Mattress in the back of an Estate
- Luke Owen
- Jan 15
- 2 min read
Getting into real camping and being able to access areas meant I had a few briefs for this setup: It had to be cheap, I had to be able to fit everything into the car, and be able to unpack it when we got to destinations, it had to have some basic comforts.
Budget:
I had been out of camping for sometime and wasn't sure if I was going to love getting back into it, so I did not want to over extend the budget on this. I used the car I had and picked up some cheap camping accessories.
The Car:
In Australia this is called a Holden Adventra - sporting a v6 3.6ltr petrol automatic -this particular one had an LPG system and it comes in AWD as standard. In the UK this would be similar to an Opel Omega or the like, although by this stage GM in Australia had deviated quite a bit from the Opel/ Vauxhaul range. Being an estate this had enough space for a 6 foot 4 Australian to sleep in the back of, with the seats folding mostly flat.
Camping gear:
All in I spent under £500 pounds for this setup, it included:
Inflatable Mattress and bedding
Folding Gazebo
Shower tent
12v submersible shower head
Plastic folding table
Camp chairs
Battery box with an old lead acid battery
Folding solar panel
Camping stove using gas cannisters
Cheap LED Strip light
Cooler Box
Basic kitchen stuff (water jug, washup bowl, cutlery etc)
At this point we were not setup for fully off grid, and relied on public toilets or camp ground facilities. This worked well for a while, I absolutely loved exploring and seeing parts of Australia that most people hadn't, so the setup evolved a bit, but mainly on the following things: Vehicle - suspension lifts, big all terrain tyres, light bars and roof racks etc. This took us on beach escapes, Outback adventures, Waterfall chases and all sorts!
Safe to say Dipping my toe back into camping re-ignited a spark that would burn for a long time! Then the roof top tent phase exploded in Australia - and that meant the next stage of camping!
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