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Why camping in WA is easy


I've spent quite a number of nights of my life under canvas and a large proportion of those have been 'in Europe'. The first camping trip was to France in 1978 and most recent was last year, 2012.

Ever since those early days, we had a list of items that had to be packed so that nothing was forgotten. The assumption was always that there was no way a forgotten item could be replaced whilst on holiday.

When camping in the UK and Europe, you always have to be on the lookout for the weather, no matter what season or location. I suppose Greece and Turkey might be more predictable but in the areas in which Dawn and I have camped, extending to Poland, and former Yugoslavia, there's always the expectation of a thunderstorm and the hailstones and winds to go with it.

The weather in WA is different, as once Spring turns into Summer, even as far south west at Margaret River, the temperature rises and the rain stops. The temperature in early summer in Perth is in the high 20s and it rises to be reliably over 30 deg for a good part of the next few months. Up the coast it is hotter and Exmouth, our furthest destination, reaches the mid 40s by the December solstice.

So it was with some trepidation that we loaded as much gear as possible into our Emirates 60kg joint  luggage allowance. We brought with us the Trangia stove (from ~1973) and the tent, a Khyam Igloo, bought in 1994 to take on the first trip to Australia when we all went camping in far North Queensland. Rock tent pegs are the only ones we use (once we discovered them). We even packed a salad bowl, cutlery, two Lakeland flexible chopping 'boards' but we knew that we had no source of cooling except a cool bag and two freezer packs.

As soon as we arrived in Perth we bought a bag of charcoal, six Coleman style screw-on gas canisters and a parasol, together with a table, two chairs and a large plastic box.

The tent has been a feature of many camping trips and as it is easily erected and packed away, it's especially suited to camping when there are frequent moves.




The hire car was perfect, with loads of room and a great tailgate that dropped down to provide a handy platform.




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