How on Earth do you Survive While free Camping??

We all like free camping. It's just when you start to get in the extremes that a caravan park starts to look way more enjoyable. If we go to the snow again, we are staying in a caravan park!! Anyway, how do we survive while free camping. No electricity, no showers, and sometimes no toilets. Before we set off, we had planned to free camp so we equipped ourselves with a gas hot water shower, a generator, and a portable toilet.

Yes, this is our normal campsite: shower tent, camp chairs
around a fire, and a good old tavern!!

For our showers there were two main options: the Aquacube and the Coleman Hot water on demand. We went with the coleman as 1. we thought the dial would be better than the touch screen, and 2. the Coleman was cheaper. The Coleman runs on both gas and batteries. The battery must be kept charged, b

This is a proper free camp spot. Caravan Parks would
never let you get this close!!

ut we did find it useful that we could charge the colemn on both 240v and 12v. We did actually have a problem with battery, and the coleman was out of order for several months. We finally got a new battery sent down, and it has worked fine ever since.

The generator was hard to decide on actually. We couldn't figure out how big a generator we would want, but finally settled on a Tomahawk 4.4 kva generator. The generator can just run our air-conditioner while roaring out dreadfully. We have only had it break down twice, once at the snow (we all nearly froze), and once at Mendooran. The generator has been great for what we needed, and it can survive long periods of being used (read: 1 month doing full ball) and then long (read:7 months) spells of inactivity.

We have always tried to pick free camping spots with a toilet. So far, we have always stayed where there is least a toilet. If we do stay somewhere without a toilet, we have a 20L portable toilet that we bought at Big W for $100. We also stocked up on the rinse chemicals and treatment chemicals.

One of the funnest things about free camping has most likely been the fires. At Armidale we bought ourselves 2 cast iron camp ovens. We have so far cooked lots of lovely things, including forays into puddings, casseroles and cakes. At the snow we greatly appreciated having a fire, and it was one of the only things that kept the boys warm through the night.

One of the best camp spots has most likely been Gum Bend Lake. It had toilets, hot showers, a lake for fishing and kayaking purposes and lots and lots of space. Gum Bend Lake was also where I nearly strangled myself by running into the washing line!!

Just a quick, friendly warning. If you are using pop up shower tents, they really pop up. The first time I ever got it out of the bag, I thought something had hit me as the tent exploded in my face. When I am folding it up, it is quite a hilarious spectacle. I think the whole evil purpose of the tents is not to be able to fold up. I think I have just about mastered it, and am now happy to lend a hand to other people struggling with them too. Like I said, the whole evil purpose of the tents is not to be able to fold up.