Family Camping Gear

The full list of family camping gear, built from what we packed and what hundreds of TAWK families told us they couldn’t do without.

No matter how experienced you are, you need a list.

This one also gives you the thinking behind it — when you might actually need something, and why it earned its space. We’ve left off the obvious (tent, tables, chairs, fishing gear, bikes) because you’re bright enough to work that out yourself.

Sleeping

• Sleeping bags — you’ll want them in the cold areas
• Sheets — because sometimes sleeping bags are too hot
• Pillows — double up for long car trips
• Lamps and nightlights
• Teddies and comforters
• Nightclothes
• Air beds and a pump
• Fans, big and small — handy for bunk beds when you don’t want the air con running all night

Personal and clothing

• Clothes for all seasons — you’ll go through more than one
• Shoes — hiking boots, thongs, runners
• Bathers
• A good first aid kit and antiseptic creams — spend the extra on a comprehensive one
• Medication, adult and children’s
• Extra band aids — there are never enough
• Good insect repellent
• Sunscreen
• Feminine items
• Hats
• Baby essentials — nappies and all things baby
• Hot water bottle — handy for stomach cramps TAWKer tip
• Fly nets — the ones that go around your hat. Some places have so many flies they’re the difference between coping and not TAWKer tip
• Wart-Off freeze spray — a wart freezing kit using cryoliquid is a recommended way to remove ticks, and avoids the blood poisoning risk of other methods TAWKer tip

Showering

• Cloth shopping bags — one each as a wash bag, doubles as a shopping bag
• Several small plastic bottles — fill from the big shampoo and conditioner bottles so everyone has their own and nobody’s waiting
• Soap containers
• Tissues
• Large shampoo and conditioner to refill the small ones
• Wash cloths
• Coloured towels — so you know whose is whose
• Thongs — for the showers
• General toiletries

Kitchen

• Cutlery, utensils, cups, wine glasses, plates, bowls, pots and pans — melamine sets are light and sturdy, and guests do visit
• Scissors and a bottle opener
• Can opener — one TAWKer went to make a tuna sandwich and discovered the big cans don’t have a pull tab
• Foil, baking paper, cling wrap, zip lock bags — baking paper is brilliant on a public BBQ, far less cleaning
• Dish cloths and tea towels
• Washing up liquid
• Pantry items — jams, spices and the rest
• Garbage bags
• Broom, dustpan and brush — essential. This is your fight back against the sand
• Spare sink plugs — definitely needed
• Chopping board — so you don’t wreck benches, eskys or whatever else you’ve pressed into service TAWKer tip
• Coffee machine or percolator — essential if you love your coffee
• Thermos flask — every time you boil the kettle, top up the thermos. Saves boiling it again and again, and you’ve got hot water for a mid-afternoon cuppa or the washing up TAWKer tip
• SodaStream TAWKer tip
• Plastic containers — a big one for storage if you’re in a camper or tent, smaller ones to keep food sealed from insects

Miscellaneous

• Chargers for everything
• Camera or video
• Torches and batteries — LED ones use fewer batteries
• Duct tape — fixes everything
• Blu Tack — so handy
• The most recent Camps book — the bible for campers
• Schooling materials
• Toys, games and cards
• Electronics and radio
• Maps — though you’ll pick plenty up at visitor centres as you go
• A map of Australia to mark your trip on — laminate it and use a permanent marker. We had ours on the van wall; others use one as a table mat
• Portable two-plate burner — an electric one means you can use the park’s power instead of your gas
• Internet connectivity
• Heater — it gets properly cold at night
• Clothes horse — stores easily, endlessly useful for drying towels
• Porta loo and chemicals — if your van hasn’t got one, this is a godsend with kids at night
• Washing basket
• Slow cooker — if you can fit it, coming back from sightseeing to a cooked meal is a joy
• Esky — if your fridge isn’t big enough, or as a freezer
• Sewing kit
• Plastic curtain for the caravan or annex door — keeps the bugs out when the door can’t be closed TAWKer tip
• Lanyard for the caravan key — one for each adult and child. As the TAWKer who suggested it put it, it’s no fun being locked out, or realising hubby walked off with the only key TAWKer tip

Outdoors

• Shade cloth — for shade, or pegged to the ground outside the tent or van. Helps with the sand too
• Portable BBQ and tools — though in parks you’ll usually use theirs and save your gas
• Non-stick reusable BBQ sheets TAWKer tip
• Gas bottle and refill
• Ant powder — put it around anything touching the ground. There are a lot of nests out there
• Mallet and spare tent pegs — a mallet beats a hammer
• Tools — can you ever take enough?
• Rope, tow ropes, straps
• 12v compressor — for pumping tyres back up after you’ve let them down for 4WDing
• Camp oven and billy
• Walkie talkie or UHF radio — long range is good for tuning in to those around you when remote, and for talking to road trains
• Generator
• Extension cords — so you can put the generator further from camp TAWKer tip
• Solar blanket or panel — as one TAWKer said, better and a lot quieter than a generator TAWKer tip
• Fuel and water containers
• Shovel — you never know where you’ll get caught short
• Mosquito coils — one family found them essential in Darwin, lighting them either side of the caravan door late afternoon TAWKer tip
• Solar lights — put them near your tent ropes so nobody gets coat-hangered in the dark TAWKer tip
• EPIRB — suggested by a TAWKer who works for an emergency service: “seen too many people rescued who should have had one” TAWKer tip
• Pool noodle — handy at water holes, and for plenty else besides
• Plastic bucket — for washing feet
• Foldable trestle table — food prep, eating, and gathering around TAWKer tip
• Glow sticks — keep the kids occupied and visible after dark, and put them on guy ropes so nobody trips TAWKer tip

What have we missed?

Every item above marked as a TAWKer suggestion came from a family who’d already been out there and worked out they needed it. Most of them aren’t things you’d think of until the moment you wish you had one.