New gear in the bush ( Funny /Dangerous ?)

[waynep]

Anyone got tales of other people ( or yourself ) using gear in the bush fresh out of the box.

This would be those people who take out new camping gear or recovery gear acessories etc, without practising or inspecting things at home first.

A good example is the family trying to set up one of those big complicated dome tents in a howling wind. They buy it from K Mart or somewhere and the first time it is unpacked is when they get to the campground.

I think the classic is those pop up toilet /shower tents that seem to be the fad these days. Watching Dad go through all sorts of Yoga positions for half an hour trying to fold it up, before giving up in frustration and jamming it in the car unfolded. I got one myself, but to save embarrassment practised at home first. Now I'd offer to help rather than sit and laugh of course :rolleyes:

One of my own embarrasing moments was when we had just got the Disco and went off on a trip without proper recovery points on the front, and of course, needed to be snatched up a hill. Thanks to more experienced people, we got out of it but I was humbled.

Anyone got tales of funny/dangerous situations with people ( or yourself ) using new gear ?

[drivesafe]

Hi waynep, go back through the old site posts, Stevo68 got some new gear and, very smartly, tested it before he went off road.

If read his post, you will have a good laugh but by the time he went to Fraser Island this year, he was an expert.

Cheers

[sumo]

The first time we set up a caravan annexe ,had the poles up sidedown, thought the sharp end went in the ground!!. WHAT a Di...k i must have looked?. Gee that was along time ago.

Sumo

[incisor]

FYI if you use the archive function at the bottom of the pages you will get to everything that has every been posted on aulro (old and new site)

[George130]

Yep The tent I took to ACE's. Picked it up the morning before I went. Opened it up there and had ACE help me work it out. My recovery gear was the same.

[p38arover]

Over Easter, a young couple set up camp right next to me (on a riverbank that had no one else along it for hundreds of metres :mad:

Not long after they asked if I could help with their stove. It was brand new and they couldn't get the hose to screw in.

When I looked, the hose was never going to fit, it had the wrong connections and they were 700km from the store from where it was bought.

Ron

[Bytemrk]

A couple of years back, while camping in the Gramians we had a bunch of guys arrive at the campsite at after midnight - they were yelling and screaming to each other and generally being a pain in the ar$e. The issue was mainly they were all trying to put up tents in the dark.... and obviously had no idea!..

When they started using an axe to cut wood at 1.30 am.... ( keeping everyone else awake) - I decided enough was enough.. I dragged my jeans on and crawled out of the tent to tell they clowns exactly what I was thinking.:mad:

Anyway I got out of the tent to discover there was about 20 of them ... ranging from late teens to early thirties.. all guys.

There were a few other familys spread around the camp site... but I was the only one up. I was camping with just me, the wife and kids.... so I decided that playing heros may not be the way to go.

Anyway I crawled back into the tent and laid there rathered ****ed off... it was certainly wrecking a nice camp site.

Then .. laying in the dark..a female voice echoed through the valey... " WILL YOU GUYS SHUT THE F##K UP!!!" :huh:

It worked a treat... silence at last!

Anyway next morning they had about 5 x 2 man dome tents set up and the other guys where sitting around their fire.

As I started cooking our breakfast.. they pulled a larger Kmart tent out of a car and tipped the contents of the box on the ground. - about 6 of them started working out how to put it up...

We cooked breakfast.... cleaned up..... packed up the tent and all the gear..... took the kids down to the river for and explore and returned to the car ready to leave... Probably an hour and ahalf had passed.

At this point they had finally worked out which bits of pole went with which:eek::eek:.

My 8 yr old daughter had put our tent up the previous afternoon with her 7 yr old brother helping!

I think she summed it up pretty well..... " Dad I don't think they know what they are doing" :p

Mark

PS I they had not been such ********s the night before ... I'd have helped them.... but I wasn't feeling so friendly with bugger all sleep

[FenianEel]

For our eldest daughter's 15th birthday, we decided we would take her and 5 of her friends to Byron, camping for the weekend.:rolleyes: Yes, 6 teenage girls.
The wife and I were in our two bedroom dome tent, and we borrowed one of the girls tents. A 12 sleeper, 3 bedroom, dome monolith!!!
We got to "First Sun" park right in town, about 6pm, just on dark. :eek:.
I asked the girl who owned the tent, was she Ok putting it up - Um,no mum and Dad normally do it. (Here we go).....
Told the girls to get the tent out and do their best, in the meantime setting up ours. We had our tent sorted in about 20 mins, the girls were still ginning around, giggling, arguing, looking stupid and acting moreso!
Righto, here I come, you go there, you grab that, you do this etc.etc.

In between bluntly (as in, no they're Ok thanks, now F*&^ off), seeing off drunk yobbos and eurotrash backpackers, who would constantly try to "help" this group of young girls and their tent, my patience was wearing thin.
It would've been easier to train green recruits to drill, than to get this rabble organised. After 15 minutes of, going nowhere, giggling girls, and it turning into a complete &*%& up, I told the wife to walk them into town and get some dinner, and don't rush back.
Unfolded the mess and eventually got the thing up about 2 hours later!!

A couple of Kiwi lads in a "Wicked" van, were watching my efforts with amusement, whilst they were getting ready to go out. They came over after it was finished with a couple of cold beers, 'cause they liked my effort and felt sorry for me! Happy days!!!
The girls came back and here I am with a coldy in hand, having a laugh with these blokes.

Tips for the future;
1. Make sure you know what the tent looks like, and how it goes it up before erecting it in the dark
2. Never try to organise teenage girls (although shouting at them, gets them to move quicker!!)
3. Camp next to good blokes who will deliver beer and don't try to hit on said girls you are looking after:lol:

[VladTepes]

We bought our dome tent and specifically set it up at home beforehand, thinking this would stand us in good stead later. Then we drove down to the GP at Phillip Island and went to set up the tent in a rather cool Bass Strait breeze. Well !!! Talk about having a blue.. Mrs Vlad and I had a rather large disagreement over the whole thing. There was plenty of ice happening and NONE of it was from the inclement weather. Somehow we did get it up, but it has taken about 3 years of irregular camping for us to get confident with it and not fight. They area b@st@rds of things. I strongly advise you all not to buy one.

[redfender]

round up and window cleaner are the same colour

i didnt label them in the spraypack and left them in the garage for a

couple of months

roundup is s&%T for cleaning windows and weeds dont seem to be

affected by windex

[MickG]

After years of badgering I finally managed to presude my wife to come camping with me - we had no kids at the time but she is more of a Hilton girl than a Coleman one:rolleyes: .

Decided Lennox Head would be a great spot for the weekend so packed the car with the essentials plus the 2 man dome tent and set off.

Arrived into Lennox head in the dark in a howling gale where we set about putting up the tent. May as well have been a 15 man tent for all the hassle it was to get the damned thing to go up as the wind was fericious. Anyway, tent up eventually, it was into town to find something still open for food and beer. One pub meal later and a few sharpners, we stepped out of the pub only to find that the wind had completely and I mean completely gone.

Arrive back at camp with not a breath of wind in sight and the tent looking like.........well, like it was put up in a gale:D

Surprisingly, my wife will still come camping with me although only after some serious consultation and discussion many weeks out from any trip:eek:

[Omaroo]

LOL!! My wife Jenny works in the camping trade as an assistant store manager. She comes home with stories every night about people bringing goods back because they "don't work". Of course, what they "meant" to say was "we couldn't get it to work" and were severely embarrassed in front of everyone else at the campsite.

:lol:

[waynep]

People in my 4WD club talk about a Tassie trip a coupel of years ago. Their was a camp ground on top of a cliff on the East Coast ( can't remember the exact location ). One couple set up their big dome tent. They had some of their gear inside and next minute a big gust of wind came along and blew the whole lot over the cliff into the sea. They had to go down to thel ocal dispaosals and re-kit.

[VladTepes]

Lucky THEY weren't in it at the time I suppose.

[FenianEel]

Lucky THEY weren't in it at the time I suppose.

Maybe not, they might've been a**holes:lol:

[FenianEel]

Surprisingly, my wife will still come camping with me although only after some serious consultation and discussion many weeks out from any trip:eek:

Yes, and look at the construction of this Scottish castle! Obviously an old hand at it now:lol:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2006/06/97.jpg

[MickG]

Yes, and look at the construction of this Scottish castle! Obviously an old hand at it now:lol:

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2006/06/97.jpg

Go the coleman.....looks great from any angle and especially with an Epsom Green D2 along side it.....these 2 triumphs of engineering were meant to be together.

[Farnarkle]

Looks like the Disco is edging away - " I know nothink" :)