We are looking forward to the start of our remote touring.
This year we have upgraded a lot of our equipment. We bought brand new foam cell mattresses to make our stretcher beds even more comfortable and new sleeping bags. The bags are rated for desert temperatures and are very wide because there is nothing worse than feeling constricted inside a bag at night. We’ve also introduced the use of sleeping bag liners to give you another layer. Now you have the option of just using the cotton liner if it is hot or having inside the bag for additional warmth. The thermal cell mats will keep you warm as well as being comfortable and have an inflatable pillow section. This doesn’t mean that you can’t bring your own pillow; just that you don’t have to. The liners have a pillowcase section where you can tuck your own pillow into or just hook it over the edge of the thermal mat so that it doesn’t slither away in the night.
We’ve also upgraded our chairs. Now we have comfortable solid sided chairs with fixed armrests that you can push down on when getting up from the chair. They also come with a little side table that has an insert for your wine glass! Warning though, you need to make very sure BOTH hinges are extended to hold the table up – ask how how we know!
The vehicles are being serviced and all tyres checked. The trailers are being streamlined and extra fittings added. We’ve added an extra fridge to the kitchen trailer and with the new battery required to run that, it has become possible to provide a powerboard for night time charging of electrical items (but we still recommend bringing a power bank as well). But the best thing is that we now carry a capsule coffee maker. We will still use our regular coffee/tea system during the day but you now have the chance for a good cup at morning and night.
We’ve also acquired some floaty toys for those outback swims where you want to loll around a bit (Millstream, Mackerel Islands on our Perth to Broome) or float downstream (Bitter Springs on our Savannah Way tour). We are sure they will come in useful. We’re also carrying a couple of fishing rods plus tackle so if time and terrain permits, you get the chance of a fish!
kitty is working hard on the tour menus. Some of our trips this year are fairly remote and we will need to carry in all our supplies for extended periods of time so it is a bit of an effort trying to maximise as much fresh provision as possible, with limited storage and electricity, whilst still trying to keep up with an interesting and varied diet. With some of our desert trips, we will carry canned and dehydrated food as well as make our own bread and yoghurt along the way. The up side of this remote travel is that we have more chances to cook on campfires and sitting around a fire at night, under the diamond encrusted night sky, is one of life’s truly great experiences.