modified-sine-wave inverter produces and because laptops and camera batteries don't like fluctuating power the pure-sine inverter is required.
The size of the inverter needs to be considered, and what is going to be run off it of course. Hair dryers, kettles and toasters use a lot of power so a larger inverter is needed, (not that I'd take a hair dryer into the wilderness of course), also the auxiliary battery system needs to have the capacity to supply the power. It's a simple matter of looking up how many watts each appliance uses and totalling it. I just run some LED lights, the water pumps and charge my, UHF radios, phone and laptop off it, and never al at once, so mine keeps up nicely. (The on-board fridge runs off the 12-volt system.) You can see the set up in the collage two images up.
Australia is a harsh place and heading to remote areas unprepared will often end badly or, at the very least, be totally miserable. This is why shade and shelter is of such importance.
I have an annexe on my camper trailer and for most camping situations will erect it. I can leave it folded back over the tent section if I like, and do for overnight stays, but generally it goes up. This is more about shade although works in rainy and windy conditions also as I can attach sides and make it into a room. You can see this pictures down further.
There are other products of course. Many vehicles have a pull-out awning fitted on the roof-rack on the passenger side. They're simple and effective, although when the vehicle is running they catch the wind and make the interior of the car noisier - this is why I don't like them although I have one on my Ranger; I've chosen not to fit one on the LandCruiser so far. These awnings can also accept sides on them, although they're generally not all that big and for the money I feel there's better options.
The awning packed up and stowed in its storage bag. It unzips down the length, rolls outward and the legs drop down - In windy conditions it's pegged to the ground. This image shows it on my Ford Ranger.
At the end of the day, what's important is shelter from the elements and whether it's a more complex and costly system, or a tarpaulin roped to the vehicle or a tree, it can make the camping experience so much better.
I love cooking and eating in the wilderness. The most basic food simply tastes better as does the coffee. Bad food becomes instantly good in the wilderness...although I'm not one to eat bad food when there's no need to and so I have a few different set-ups.
I have a full gas kitchen on my camper trailer with burner and hotplate (no oven) and also carry a portable gas stove with dual burners as well. The latter is used more for lunch stops and overnight stays so I don't need to clean up the kitchen all the time. It's stainless steel so is easily maintained, but can be a pain for short stops.
Above is an image showing the annexe and walls up, and the kitchen. It has plumbed water and gas.
I also carry a cast iron camp oven which I use in the hot coals to bake bread, pizzas and make soups, stews and even a roast now and then. I have a fire grill also. Food cooked on the fire generally tastes way better and so I prefer to do it this way as it deepens the enjoyment. It's true that it takes more time and is a lot harder than cooking in the comfort of home, but the end result is worth it.
Here's my camp oven baking some bread, a traditional Australian bread called damper. The billy is next to it heating water for coffee.
Here's my fire grill with some sausages sizzling on it.
I have a tread lightly ethos when it comes to camping and the environment and that means leaving the area the same, or better, than when I arrived. They don't always have bins available and so campers need to take the responsibility to remove their rubbish when they leave - Unfortunately many do not.
I use a purpose made mesh bin with a lid which accepts a liner and zips closed. When not in use it collapses virtually completely flat.
When I pack up, the full bin liner comes with me and is deposited responsibly in the next town. I also ensure that I don't have an excess of things that will need binning in the first place. Most of my perishable foodstuffs are vacuum sealed in plastic which is binned and I rarely take canned food with me - cans are annoying and take up space in bins. Paper is burned in the camp fire and care is taken not to have excess food scraps through good planning; this is where having on-board fridge/freezers comes in very handy. Basically I take what I need and little more to avoid rubbish.
Before I leave a camp site I'll clean it, including other people's rubbish if I can, and drive away feeling good about leaving the environment free of human detritus.
Ok, I just realised how big this post is getting, which wasn't my intention, so I'll stop here.
I love camping for so many reasons and have done it in so many ways from the most basic being sleeping in the dirt, to the virtual luxury of my camper trailer. I don't really like caravans though as they tend to remove the connection with the planet - sitting inside a caravan isn't my idea of camping to be truthful.
There's so much skill and equipment required to camp comfortably and safely, although a swag and a fire can be just as enjoyable. I suppose what really matters is that a person gets out and about and enjoys nature and whether it's a full-on or basic set-up doesn't matter as long as the person is out there doing what they love.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Any images in this post are my own
