Thread: Camper-Trailers vs Tents

Originally Posted by FifiLámour

I intend to have them out by the campfire, spotting possums, identifying constellations, talking, toasting marshmallows, DH playing his guitar quietly (if we can fit it in) or else family board games by lantern light in an annex. Ahhh Bliss!!!

EH WOOT?? shooting and dressing possums, making bows and arrows. damming up the creek. making the camp fire into a CAMP FIRE. poking sticks at spiders, chucking stones at snakes. counting how many moths you can swat. Hiding creepys in mums bed. pinching Dads smokes. make bush huts and dig caves. and if they do all that there's no board games they will be asleep.

Oh and for the constellations, the only time they look up at night is to see if its going to rain or not LOL

all for fun

First thing you need to work out is how often are you going to go camping, once a month, two or three times a year. I can't see the point of spending $10,000 to $40,000 on a camping trailer to have it sit in the driveway or garage for 11 months of the year.

As the others have said both have there advantages and disadvantages, I can put my 23 year old 24 ft Freedom tent up in half an hour a camping trailer might take up to 15 min to set up so your not saving that much time. If you plan on doing a lot of long distance travelling go the camper trailer, but if it's only going to be a weekend here or there buy a good tent. That's my opion for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by FifiLámour

Now see this is what I don't get. Why would you even bother going away if this is what you take with you? IMHO you don't go camping to live like you live at home.

I can't tell you how many people have suggested we get the boys a portable DVD player for when we go camping? I intend to have them out by the campfire, spotting possums, identifying constellations, talking, toasting marshmallows, DH playing his guitar quietly (if we can fit it in) or else family board games by lantern light in an annex. Ahhh Bliss!!!

I couldn't agree more. One of the dozens of things I always hoped my kids would get out of our camping trips was a realisation that it was possible to have a good time without things that might be appropriate at home.

IIRC, the only thing we provided for them on our trip to Innaminka, Dig Tree, Cobbler Desert, Birdsville track was a little cloth bag. A friend with similar aged (infants and early primary school) children suggested they have their own little bag to collect things. It was a brilliant idea. They took great delight in collecting all sorts of things and chatting about them as we traveled and at night.

Honestly, they never would have had time even to play family board games. They were too busy amusing themselves and making themselves feel useful by doing jobs that were appropriate for their age. They loved toasting marshmallows. Although if my memory serves me correctly, most of the time what they did with the marshmallow was create a small incendiary device on the end of a stick. They didn't need us to amuse them and they certainly didn't need a DVD player (or whatever the equivalent might have been in the late 70s and early 80s).

Originally Posted by FifiLámour

Now see this is what I don't get. Why would you even bother going away if this is what you take with you? IMHO you don't go camping to live like you live at home.

I can't tell you how many people have suggested we get the boys a portable DVD player for when we go camping? I intend to have them out by the campfire, spotting possums, identifying constellations, talking, toasting marshmallows, DH playing his guitar quietly (if we can fit it in) or else family board games by lantern light in an annex. Ahhh Bliss!!!

Look... I succumbed to the portable DVD thing. We only allow them to use it in the car, and then only for a little while after lunch. I very much understand your point, but when you're driving for say 5 x 700k days home from the Kimberlies it does make everyone's trip better.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Look... I succumbed to the portable DVD thing. We only allow them to use it in the car, and then only for a little while after lunch. I very much understand your point, but when you're driving for say 5 x 700k days home from the Kimberlies it does make everyone's trip better.

I think I understand your reasons and am not trying to disagree with you.

I think that the difference between your approach and mine illustrates why it can be so difficult to offer advice to others.

You say you drove 700kms a day and I understand why you would do that. On our last trip from NSW to Darwin with our two children in the Series III, we drove about 3-400km a day. We didn't have a tight deadline and our son, in about Year 9 at the time was given the responsibility of organising the whole schedule of where we would be each day. We had organised for him to call in at Port Augusta High School on the way to take part in the Australian Maths Competition that he had done very well in over the past couple of years. Since being in the right place at the right time was important to him, it seemed appropriate to let him do all the schedule.

He knew that his mother liked to stop to set up camp early in the afternoon, so he took that into account. Hence the short days.

Our scheduled stops after a week or so became very early stops. We developed a routine of eating before it got dark, so we were ready for bed by about 8pm. After a few days we were waking at 4am after a good 8 hours sleep and had completed breakfast and were well and truly on the road before the sun came up. So after a while we had done our distance for the day by just after lunch.

It suited us well. We could wash clothes when we pulled up and they would be dry before tea time.

The point of that long rambling narrative is that different people with different children, different budgets, different vehicles, different routes, different personalities, different expectations and so on will find that different setups suit them perfectly.

That doesn't alter the fact though, that it is good to seek advice. With enough replies, it should enable you to sift through the answers and find something that you can reasonably expect to be a match for you.

Fifi,

One thing to consider re the D3 and camping; while its a big car I find 2 nights + for me and the 2 boys means the car is chokers. If you're going to go the tent route (which we have. Blackwolf Turbo 300) you'll need at least a cargo barrier or a roof rack.

The esky and a big tent take up a lot of room. Add food, chairs, table, stove, tarps, the loo, clothes, tools and recovery gear.

Cheers.

Yes go low tech.

I remember in May sitting in the tent at Erldunda. Raining heavily, .................. had finished all our books.

So we got out the laptop and watched New Inventors and a couple of other programs on ABC iView via Next G wireless broadband.

Clean32 - PMSL

Chunk - you are right about frequency. I am hoping if the boys like it, we will go once a month or so? With a maybe longer duration in school holidays. Do you know if you can still buy Freedom tents? I thought I saw a thread somewhere that said they had closed for business.

vnx205 - I love that idea of the bag!!! My kids would love that too. I am going to copy it!!! Had a laugh at the marshmallow incendiary device, that would be my boys too . And how cool is that getting your boy to plan the trip. What great experience for him!

Captain Rightfoot - under those circumstances I can understand the need for a DVD player. That is a lot of mileage to cover with kids in one day and if it's in the outback, I suspect there's not much new to see after a certain amount of time.

WhiteD3 - very good point. Especially as I suspect we wouldn't want to pack the car above seat height as we don't have a cargo rack or whatever they're called inside. Jeez, how are we going to fit it all in ? Is that a Rhino Rack on your car I see? Do you have a luggage box for it or do you just pile it up?

Waynep - I just googled Erldunda - Crikey! It's in the middle of nowhere and you still got reception! Very impressed. Go the ABC!!!