The essentials for touring

[cfryback Find all posts View Profile Close cfryback]

Looks good but I hate the annual fee. For me it would spend 11 months of the year packed in the garage

Same here, but for the big trips - Google brought this up - Satellite Phones Rental Plans

[jhiace Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jhiace]

I'm with you guys, it would be a massive waste of money but i guess if i did end up needing it just once it would be well worth it!

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Just be careful of carrying Tooooo much crap that you will never use . Number one your driving a Toyota , number two you are touring , number three where ever you go , unless its extremely remote and I don't classify marked rds dirt or otherwise as remotely remote , there will be another car along in about 15 minutes to help you out if need be . And most 4wders are overly eager to help you out , whether you want help or not .Just prepare the car well and enjoy yourself . Most importantly , pack your common sense , Australia is not the big scary adventure into nowhere anymore.if you we're driving a 3 litre patrol I'd have different advice , as they say in the territory , you go missin in a Nissan up here brudda .

[smakb Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close smakb]

if you we're driving a 3 litre patrol I'd have different advice .

A spare No 4 piston might be on the list...........

[brogers Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close brogers]

Epirb

EPIRB and sundry little items to consider

We have just returned from a fantastic outback trip. We were camping in a tent, so some items may not apply depending on how you are travelling etc.

Whilst we didn't need to use it, (thank goodness), I took the EPIRB out of my boat with us. I just wrapped it up and stashed it away under a rear seat.
Before taking it away, I logged onto the AMSA beacon website (https://www.beacons.amsa.gov.au) and added our trip details and made sure the emergency contact details were correct.

I also confirmed with the AMSA staff who were at the caravan and camping show that it was OK to take my currrent marine EPIRB on an inland road trip, and they assured me it was fine, and they explained how to update trip details on their website, so they would at least know why my boat EPIRB was activaing in the Simpson desert....

So if you have an EPIRB (406 distress beacon) in your boat it might be worth considering taking it along on your outback road trip. Its not as good as a sat phone, but even if you have a sat phone, yuo can sffer a flat batter or an equipment failure. My UHF died in the first week of our trip, and I was so glad I threw in my little 2watt handheld UHFs (which are gerat to use when reversing or doing a recovery so you don't have to yell above the engine noise), as we ended up using the small handhelds for the rest of the trip to talk between cars in convoy and also road trains etc.

Some other items ( iam not sure if they have been mentioned already), but we found very useful;

Headlamps and spare batteries (we used the headlamps every night and a set of spare batteries)
Thermal underwear (ie long johns) & thick wollen socks if camping in winter (we used them every night, and well into the morning until about 9am...perfect)
Ugg boots ( I had never had a pair, but got some as we pssed through Chareville,a nd loved wearing them around the camp on cold nights
Beenie (we were in a tent so it keeps the head wwarm, especially if your hair is thinning on top)

Some other odds and ends we found useful.

Zip lock bags ( small, medium and large), for food items, as well as soap, detergent etc
Cable ties ( a full range of sizes from small to very large)
Gaffer tape (100 mile an hour tape or whatever...don't leave home without it)

I took a full first aid kit, and fortunately all we used was lip balm ( lips get dry and start to crak in the dry or cold or windy weather, so it can be a godsend, and the viscene eye drops, likewise eyes dry out and can get irriated from the dust, so the viscene saved the day...also used a needle to get some splinters, but luckily used nothing else. The lip balm and viscene eye drops somehow made their way into the first aid kit by accident when packing, as we didn't intend to take these4 items deliberatelk, but boy, were we glad we had them.

A thermos was handy for us, once the billly was boilded you could keep some hot water for rinsing, or making a cuppa later on etc.

Anyway, eveyr trip is different, every location has different challenges, I certainly agree that you must avoid taking too much, and we left the camp oven at home because of weight and space, but luckily friends travelling with us took theirs, as we had a few wonderful camp oven dinners and scones....luckily we had the camp oven "trivett" as it dows make cooking a little easier by keeping food up off the bottom of the camp oven, we won't leave the camp oven behind next time.

Something else we used every time we camped just overnight (ie without setting up everything or unpacking everything) was the small camp stove, the one that uses the butance "hair spray" cannister type gas cylinders, we also had a folding metal windshield which was very useful, and was stored in the plastic case with the stove, also if the weather is cold don't forget to stand the gas cannister in some warm water to warm it up a bit, else the gas is too cold as you use it and the flame gets too small, anyway, it was quick and easy for the kettle and toast etc, whilst being quite small and compact and light. Even when we set up fopr a few days and we used the big cooker, we still ended up using the small stove for heating or cooking other items at the same time. You can get cannisters at many stores, including birdsville etc.

Don't forget matches or a small gas lighter wand type fire lighter.
Salt and pepper and sugar satchels (we kept a stash in a bag in the con sole and they came in handy when you didn't want to rummage through your food box.
Bottle for "handy" drinking water, put a bottle in each door so you have water at hand straight away when driving....(this came in handy when another travellers car caught fire when parked at a tourist spot, his inverter had overheatedwhen driving and a small fire ensured while the car was parked and switched off, quickly quenched with water, and no need for dry powder extinguisher dust everywhere...but the water bottles were really only being used for dfrinking and washing hands during the day when travelling, but very useful.

Toilet paper
Phone charger (for when you have coverage)
mozzie net that goes over your head (the hat type mozzie net)
Sand flag (if travelling across the desert and dunes etc). I zip tied it and duct taped it beside the shovel nextto the roof cage when it was not needed.
mozzie/fly spray
Long life milk
Anyway, thats just some ideas that might prompt some thoughts when packing. Like I said, every one travels differently and different locations have diffrent demands etc, but nothing like having some ideas or a checklist.

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

We were very surprised at how cold it was in some places and were very glad we packed thermals.