Camping is one of my favourite pass times, you can’t beat a relaxing night under the stars around a camp fire away from technology and the chaos of life. Personally, I think there is no better way to spend a weekend then getting out there and exploring the luxuries our beautiful country has to offer.  Whilst speaking about luxuries just because you are camping out in nature, possibly in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean you have to do without. Camping gear is advancing so much as technology improves. Not only is the camping gear becoming more sophisticated and superior but it’s also becoming lighter weight and more compact.  The benefit of more compact, modular, or folding camping gear is of course this allows you to bring a vast range of more equipment on your trip. For those who love four wheel driving then the fact camping gear is becoming lighter weight is also a huge benefit. The reason for this, is a heavy load will not only increase your chance of getting bogged, but it will decrease your ability to hit those hard tracks. At Adventure Kings we offer a huge range of camping gear, its literally our bread and butter and we absolutely love it. So, in this post I’ll run through a few of my favourite pieces of camping gear. I will also give a brief run down of the benefits of each piece to help you choose which bits of camping gear is right for your situation.

A good old faithful gazebo is a perfect way to kick things off so let’s start with that. Gazebos come in all shapes and sizes to best accommodate your needs. The most popular standard size is three meters by three meters but if you’d like a bit more wiggle room underneath then a 4.5meter by 3meter gazebo is a good choice. However, if you really want to kick things up a notch, a six meter by three meter is a great size for those camping with multiple groups looking for a communal hang out spot.  A gazebo makes a great central point that you can base your camp setup around. Unlike a car awing a gazebo allows you to take off in your four wheel drive for the day and leave your campsite completely setup. A gazebo’s primary purpose of course are to shelter you from both rain and sun however that’s not all they’re capable of. An accessory such as a gazebo wall installed to the side of your gazebo then makes your gazebo also a barrier from annoying winds. Mosquito netting is another quality accessory that creates a 360 degree net tent. A mosquito nett will then produce a bug free zone inside your gazebo. If your camping next to a swamp or river this is certainly a good accessory.

A mesh floor is another gazebo accessory but personally I love them so much that I think you should never set up your gazebo without one. A mesh floor is as the named suggest designed to lay under your gazebo creating a floor. When camping at the beach a mesh floor helps you from tracking sand all through your campsite and consequently sleeping areas. So, if you are anything like me and can’t stand a sandy swag then a mesh floor is certainly a good choice. Another similar benefit is if you’re camping on dirt as well for instances the Simpson red desert a mesh floor will also stop that. You may be thinking however a tarp does the same if not better job of preventing sand and dirt from entering your camp site. The negative of a tarp is due to the zero drainage they hold water when it rains and thus your gazebo floor become a messy puddle. The design of a mesh floor is also to protect yourself against hot grounds such as the stinking hot sand or desert. Whereas a tarp will do the opposite and actually heat up in the sun creating an unbearable surface to stand on. That’s why a quality mesh floor is a great choice for families with young children to protect their tender feet.

If you want a good night sleep at camp, then a self Inflating mattress is the right piece of camping gear for you. One of the key benefits of a self Inflating mattress is in fact that it doesn’t require a pump. This saves you both some additional cost and storage room when packing for your trip. All you need to do to inflate a self Inflating mattress is roll it out and then unscrew the valve. After that the mattress does all the hard work for you slowly expanding itself. Which brings me to the next major benefit of a self Inflating mattress, time saving. Unlike a traditional air mattress you don’t have to wait around as it slowly inflates just roll it out undo the vent and forget about it.  That’s the benefits a self Inflating mattress has over an air mattress but it also has beneficial aspects over a traditional mattress for camping. If you decide to bring a traditional foam mattress camping you have to make the call on how thick you can have the mattress based on how much space, you have. Due to the fact if you go to thick once rolled up it will be extremely hard to pack. With a self Inflating mattress however you get the best of both worlds as it packs up into a thin transportable size easy to roll. But then when unrolled it expands into a thick comfy and luxurious mattress. Thus giving the packing benefits of a thin mattress but the sleeping benefits of a thick one.

I hope this post has helped highlight the benefits the right camping gear can bring you. Use this guide to help you choose which gear is right for your specific camping situation. So, you can most importantly get out there and enjoy the great outdoors.