My first camping trip was at a place called Kirra when I was just six or seven years old. I remember going to sleep while listening to the ocean waves and hearing big trucks driving by at night.
Some of my favorite memories are from Girraween National Park, a place I really like. Lots of important things happened there, like when my parents met my wife for the first time and when my oldest son went camping as a baby. We even have a cute picture of him taking a bath in a small tub inside our tent. I also loved camping with my grandparents and my two older kids when they were really young, and seeing how happy it made everyone.
More recently, my friends and I have gone camping together and had some great times. Our kids have become friends too, and even though they don't hang out all the time, they always talk about their fun camping trips when they see each other. These memories are really special to us.
About 16 years ago, I was working in retail, but I got tired of it and wanted a change. I made a list of companies I'd like to work for as a representative, and Outdoor Connection was at the top. I chose them because I knew their brand and the people, and I could tell they were a good company. I didn't think I'd actually get a job since most camping industry reps enjoy their work and don't leave often.
Surprisingly, six months later, Bill called me and said, "If you're still looking for a job, Sandy, we'd like to talk to you!" I became their rep in Queensland and did that for around 18 months. After that, I moved to the office and eventually got promoted to General Manager.
Outdoor Connection is a great company that values quality and is run by good, down-to-earth people. You always know where you stand with them. Our team may not be huge, but we work well together and enjoy what we do because we believe in the company and its values.
We want to stand out by making sure our products are durable and well-made from the start. The last thing we want is for someone to have a bad experience with our brand while camping, which could make them never want to camp again. I've seen this happen when stores sell cheap tents to families new to camping. The tent might leak or collapse during a storm, making the family never want to camp again. This means they miss out on the fun of spending time outdoors and bonding without distractions like phones.
Our goal is to create long-lasting products that people can enjoy, which reflects our commitment to quality. We believe in what we do and take pride in making great products!
Camping has been a part of my life since I was six years old. I started camping with my parents in an old canvas tent, and we eventually got a bigger one. It's always been something I've loved, and I've had many great experiences with it.
Even after growing up and moving out, I would still go camping with my parents and their friends. Over time, my close friends and I started going on camping trips together. We call ourselves "The Happy Campers," which might sound cheesy, but it suits us. Our kids have grown up together during these trips, and taking them camping has been one of the best things in my life. Now, I have two grandsons, aged four and six, and I absolutely love camping with them. They're curious and eager to try activities like fishing, making it so much fun!
To me, camping is all about family, enjoyment, and escaping the everyday routine. It's a time to relax and connect with loved ones. What's even better is that camping is not only my passion but also my work. I'm fortunate to be able to design tents and other camping gear as part of my job. So, camping is not just my lifestyle but also my livelihood, and I'm grateful for the people around me who share this journey.
We put a lot of effort into ensuring our products are durable and will last for a long time. We work with reliable factories and have significant input in designing our tents to suit our specific conditions.
While some brands purchase off-the-shelf tents designed for the U.S. or European markets, we create our tents specifically for our local environment. As a Queensland company, we know how important ventilation is for camping during hot summers, so our tents are designed with that in mind. They can also be zipped up for use during colder months. We carefully choose the fabrics we use to enhance their quality.
When it comes to chairs, we have long-standing relationships with reliable factories. We trust that our products will last, even if it means they don't need replacing as often. Our main goal is to have customers enjoy our products and know they can rely on their durability.
It's a problem for everyone when people leave piles of trash at campgrounds. It's crucial to take your own rubbish away and dispose of it properly, especially in the beautiful areas of the country. If something is broken, take it with you and try to find a place that can recycle it.
We also focus on making our products last longer. We don't want them to be replaced every year or after just one trip. It's essential for everyone to consider the longevity of the products they buy, asking themselves if it's durable or just a cheap, short-term option.
When you see a product that seems like it will last a long time, it might be worth spending a little extra. In the end, you'll save money by not having to replace items like chairs every couple of years.
Our company is aware of this, and we aim to create products that last a long time, meeting people's expectations for quality and durability.
Probably my favourite memory is when we took our kids camping for the first time. We went to Bigriggen, (the) kids hadn't been before. We argued about putting up the tent, and I don't think my husband was much of a camper. I'd camped all my life, and I don't think he was much for a camper. So if he hears this, he might argue.
But the kids wanted to get involved. They loved it; they rode their bikes, played, looked for the possums, and cooked over the campfire and stuff. And to me, that was probably my favourite camping trip ever because we had started something, and my kids are in their mid to late 20s now, and they still go camping, and they still ask us if they can come camping with us. So for me, that's my favourite memory because it's been continual; it just hasn't stopped.
I think it's a brand that stands for Family Values.
We very much try to make sure that anything that people are planning on doing in their camping trip is going to be hassle-free. You can go, you can set the tent up. Can't guarantee there might be arguments because you know, different situations. But, there are videos, there are instructions, there are air tents—where you don't have to put the fly on, you can do it yourself.
There's a variety of things to make your camping trip easy, special enjoyable, comfortable. I think that's much else you want to do when you go on a camping trip, set up, slide the fire, and enjoy.
I think quality camping products should be durable and simple. you don't want anything too complicated. The technical side of things can be in the background, but it needs to be simple to use and durable.
Going camping and not having enough room or being too frustrated when you're putting things up, pulling them down, or trying to assemble them just sets the tone for a pretty measurable weekend or a holiday.
So I think it's important to have products that are easy to use, last a long time and that you can have confidence is a big thing once you've used it and you know it's going to work; there's no going back.
So, I had somebody contact me recently that's got some of our lumbar chairs, our old lumbar chairs. Before the new grey colour, they were classy looking red and blue. They are still using those chairs, but they needed replacement bags. That's all they needed! So, we were able to help them by supplying them with replacement bags, and the chairs are still going strong! That's a testament to the quality.
We haven't had the red and blue chairs for probably six or seven years? So, yeah I would say they'd probably be about seven years old. They travel around a lot. They obviously look after their product, which is wonderful to see. But, yeah, it was nice to have somebody comment on how sturdy they were and how reliable they were after all those years and all they needed was a new carry bag.
I had a gentleman contact us just recently who has one of our older model weekender tents. Our previous model had a door at the front and the rear. The new model has a door at the front and a gusseted window at the back. And, his fly had been misplaced. And he's probably had the tent for five or six years, and it was good for us to be able to say to him, "Yep! No problem. We have a fly. We can help you out with that and make your tent operational and functional again." So, he was very very pleased. He loves the tent, it's always been very reliable for him. He just wanted to make sure he could keep using it, and now he can!
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I think as a young bloke in Western Queensland, traveling around. I used to work out of Charleville. And, yeah pulling up a swag behind the gidgee log on a winter's night in Southwest Queensland with the stars... It was just fantastic. It'd take your breath away.
Then, camping with the family. After we left Surat... came down and we were in the camping business. And we went back and camped on the river with the family. And that was... that's very, that's memorable to me.
And then, what I call camping with the cat. I've got the dog now. But I'm camping with the cat, with the catamaran up on Lake Cootharaba. There was a great thing with the family....You know, just...It made a difference! There was no TV. There was nothing. It was just us.
As you say, there are other products which are slightly in different fields to ours. For example, we're not particularly in the four-wheel drive field, although we have very good products for that field, but that's not our specialty. Our specialty is family camping. And within that range we have always tried to produce something better. And, we have very experienced people who all camp and who've all camped with families.
So, we have a very good grip on what a family needs when they go camping. And then, we look at it and we think, "So what do we need to do? What is it that would be good to do?" So, what we do that is good is produce a better quality product. We take a lot of time.
Sandy, our general manager, takes a lot of time over going over chairs in detail to make sure they're they're sewn right, they're built right and they're comfortable. He takes a lot of time over going over tents. They're sewn right, how do they work and how are they comfortable, how are they... Does it serve people when they actually use the thing?
I think that's what sets us apart. We have a group of people who really think about, carefully about, what we do, and what we produce, and is it good for people. It's not just some thing we make up a story about and want to flog. It's a real product that will be great for people.
It's hard, I think. You know I've got degrees and I understand physics and chemistry and stuff, and we put a bit of that into our product. Sandy has this great experience in camping. Peta the same. And we put that into our product. The average person...It's like me buying a computer. I don't have a damn clue about how the things work. And when a person goes to buy a tent, it's the same.
And I think that people can have confidence in our brand. We try to do the right thing. We try to build a better product. We try to make a product that will last a long time. We try to make a product that makes camping enjoyable for people.
So, that's where we aim to be. We want to be people that families and other people can have confidence in.
I think they're mainly people... Firstly, we would like to have customers who really want to look after their gear. Our gear is worth looking after. Secondly, I think that our customer is really interested in quality and they're really interested in the technical details, and they're prepared to look further.
Our stuff's not expensive if you look at it in terms of what it gives you. It's really good value, and people are prepared to look at a bit of technical detail about things. Our stuff is, it's stronger or it it provides more... You know when you're camping, a several years ago and there was some three things there were most... three things I can only remember two, but waterproofing, of course, and ventilation you know, and if you look at our tents... they're far superior to anything else around in both those categories.
We need people who are interested in having that quality of product and that's what they want. They want something that will last and they want something that they will enjoy for a long time.
They have to be suited to the purpose. They have to be useful. There's a lot of products being sold that aren't useful as far as camping goes. Camping's, in its own way, is pretty simple. They've got to be useful to people and they've got to be easy to use. So tent's got to be easy to put up.
The furniture's got to be easy to assemble. Your kitchen tables and so forth have to be reasonably easy to assemble, compact. There's a whole lot of considerations there and we try to cover a few options in that regard. I think above all, that the gear is of a quality that it will last. It's not going to fall apart on the first use.
The other thing about that is providing the accessories for the gear. For example, if you have a tent and and you put it up. You buy this tent and you put it up, and it's got little pegs. And you know, in soft ground, the first thing that's going to happen in the wind is they're going to pull up, and the whole thing tears apart.
Having good pegs in the tent might add 30 or 40 or 50 dollars to its retail price. But what the heck is a tent without pegs that will stay in the ground? So we pay attention to accessories that will make the whole thing work. It's... you don't buy just a tent and you don't buy just a table. You're buying a system of things that you need to work. That's what we try to produce, really. It's a system of things that work for that group, a particular group of people.
One of the things that motivated us to start Outdoor Connection was the family camping experience. Connection of family and friends with the bush by day and, at night, the wondrous glory of the never ending stars (paraphrasing Banjo Paterson).
There’s nothing quite like just sitting around a fire with all your friends and loved ones recalling memories, telling stories and generally having a laugh.
That’s why we decided to share the love for this experience by inviting two families for a wonderful camping weekend at North Stradbroke Island.
But before we get to that, let’s talk a little bit about Straddie!
It is such a beautiful place and a favourite summer and winter camping ground in Queensland. The island is surrounded by clear, blue waters and natural, white sand beaches. It is managed by the local indigenous people with the traditional respectful beliefs and practices around nature of the First Nations people. It is home to many of Australia’s protected wildlife species.
We couldn’t ask for a better place for our trip. The best part was that everyone had plenty of time to enjoy all the outdoor fun Straddie had to offer. Our guests found our gear was so quick, easy and simple to put up, meaning they could easily get back down to the beach or explore the bush.
One family had a go at the Aria Elite 3 Air Pole Tent and they pumped it up in a matter of minutes! The tent also provided them with plenty of comfort as it is specially designed, with great ventilation and space, specifically for the Aussie climate.
Over at the beach, the ladies and gents didn’t waste time winding down either! They instantly set up the Fiesta Sun Shelter to have some nice shade while enjoying a few drinks - no need to try to crowd under an umbrella for some shade. Anything else they needed was easily brought over with the Off Road Hauler, a handy wagon that easily rolls across the sand.
The Outdoor Connection gear continued to deliver at every step of the way, even during lunchtime! The guests cooked up a feast on the Premier Burner stove, where all the food was done just right. These Premier Stoves have regulated gas pressure, with superior flame adjustment, making the cooking heat easy to manage. The stainless steel tray makes the cleanup afterwards a breeze.
Larger shelters, such as the Coolum 430, provided plenty of shade elsewhere. This shelter is compact shelter for transport. It then sets up to be high, wide and spacious. The whole family could pull up some chairs, sit down together and still have plenty of legroom and ‘walk-around’ space.
Speaking of sitting down, the Outdoor Connection team provided plenty of quality chairs to relax in, including the Rocking Director Chair and the Daydreamer Lounger. These too have been designed to be compact and quick to set up, all while still being sturdy and incredibly comfortable. Along with that, our Dual Height Trifold Table proved handy as its height could be adjusted to first, work bench height for food preparation and then to dining height for the family to sit around.
All in all, our guests loved so many different parts of the trip and were happy to say their experience with our Outdoor Connection gear was just fabulous.
We design our products so that these kinds of experiences can be fully enjoyed. We know all too well the stories of families who had been put off camping entirely just because the gear they used fell apart and didn’t provide the security and living comfort to make their stay a pleasant one. Inferior gear that breaks just turns the whole experience into an ordeal.
That’s why our mission is to turn this around by making gear that is great quality, comfortable and lasts through many years creating great family memories. It’s our way of getting more families to enjoy what our guests just did at Straddie. We hope you’ll get to experience that same joy.
Transcript:
G'day, I'm Sandy from Outdoor Connection! Today, I'm going to tell you a little bit about our Tanbar Air Pole Tent. You may have seen some of the videos from our Aria Elite Range. So why is the Tanbar Air different?
Firstly, the Tanbar is made of canvas. It's a 220-gram polycotton canvas, It's lightweight but it's very strong and durable. Because it's canvas, it doesn't need a fly like the polyester tents.
So that makes it quicker and easier to set up. Also, because it's canvas it does breathe a little as well and lets the condensation out, but it's still waterproof.
It also has a PVC floor this is good because it's heavy-duty, strong and it's a bucket floor which means it comes up at the sides a little about 10 to 15 centimetres. This is good because it gives a better water protection from the groundwater.
So the window covers here are full length, they can roll all the way up to the top of the tent. Or if you only want it half, fold it down, tuck it in like that. So the full length window covers inside, can be zipped right down to the floor or about halfway down if you like.
Like many of the Outdoor Connection tents, this tent has Ventraflow which gives you a cross-flow of air down low where you're sleeping. These can also be left out during heavy rain.
Tanbar Air also features a very large rear window. The sides are gusseted so that allows you to have the window open at night for privacy, but also for ventilation. Particularly if it's raining you'll still get your ventilation.
If you like, it can be unzipped and pegged right out like further, or rolled up altogether or closed altogether in the cold weather.
One great feature of this tent is the headroom. This is quite a large tent inside it's three metres wide by 2.8 deep and it's got plenty of headroom. I'm six foot one on the old scale and I can stand here without touching the roof.
This tent's been set up with the three-pole awning out. It has three adjustable awning poles that come with the tent and it can set it up here with a pitch on it so that allows the rain to run off when it's raining. That allows you to have the awning up in the rain.
We've also set the tent up with the optional awning sidewalls. These just velcro along the edge and tie off at the tent and an eyelet through the top there.They can be pegged at an angle like this, or they can be pegged straight down to the ground, or with a couple of extra poles, you can peg it out as an extended awning area. This gives excellent weather protection and shade but still allows ventilation.
The tent also comes with a little padlock like this and that's just great for just locking the two zipper heads together, to give you a bit of added security when you leave the tent.
The Tanbar Air is a very quick and easy tent to set up. If you're stopping just quickly overnight, and there's no wind you could probably just set it up with six pegs. We see it as a modern tourer tent, only with a lot more headroom. So that's the Tanbar Air tent!
Go and check out our video with the instructions on how to set it up. And that's all from me, today happy camping!
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Transcript:
G'day! I'm Sandy from Outdoor Connection. We get a lot of questions about how long it takes to put up a tent.
Today we're going to put up the Aria Elite 2. It's an inflatable tent.
And then we've also got a Bedarra 2R Tent here as well.
And just as a comparison, some of our competitors have some pretty bold claims about how quick they can set up their tents.
So we've got one of the Instant Up 10 person two-room tents here. So all three of these are two-room tents.
A little bit different in actual sizes but they're all two-room. So this one has a as I said a pretty bold claim of a three minute setup time.
So we're going to test that we're going to follow their instructions to a tea, and we'll see exactly how long it does take to set the tent up.
Okay, so that's it the Aria Elite 2. It taken us ten minutes. So I think this is pretty damn good!
The advantage of the Aria Elite 2 is that it's an air pole tent, you can leave the fly on so it doesn't waste time putting the fly on.
So the Aria Elite 2 is the largest of the three tents, it's one of our premium models, and it's quick and easy to set up as you can see.
Okay ,so we've got this tent up. It's taken a bit over 12 minutes, and that's the bare minimum we haven't put the awning out but we've done everything else. We've put the guy ropes out which are in the instructions and pegged it out fully. So that's how long it took us.
Right, so that's the Bedarra. Taken 14 minutes and 16 seconds, so only about 2 minutes longer than that.
We do have more pegs on this tent it's a little bit larger tent and it's going to be more secure with those pegs out. And also we did muck around a little bit with the fly because the last person who used it didn't pack it up properly, and have all the zips down up so that took a little bit longer as well. The grand scheme of things is very similar time as the instant up tent.
Transcript:
I have a customer who needs a small pole for their tent.
In this case, I know what they need, it's a 9.5mm fibreglass pole. So we’re using a pole repair kit. And we’re going to cut the poles to length and thread them together to make the pole for the customer.
So we need to have a hacksaw, a file to take off the burred edges, a pen is always good to be able to mark the length of the pole, and then when we go to thread the pole, we’ll use the needle and thread and some scissors to cut the shock cord. So the first thing we’ll do, measure the pole out. I’m going measure it on one that’s only got a ferrule on one end and no ferrule on the other.
Now that I’ve marked the pole, we’re going to put it in the vice. I have a vice that I can use here, but if you don’t have a vice, you could use a brick and your foot, or a couple of pieces of wood between it, just something that will hold it still while cutting it.
So you want to take the hacksaw. With the hacksaw, you just want to apply gentle pressure, don’t force it, otherwise, it will splint the pole.
Okay. So now our pole has been cut the length. On the end, it can be a little bit sharp and a little bit splintery, so if you grab a file and just bevel off the edges.
There is a small indent in the ferrule, I’m going to cut the pole to just below that. We have some more ferrules. I’m making this one.
Since it’s got two ferrules on it. The others only have. So it’s got a ferrule, and then this one’s got a ferrule and this one’s got two ferrules because it needs it to go into the pole sleeve.
So this ferrule will go onto that end and I’ll glue it on and it makes that the same length as that. So that’s my three poles.
We’re going to start with threading the poles together. I use a needle and thread. It’s just easy to guide it through. I just feed the needle through the top of the shock cord and do a little knot, just as a keeper, just to keep it there so it doesn’t pull out when I’m pulling on it. We'll start at the end without a ferrule.
If the knots creating a problem and the needles not going through, maybe just put a bit of tape on it, So its not got something to catch on.
If it snags in the pole, sometimes just give it a bit of a bounce and a jiggle, so it can gravity feed its way through. Just make sure you’ve got the fibreglass at the ferrule end, not the other way around.
Snip your shock cord off close down at the bottom. Put a knot in it. That’s going to go through there.
Give the shock cord a bit of a tug so it’s got still a little bit of slack, but not really really long. Tie a knot so it won't go back through.
This one here, because we’ve got a ferrule on each end, I’ll get some glue. We have a set of poles.
]]>Like you already needed a few reasons anyway? Right?!
Well…whether you’re keen-campers or simply exploring something new for your family this summer, we want to tell you some of the greatest benefits that a tent in nature has to offer.
When we reconnect with nature, we all notice the positive shifts in our moods but beyond that…what’s really happening?
According to ‘Camping in the Outdoors’, a study conducted by Kenneth, Andrew, Brian, Brandon, Thomas, & Evan (2013), our circadian clock resets in a nature-filled environment (Ali, 2020).
Basically, when we are kept away from artificial light for an extended period, our body clock’s start to rhythmically align with solar time. This allows our brains to relax, stabilize our moods and keep us feeling fresh in the mornings.
So, jump into nature with your family and find that therapeutic reset in your sleeping pattern. Outdoor Connection’s Aurora Sleeping Bags & Self Inflating Mattresses, can really make a difference when it comes to getting a comfortable night’s sleep.
Not only do the adults get a chance to unwind and reduce stress, but the kids also gain a great social benefit as studies further mention that adolescents are exposed to a wide variety of social support. There are no fences between tents. So, kids naturally interact and make friends with others. Of course, this means they interact with other parents and get to feel a general sense of ‘belonging’. This ultimately provides a stronger sense of protection and well-being to their overall mental health (Ali, 2020).
Have that family connection that we all want and need.
If you are taking the time to fully immerse yourself with nature, you may see it as an opportunity to disconnect from technology or, specifically, mobile phones.
Although technology will always have its necessary benefits in terms of navigation, meeting up with fellow campers and checking in with loved ones, camping allows us to just be present. In the now, we have the opportunity to slow down and authentically connect with our families in such a rapidly moving world.
According to research conducted by Dickinson, Hibbert & Filimonau on ‘Mobile technology and the tourist experience’ their findings on a survey of 100 campers stated that “50% of respondents consider camping a time to avoid mobile communication” (Dickinson, Hibbert & Filimonau, 2016).
With 50% of campers favouring disconnecting from mobile technology, it might be worthwhile to, at least, limit your own mobile interactions. Connecting with nature and your family will do wonders for your mental well-being. After all, great memories lie in the foundations of beautiful environments and what better way to connect than with your family relaxed around a campfire. The Daydreamer Lounger & Junior Camper Chairs are just made for such an occasion. Perfect!
Camping with the family can provide us with the best of holidays that is also easiest on the family budget however, a bit of planning and awareness can make a difference to how much we spend while making our holiday even better.
There are free sites in national parks to cost-friendly campsites ranging between an average of $35-65/night (Budget Camping, 2021). There are plenty of savings to be had. For a family getting out there, observing the sights and indulging a sense of adventure, is important for the bonding process. We can try to do that without breaking the family bank.
Through seeking beautiful wildlife destinations, the constant allurement of retail, especially with younger children on the scene, is taken out of the equation. The temptation to spend disappears while the appreciate of this beautiful world grows. There IS a wonderful world away from technology and shops.
As family campers ourselves we understand how easy it is to impulsively spend money with the kids. So a holiday budget can be important. Setting up a weekly budget and shopping list that optimises your food expenses is a worthwhile exercise. This particularly applies to lengthy trips across Australia or trips to more isolated locations. Not everything is available everywhere.
If you are looking for a nice family outing away from the campsite, but aren’t looking to drop too much coin, perhaps visiting local lunch cafés, or RSL’s with food specials might be an avenue to explore. On the other hand if you’re having a BBQ over the campfire, Outdoor Connection’s new Compact Camp Kitchen, Easy-as Stove Stand & Fortis Table were made for your family’s outdoor eating experience and convenience.
Outdoor Connection – “Quality you can see, feel & trust.”
Bibliography:
Ali, S., 2020. Camping Activity Benefit and Suggestion. The International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention, 7(05), pp.5954-5957.
Dickinson, J., Hibbert, J. and Filimonau, V., 2016. Mobile technology and the tourist experience: (Dis)connection at the campsite. Tourism Management, [online] 57, pp.193-201. Available at: <http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/24168/1/Dickinson%20et%20al%202016%20open%20accesss%20version.pdf> [Accessed 13 December 2021]. Travellers Autobarn. 2021. Budget Camping. [online] Available at: <https://www.travellers-autobarn.com.au/blog/guide-to-budget-camping-in-australia> [Accessed 13 December 2021].
Travellers Autobarn. 2021. Budget Camping. [online] Available at: <https://www.travellers-autobarn.com.au/blog/guide-to-budget-camping-in-australia> [Accessed 13 December 2021].
These Premium Family Tents provides a wide space and comfort that makes the tents a place not just for sleeping but a place to hang-out and relax in.
by: Outdoor Connection | $1,399.95 (3-bedroom)
Inflatable Instant Up Air Pole three room family tent. Easy and quick set up from bag to move in – just 12 minutes. Quicker and easier than traditional “Instant Up” tents. Waterproof, cool, and strong! A spacious comfortable family tent that is ideal for that family weekend away or for an extended holiday.
It has ‘EzIPak Drop-In’ Carry Bag with fold-over flaps. Two compression straps with durable Snap-Lock buckles. No more struggling to get the tent in the bag.
by: Outdoor Connection | $1,299.95 (3-bedroom)
The Outdoor Connection Galaxy Plus offering ‘out of this world’ space with three large bedrooms and a screened sunroom, is Australia’s largest premium quality dome tent – a secure comfortable ‘Homestead’ for your family holiday.
The Galaxy Hybrid Square Pole System, with a square center structure, makes this extra-large tent very strong and stable while also being very simple, quick and easy to erect.
by: Outdoor Connection | $1099.95 (3-bedroom)
The Outdoor Connection Galaxy is truly Australia’s premium quality family tent designed to maximize the enjoyment of your family holiday. The Galaxy offers space ‘out of this world’ with three extra-large rooms and high roofline running the full length of the tent. The whole family can have that ‘fling your arms out and breathe in feeling’ - all at the same time!
The Galaxy Hybrid Square Pole System, with a square center structure, makes this large tent very strong and stable while also being very simple, quick and easy to erect.
by: Outdoor Connection | $849.95 (3-room)
The Brampton three room family dome tent features great family space and comfort. Three large bedrooms, with 210 cm peak height over the full length of the tent, provide that great ‘fling your arms out’ feeling. Fresh air ventilation is a must on those hot Australian summer nights. Four large ‘Floor to Eave’ windows and four large Omega doors give maximum flow-through ventilation in every direction. Fresh air and coolness right down to ground level where you sleep!
These are Premium Family Tents with tall headroom and wide floor area that can be made into a two-room tent by attaching a room divider.
by: Outdoor Connection | $1,599.00 (2-room)
The Outdoor Connection Tanbar Air XL is a larger more versatile version of the popular canvas Tanbar Air. This large one canvas one room tent is quickly and easily be converted to 2 rooms with the supplied hanging room divider. Family tent that's perfect for newly weds or a small family.
This spacious and rugged canvas Tourer tent is ideal for a couple of adults or a small family and is perfect for overnight travelling and extended stays with plenty of space for sleeping and storage.
High, near vertical, sidewalls provide excellent ‘walk-around’ space and headroom. No more bending over to walk around in your tent.
by: Outdoor Connection | $1,049.95 (2-room)
Inflatable Air Pole Instant Up Two Room Family Tent with Air Pole Technology. Easy set-up in about ten minutes ‘from bag to ready to move in”. Quicker and easier to erect than traditional ‘Instant Up’ tents.
Manufactured from superior, stronger and more waterproof fabrics and material, this Aria Elite 2 Tent with two spacious bedrooms plus a large awning provides a real feeling of plenty of room for all the family and privacy when it is needed. The generous peak height and high near-vertical side walls provide plenty of walk-around headroom. The extra height in the tent also helps maintain a cooler environment.
by: Outdoor Connection | $699.95 (2-room)
Outdoor Connection Bedarra 2R family dome tent is a deluxe two-room tent built with the Hornet pole system designed to maximise space and stability and is really easy to erect. Unlike traditional dome tents, the poles bend at the top, making the walls nearly vertical. This ensures plenty of headroom throughout. It also comes with a ventraflow panel on both sides of the tent that allows a cross-flow of air.
This tent is made with 100 Denier HiCount Fly Fabric that is heavier than usual, providing superior strength and durability. Indeed a difference you can feel. The tent features two large bedrooms with generous space and comfort for couples or small families. With 179 cm near-vertical high side walls and 210 cm peak height running the full length of the tent, you get that feeling of wanting to ‘fling your arms out and breathe in’, even while inside your tent. Exceptional ventilation means you enjoy the fresh air coming in all around on those warm summer nights. While, even in the heaviest rain, you stay dry and secure.
We sat down with Bill, the founder of Outdoor Connection, to find out how it kicked off.
Learn more about how the business started back in 1984.
Transcript:
I just want to describe an air pole, and how it works. Probably the best way of describing it is it's like an old football. If you take the bladder out of an old football and pump that up, it blows up to a much larger size than the football.
It's the skin of the football that keeps its shape and allows the pressure. It's much the same as with one of these air poles. This is just one of the sample poles that we have but,
There's a Boston valve on there which is where you pump it up,
And inside there's a bladder. Now the bladders oversized and it's made of a thing called Thermoplastic Polyurethane or TPU.
So this plastic has excellent characteristics for stretch, it can stretch up to quite a large size, but the sleeve that the bladder goes into is what gives it its shape and keeps its size.
They've also got some flexibility and they are strong and they'll spring back into shape.
So what I'm going to do here is, I'm going to pump this bladder up and show you that it can grow a lot larger than what the actual air pole is.
So you can see already it's getting larger. So we thought we'd have a bit of fun and see if we could burst this, and you can see, Look how big it's got compared to its normal size.
So you can see it's never going to burst inside this tube. I'm a bit puffed because I've been pumping for ages. It's still under 5 psi by the way.
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The Outdoor Connection Tanbar Air XL is a larger more versatile version of the popular canvas Tanbar Air. This large one canvas one room tent is quickly and easily be converted to 2 rooms with the supplied hanging room divider.
Transcript:
G'day I'm sandy from Outdoor Connection.
Air pole tents have been around for a while now but a lot of people are still worried about how strong they are.
This is our new Outdoor Connection Tanbar Air XL and we're going to show you exactly how strong this is.
HOLDEN COLORADO UTE VS. OUTDOOR CONNECTION TANBAR AIR XL
Well, a few adjustments and it's all up again.
So it was pretty extreme sort of test a two and a half ton truck driving over a tent,
just goes to prove how strong the Outdoor Connection Air Pole Tents are.
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Australia’s premium quality family tent designed to maximise the enjoyment of your family holiday. The Galaxy offers space ‘out of this world’ with three extra large rooms and high roofline running the full length of the tent.
Transcript:
G'day I'm Sandy from Outdoor Connection. I'm going to show you today how to erect the Galaxy tent. One of our largest tents and the instructions for this are basically the same for the Galaxy Plus.
The first step after you've unrolled the tent, is to lay it out on the ground and peg out the four corners. Start at one end and make sure it's taut across. Go to the other end of the tent and pull it up along and make sure it's taut. Taut but not really tight. Once you've pegged out the corners, just peg out along both sides.
Next we'll be putting our fiberglass poles in there's two black poles two yellow and four grey. They're colour-coded to make it easier to set up the tent. Now we're going to slide the two black poles in first so, they're the cross poles, and you can tell which sleeve because the sleeves are black.
We use pole sleeves wherever we can with our tents, this is because it spreads the load over the whole seam and it gives a better structure and a stronger structure to the tent. Now put the pole into this yoke here. The one for the black pole is this middle one here, and this is your upright pole. Just slides in there and do the same at the other end.
Next we take the yellow poles and they run lengthways along the tent. Put them into this bracket again, bend it over and put it in the other end. Then put the clips on. The four grey poles go across the tent. One at each end and two on this square here. We'll do these first, and then clip it on, same for the other side.
So this is how the middle section should look now. The grey pole goes in the grey sleeve. It goes into this elbow, the elbow has a smaller hole and a larger hole the fibreglass pole goes into the smaller hole like that. So now we're putting the black steel poles together. These poles form the uprights for the sides. At one end there's a rubber cap with a small hole in it, that's the bottom of the pole.
Put all the clip over of the steel poles to secure them. Okay the next step is to take the fly and drag it over the tent. It's pretty windy here today so we've laid out the fly lengthways and we'll drag it over the top. If you find the corners where the webbing straps are that's the best place to hold. So Josh and I are going to take it over the tent now.
Position the fly so that this part here is at your top corner. Underneath the fly here and along each pole there's a tie, so the next step is to take the tie and tie it around the pole and that secures the fly to the tent. Now we're ready to peg out the fly. Peg out the corners first and then you can fill in along the sides. Start about seven to 10 cm out from the last peg.
You can tension it if it's necessary by that strap. When you peg out from the other end, pull the tent nice and taut and peg it down. You can use this strap to tension it if need be. Doing it this way ensures that the side of the tent is in the right position when we're pegging it out. What I'm going to show you now, is how to set up the end door as an awning.
We use three poles for this and that gives a little pitch to allow the rain to run off if necessary. We've already put the pegs in because it's pretty windy today so, set it up there like that, slide up your cord lock. It's best if the two side poles are slightly lower than the centre pole.
There's a Velcro tab up under here as well that you can put onto the tent and we use this clip here to tension the fly, that just takes some of the sag out of it. The sidewall of the galaxy is made up of three separate panels, and they can be pegged out completely as one whole long side wall or individually if you like as well.
Another feature of the galaxy are these little short guy ropes at the bottom of the sidewalls. These allow you to peg it out like that, and that gives you a flow of air down low into the tent.
Now we're going to show you how to pack up the tent. First thing, make sure all the doors and windows are open slightly, particularly at the bottom, that just allows the air to get out more easily.
For the fly however, make sure you do up all the doors and windows it's easier to fold and it also makes it easier to set up the tent next time. Now we're going to pull out all the pegs from the fly, undo the ties at the top of the corner, and take the fly off. We're using the Outdoor Connection Peg Puller as it makes life much easier.
Now we're going to take the fly off. The best way to do that is to pull it off one of the long sides, because we want to fold it in half lengthways. This guy rope at the middle of door is a halfway point so we want to fold it in half along this line, so the best way is to grab that, and then continue pulling it up like that.
Once you've got it to there, take this big triangular piece and fold it over. So now we're going to take this right over the tent, and we'll fold it again. Now we've folded the fly into one long rectangle and that's how we'll roll it up, but make sure all the bottom of the fly is at one end, and we'll roll to that end and push the air out as we go.
Next, we'll remove the steel poles and then the fibreglass poles. The best way to take a fibreglass pole out of the sleeve is to put it on the bend like that, that locks the ferrules, and it won't come apart as you pull it out. Now we'll remove all the side pegs but leave the corners until last.
So I've taken out the corner pegs now we're going to fold it in half, and we'll take out the last two pegs. It's a good idea if you've got a broom just give it a quick sweep get all the dirt off the floor of the tent, keeps your tent clean and tidy. Now we're going to fold it over a quarter into the middle, and the other side over into the middle, and then we'll fold it on top of itself again.
Now we take the folded fly and we lay it over on top of the tent. We're going to roll it up towards the open end of the inner tent and the open end of the fly. As we roll it up towards the end there it pushes all the air out and you get a nice tight roll.
The best way to put the tent into the carry bag is to place the bag upside down and over the tent and then roll it up. The oversize carry bag makes this job easy. There's also another carry bag for all your poles and pegs.
That's how you set up and pack down a Galaxy tent. Check out all our products on our website, and until next time, happy camping!
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Aria Elite 2 Inflatable Camping Tent
Transcript:
G'day I'm Sandy from Outdoor Connection. Today I'm going to show you how to erect our Aira Elite 2. Now, this is the same as the Aria Elite 1 and Aria Elite 3 instructions so it's basically all the same way.
Right, so from out of the box you'll have the inner tent, the fly, bag of awning poles and a bag of pegs. Right once you've selected your spot, check the area for any sharp stones, rocks, broken glass or anything like that, that may damage the floor. You could always use an Outdoor Connection Duramesh Tarp and that will give you extra protection to your floor. Okay, now we're just going to unfold the tent and peg out all 4 corners.
So these corner straps are adjustable. Move them out so they're about halfway to normal that they would normally go. Now we'll peg out the 4 corners just make sure it's taut but not super tight. Right there's three separate main poles and there's a Boston valve at the bottom of each one. Screw the main body of the Boston valve into the pole, like that and make sure the caps off.
Put your pump in and we pump it up to about 7 psi. Just a little tip, make sure you have the front door at the right end before you start pumping it up. There's 2 ridge poles. The longer one is for the rear room shorter ones for the front room. When you set it up, make sure the Boston valve is facing the side.
Open this panel in the roof, put it up attach one end onto the velcro on the main poles, pull down a little bit like that and drop it onto the velcro at the other end, and zip up your panel. From the factory the fly is separate, so after the first time you put the fly over you won't have to do it again you leave the fly on the tent.
We're going to show you how to put the fly over. Make sure you've got the right end of the fly, the front end has two doors on it, the rear end has windows. The end with the logo is a front end of the tent. The next step now is to attach the fly to the tent, we do that by these velcro tabs there's one for the back of the pole one for the front and we started tabs there's one for the back of the pole one for the front and we started ridge pole here because it makes it a bit easier.
So take it around put it on the back and then on the front. There's two other velcro points one at the top of the wall and another one halfway down the pole. You need to do the same on all three poles but don't forget first time you do it is the only time you will have to ever do it. Okay now we're going to peg out all 4 corners, sometimes you can use the existing peg but it's usually better to take it out another 10 centimeters just on the same 45-degree angle out from the corner.
This gets a better tension along the side of your tent. Once you've done the corners I like to peg out the front and rear doors of the fly and then go along the sides. For the front doors just make sure you put it through the double loop like that. When pegging out the sides you can use a tie on the inner tent and a loop from the fly on the same peg if your position it in the right position, and do it like that.
Sometimes it doesn't matter how strong your pegs are, rocks under the ground, tree roots, all sorts of things and the pegs do get bent. So what's the best way to fix them. I've seen a lot of people try and do it on a tree stump or a bit of concrete best way I found is to do it on the ground if you just tap it in and get the head of it in place first, give it a good whack like that on the ground, the ground absorbs a lot of the shock and the peg gets quite quickly.
This tent, the Aria Elite 2, is equipped with Ventraflow panels. We're going to show you how it's pegged out. Pull it out and peg it out about 45 degrees to the corner. The corner guy ropes are stored in these little pockets here, should always be used whenever your tents up. If it's really windy you can put out these extra ones down the side that just helps protect them for blowing in a bit on the edge. Figure it out about 50 centimeters from the corner of your tent.
So when you put the guy ropes set, just make sure you put a twist in and that'll stop them humming in the breeze if there's rain. Right, now we're going to set up the 3 pole awning for this tent. The Aria Elite 2 comes with 4 awning poles and that's so you can put the side doors out as an awning if you want. But for this exercise we only need 3 so, don't need these.
Okay, to take out the sag at the back of the awning we have this clip up here so just clip that the strap in to buckle there and draw it up like that and that takes a sag out of it. Once you've got the awning up you can take out this little side flap and roll it up. That gives you a bit more space out here under your awning. Right that's it all set up ready to go.
Next, we'll show you how to pack it down. Before you do that we've taken all the pegs out in the awning down already except for the four corner pegs. I've taken out the ridge poles already and it's just a matter of opening the valves on the main poles. Now we're actually going to fold the tent up. We'll leave the corner pegs in because that just makes it easier.
So we're going to take the top of the tent in the fly lift it up take it towards the back and then fold it back on itself. So now we'll do the sides it's the same thing we lift it up from the top corners take it over and bring it back. Next, we remove the 4 corner pegs and then we can fold the tent up.
Now I usually lay the ridge poles just over the top like that and they can be rolled up with the tent. So now we're going to fold the tent in half and then in thirds. Okay so now I'm going to roll it up I like to use the poles just over the end there to give it something solid to roll over to start with. The other thing to remember is roll towards the end where the valves are open that way any air in the polls gets pushed out.
So when you roll it up use your knees a bit as well just to give helps push it down and keep it wrong with nice and tight. I always have the ties ready to go to use straight away and just tuck them under and tie it off. Now we're ready to put it in the carry bag, best way to do it is leave the tent on the ground, pull the carry bag over the top and then roll it over.
And there you go all packed up and ready to head off home, unfortunately. And we'll just drop it into our Off-Road Hauler here to make life a bit easier.
]]>Aria Elite 1 Inflatable Camping Tent
Inflatable Instant Up Air Pole One Room Tent with Air pole Technology. Easier and quicker to erect than traditional ‘Instant Up’ tents.
Aria Elite 2 Inflatable Camping Tent
Aria Elite 3 Inflatable Camping Tent
Transcript:
G'day I'm Sandy from Outdoor Connection Welcome to our Aria Elite Air Pole Range of tents. They come in three sizes the Aria Elite 3, being the three room the 2, two room and the 1, one room.
This is the Aria Elite 1. It's quite a large tent but it's only a one room. 3 metres wide x 2.8 metres deep and 205 centimetres high. Like the Outdoor Connection Resort Range, the Aria Elite Range has excellent headroom right throughout the tent. So the Aria Elite 1 has a large front door and a large rear window at the back.
The outside cover is gusseted so that you can have it out when it's raining. Like all our tents, we feature excellent ventilation through very long full-length windows but all the windows and doors have got privacy screens that you can zip up to keep it warmer in winter. So the Aria Elite 1 is ideal for a couple, single person or maybe even a small young family, it'd be a bit of a tight squeeze for the young family but you could fit four in here if you really wanted to.
So the large rear window has a gusseted section so that allows the rain to run off, but still allow ventilation. It can also be unzipped and rolled up out of the way to give you a much more ventilation.
This is the Aria Elite 2, it's a two room tent 5 metres long x 3 metres wide the backroom is 3 metres x 3 metres. It's got a door at the front and rear large windows in the rear room and doors on either side of the front room. All the doors and windows have privacy screens on it so that's a solid panel that goes over the mesh.
They can be rolled away to get maximum ventilation or closed up during winter just to keep it warmer. Being a 2 room tent, you can use the back as a bedroom and the front as a storage area or as a second bedroom. Like all the Arias it's got excellent headroom and full length doors and windows. All the Aria Elite tents have large pockets in each corner of the tent, things like your glasses, phone or wallet & keys can go in there.
This is the Aria Elite 3. It's a large tent 6.6 metres long x 3 metres deep. It has 3 rooms both the end rooms are 2.4 metres long and the middle room is 1800 mm long. The total width of the tent is 3 metres. As with the other Aria Elite tents this has excellent head room, plenty of space and large windows and doors for ventilation.
One of the features of both the Aria Elite 3 and the Aria Elite 2, is that they have this removable room divider so if you've got teenage sons and daughters and they like to be separated when you're camping, that can be just easily put into place. This little split here, is so that you can run lights like the Power Strip Light Bar Kit through the tent for lighting in each room.
You may have wondered what these little green hooks are? They're actually a door lock so you can clip it through the head of the zip like that and then the other one and someone from outside can't open your door.
One of the other features of the Aria Elite 3 is that both end doors can be set up with our traditional 3 pole awning but also the whole side wall can be set out as an awning like this, or if you like you can just set out any 1 of the 3 panels as an awning. So that's it for the Aria Elite Range, 3 excellent air pole technology tents.
Check out our website for the instructional video on how to set up the Aria tents and our whole product range. That's all for me now, Happy Camping!
]]>Weekender Dome Tent is a premium quality cabin style dome tent ideal for couples or singles on a weekend away or a comfortable longer stay.
Outdoor Connection Bedarra 2R tent is Australia’s premium quality two room tent for families or couples.
The Brampton three room family dome tent features great family space and comfort. Three large bedrooms, with peak height over the full length of the tent, provide that great ‘fling your arms out’ feeling.
If you are a pet lover, then you know how hard it is to leave your furry friend at home when going on a camping trip with the rest of the family. But often, that is exactly what you have to do as many locations do not allow pets.
While you can always choose to leave your pet pal with a relative or neighbour, we suggest you don’t deprive your constant companion the joy of the trip. Instead, what you can do is choose a camping location that is pet friendly.
There are quite a few such camping locations in Queensland; these place not only allow you to take your pet along, but also provide ample facilities for them. When going camping to one of these sites, you can be sure that your pet will have a great time.
To help you along with your task of choosing that perfect camping site, here’s a list of the top 5 pet friendly campsites in Queensland for you to consider visiting during the coming year.
Murphy’s Creek Escape
When camping in Queensland, you can’t afford to give Murphy’s Creek Escape a miss. With its charming location and natural bush setting, the Escape provides you with an unmatched panorama of nature that is sure to sooth your senses.
Go on a hike with your pet around the site, or take a walk on the beautiful, picturesque inland beach. And if you’re looking for some excitement you can even try out adventure activities such as the ropes course and archery; what’s more, if you are a biking enthusiast then you should certainly check out the dedicated mountain bike trail.
After you’re done with the day you can simply choose to unwind beneath the shade of the trees while taking in the scenery around you, or, in the evening, tell stories around the campfire. Just be sure to include your pets in any activity you do; this is sure to keep them as well as you happy.
Log Dump Camping Area
Tucked away in Tuan State Forest and located between Tin Can Bay and Boonooroo, Log Dump Camping Area is a wonderful getaway for you and your furry companion. Pine forests surround the campsite, lending it an isolated feel that only serves to increase its attraction. We suggest you visit here in late winter; it’s then that this region puts on a vibrant display of wildflowers.
You only need to make sure your pets are leashed and on their best behavior. The site allows campfires, so make sure your pets don’t get into or become the cause of an accident.
Queens Beach Tourist Village
Queens Beach Tourist Village is located just five kilometers from the Central Business District. Here you can take part in a number of camping activities and outdoor excursions. Add to that the picturesque scenery, and you’ve got yourself the perfect location for camping with your pets.
The Tourist Village is beautifully located in the midst of award winning garden sites, with an immaculate beach, playgrounds for the children and walking tracks for exercise, along with all the major amenities that you may need. Think of this as a home away from home, sans the four walls with the sky for a roof.
This location even provides places to stay in the form of self- contained cabins that serve the needs of all guests from multiple walks of life. Also, if you are looking for camping in a trailer or motor home there’s the option for that as well.
Overall, this is a must visit location if you are looking for an escape from the drudgery of everyday life, and want to spend time away from it all with just your pets, and maybe that special someone.
Gordon Country Campgrounds
Located in Goomburra, the Gordon Country Campgrounds offer ample space for your pets to run amok, all the while leaving you to enjoy some quality time. With over 4000 acres of open bushland, you can be sure that your pets will have more than enough room to stretch their legs, and then some. There is a small $3 fee for pets to stay at the campgrounds, which is payable upon arrival. This fee ensures that we can maintain a pet-friendly environment for all visitors. Additionally, please note that pets must be in proper health, have had all their shots, and should be restrained at night.
Golden Beach Holiday Park
If you are tired of bush camping and would like a change of scenery, then head for the Golden Beach Holiday Park in Caloundra for a beachside camping trip. Only an hour’s drive from Brisbane, this is one of the most attractive, and pet friendly, camp spots in Queensland.
Here you have access to the beach, beautiful seaside scenery and best of all, proximity to all modern amenities. So, if you are looking to get away from it all, yet stay in touch, this is the place to go.
Conclusion
Camping is best enjoyed with those who are special to us; and as pets are surely our most precious companions (other than humans!), we are certain that you don’t want to take a trip without them. However, restrictions often compel us not to take our furry friends along for the ride.
However, now that you have so many excellent options, there’s no need to leave your pet behind and spend the trip missing your ‘best mate’. So, the next time you decide to go on a camping trip, just get out your camping gear, load up the pets and head for your nearest pet friendly camping location from our list. We guarantee that you will come back with memories you will cherish forever.
And…so will your pets.
It’s a little over a month left for Australia Day, and as one of the first celebrations of the new decade, this year’s event must have some special significance. So, what are you thinking of doing with your family to make this day special? In case you don’t have anything specific planned (well, actually, even if you do!) you can always choose to celebrate the national holiday with a camping trip.
Camping trips are always special in the sense that they not only bring you closer to nature and family, they also let one have quite communes with oneself…far away from the hustle-bustle of the city. Camping lets you get lost in the wilderness, and in the process, you find your innermost self.
However, one of the most troubling facts that often bug family campers is what to do during the camping trips? How do you spend time apart from hiking and telling stories by the campfire? On top of that, if you go camping on Australia Day you need to commemorate your trip with something special.
Therefore, to help you gear up for the coming festivities, here’s a list of the top 5 activities that you can indulge in while on a camping trip on Australia Day.
There’s nothing that speaks to celebrating Australia than a well-done steak on the BBQ board! And an Australia Day camping trip is the perfect occasion to bring out the kit and try it on for size with some fresh meat.
What’s more, a barbecue can be a great place to get the family together and celebrate the spirit of the first pioneers when they landed on the shores down under.
Just remember to bring along your BBQ kit for the ride; it’ll be better if you are carrying a foldable variant, as these can save on the space required in the car. What’s more, make sure that if you are camping in the woods, you use fire responsibly; and if you are bringing your kids, then be certain they remain safe and secure at all times while the adults cook up the meal.
All in all, a barbecue during Australia Day camping trip can be a great occasion to celebrate the nation as well as your own family.
In our quest to win at the game of life, we often overlook the most important part of our existence: Nature. We are as much a part of nature as anything else on this Earth and Australia has a bountiful of natural wonders to explore.
And if you come to think about it, exploring nature doesn’t mean you have to stare at the trees all day and sigh in melancholic tones. Nature spotting can actually be rather fun! You can go bird watching and take stock of the nearby winged life; or if you are one of the many nature gatherers then you can start adding to your collection from the rocks, pine cones, and flowers that are sure to abound in the camping area.
While on the trip you can also tag the kids along, and teach them the importance of nature through activities such as nature photography, bug collecting and picking safe berries to eat. Just make sure to keep everyone close, and return to the campsite before darkness sets in.
Camping trips can be great occasions to get on your feet and exercise those rusty muscles. If you want to stay active and healthy this Australia Day, then consider taking the time to play some outdoor games. You can play badminton, throw a round of Frisbee or even just play catch.
And in case you are a cricket-freak, don’t forget to bring along your kit for a fun match in the backyard or beach. (Rules below)
You can also indulge in other outdoor activities such as playing catch, frisbee, volley ball, making sandcastles on the beach.
And if you want to bring out the child in you, you can also team up with your family members and play good old fashioned hide-and-seek.
What you need
at least 1 cricket bat
a few tennis balls (some might go missing)
2 sets of stumps (rubbish bins or upside buckets can be used).
Activity
Set the stumps up about 10 metres apart for older kids, or about 6 metres for littlies.
Extra rules:
Can't go out first ball - whoever's batting, they can't go out on the first ball (making it fairer for little ones).
'Tippity-run' - if the ball is hit even a little, the batters have to run.
'One hand - one bounce' - a fielder can catch the batter out with one hand, even after the tennis ball has bounced off a fence or wall.
Any wicket out - the batter can be knocked out if either stump is hit.
'Six and out' - if the ball is hit over the fence/ house they are awarded six runs - but are also out (this is where the extra balls come in handy).
No LBW's (Leg Before Wicket) - it's too tricky and starts arguments - unless Dad wants to umpire.
Automatic runs - pick certain spots in the backyard (like the side of a shed or a fence) and award a certain number of automatic runs to anyone who can hit them.
Last one out - the very last batter can keep on going by themselves until caught out.
You can end the day’s celebrations with a relaxing round of stargazing. After all, the sky never ceases to amaze us, and after a day of fun and frolic, it would be wise to let your hair down and indulge in a relaxing activity.
What’s more, this can be a great occasion to acquaint the kids with the important celestial bodies and constellations; not only can this be educational, it can even spark the interest of some budding astronauts! Just as the founders set foot on this continent to explore, maybe a young one will be inspired to take to the skies and venture further.
These are some of the top things we’d like to do during Australia Day. Do these activities match your interests, you maybe you have something else in mind? Do let us know more. And be sure to indulge in safe celebrations that result in no harm to life or nature. Keep your first aid kit close, and be certain to keep an eye on the young ones.
But above all, have a very lively day keeping true to the Aussie spirit. Happy Australia Day!
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The Easy Up Dome Tents are an ideal tent for singles or couples on an overnight or weekend stay. The tents are lightweight, quick and very simple to use. Simply take The Easy Up Tent from the carry bag “pop” it open and then peg it out.
Transcript:
G'day, I'm Sandy from Outdoor Connection and this is the Easy Up 3, from our Easy Up tent range.
Just a few pegs and you're set up for the night. The Easy Up range consists of the Easy Up 2, 3 & 4. The tents have large windows and they've got Ventraflow panels on both sides, which allows cool air to come through down low where you are sleeping at night.
This mesh door is good for closing it up and keeping the creepy crawlies out of your boots at night. The Easy Up tents are just as easy to fold up as they are to erect. First thing though, make sure your doors are open, that just allows the air to escape more easily.
Firstly, grab the pole from down the bottom there & join it to the next one. Keep doing that until you've got the whole tent folded like that.
Then we take it, tip it up and place it on the ground like that. Just remember to have this black strap at the bottom. Take the top and tuck it right down underneath and roll it over.
Now you will see there are 2 circles. Push one down like that and the other one down on top. You can now pick it up, tuck the strap around just bring it up, clip it in, tighten it up a little and now it is ready to go in the carry bag.
You can see how compact the tents are once they've been packed away. That's it for the Easy Up 2, 3 & 4. Check out our website for lots of other products in our range, and happy camping!
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The hats given to me by a friend and other than it keeps my head warm, the logo on the front is Donate Life and so it's about organ donation.
So get into it you know give your organ so someone else can have a good life if yours ends give someone else a good life and yeah,
I hope everyone signs up for organ donation I think it's just a great thing I've, I have some close association with people who work in that area and,
It's just so wonderful they meet people who've got new organs and it's just incredible people get a whole new life out of it.
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Okay, so the first tents we really had a part in designing and I worked with a fellow called Peter McGinnes out of Newcastle in those days and was a really good relationship.
And we developed a range of tents and we put our own names on our own version of the. And we had a four-man tent an a-frame four man tent called the Alice was one of the first tents around with the first version of the VentraFlow if you like underneath it.
And, oh there were a variety of those but mainly we called them after the island so we had a Straddy which was a four-man cabin sloping wall tent. And there was a Moreton and which was a 12 by 9 and a Fraser of 15 by 12. I just can't remember the straight wall tents there were a couple of others.
But they were called after the islands, Australian islands or you know and then as the tents developed we got onto the western rivers the Cooper and and I worked out at Charleville in my young days and so hence the Cooper for Cooper's Creek and Tanbar for what was Tanbar Station. So which was sort of part of my roundabout sort of route and yeah so that was you know it was that was fun they the Alice was an interesting little tent it was a as I say four man cabin a 9 by 7 feet.
One of the guys we sold to actually took them up into Siberia in the winter and he said it was so cold you could put a guy rope straight into the snow and it would stand like that, but the beautiful thing about it was that it's it's interesting that they went out of fashion because they were the quickest tent to put up.
You just climbed inside the thing and push them, you pegged it out and your climbed inside and pushed the back pole up and then you know you could you could actually do it without getting inside the tent. You pulled the back of the tent forward, put the pole in and put it up and then put the pole in the front. So it was a brilliant little tent and it was the first tent really made out of a hundred percent polyester into Australia.
And the big trick with that was in those days though the dyeing process was a hot dye and high pressure and it used to destroy a lot of fabrics and eventually they came up with techniques to do this dye this hot dye and then a everything developed from there of course and now polyester tents are everywhere of course.
So yeah we like to, you know got a bit of attachment to the country we came from I guess and yeah we like to just have tents that are a memory of someplace we've been
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The Ventra Flow originated when we had a mixed farming grazing property in Western Queensland and I was farming. It was family operation and I was doing the night work so I was ploughing all night and then trying to sleep during the day.
Often times the temperature was over a hundred degrees. So it was fairly uncomfortable and the windows in the our bedroom were quite high maybe about four feet off the ground 3-4 feet off the floor. And we thought about that and then ah one day I thought right so we put louvres all around from the floors up to the bottom of the windows.
And it just made all the difference all of a sudden I just had a little bit of if there was a bit of breeze around I caught it from whatever direction and it was just the right height to flow over me on the bed.
So when we got into the camping business I thought about that and took a while to work out how to do it actually we thought about it and thought the problem with windows in tents is they're all up high and there was no air coming in where people were sleeping.
So that was the aim of the exercise we put the windows in down low to so that people could have a bit of air at bed height when they're trying to sleep of a night time.
So that was the history of Ventra Flow really our experience of heat in Western Queensland. So it had a benefit for some people today.
]]>7 Little Tweaks That Will Transform Your Life When Camping on a Long Weekend
One of the wonderful benefits of camping is having the opportunity to wind down, relax and allow our personal batteries to recharge. So anything we can do that allows us to enjoy our well deserved down time, will be sure to improve & enhance our long weekend camping experience! That’s where these 7 Little Tweaks that will be sure to Transform Your Life When Camping on a Long Weekend are a real life saver!
Gazebos are so popular when camping nowadays and they have one real hidden gem that we can use to our benefit when lighting up our camp at night. You see, the under side of the material on our gazebo roof tops is painted silver and is ideal for reflecting light and spreading it more evenly throughout your undercover area. In particular, if you’re using LED strip lighting, simply shine it upwards & let the silver do its ‘reflecting’ work for you. It also alleviates the issue of LED light being too bright in our eyes and making for a much more enjoyable camping experience. Such a simple little tweak!
Camping for long weekends, means you need to get the best out of your icebox and have your ice last longer. One of the best ways to improve this is by pre chilling your ice box with a bag of ice 24 hours before you head off camping. The ice, pulls all of the warmth out of your ice box walls & cools the air inside. A hot ice box quickly melts your ice which you probably have noticed. Once the ice box is pre chilled, put in a fresh new bag of ice when you’re ready to go & you will dramatically improve the longevity of your long weekend ice. (Handy hint: Those of you with the luxury cold rooms, place your icebox inside 24 hours before leaving and this will do the same job).
This is a small pre organised tweak that has endless benefits for you & your family’s long weekend camping trip. Extending an already long weekend even further with your owed R.D.O (Rostered Day Off) is a no brainer. That extra day off is sure to reboot your mind and body, ensuing you return to work & home life full of much needed energy.
Here’s a simple tweak that a lot of people have never been told with regards to using their solar shower, face the clear side up, not the black side! I was appropriately educated by an elderly fellow who had grown up in the bush many moons ago, and I vividly remember him explaining to me that it’s the sun that heats the water, not the black material…. the black material simply holds the heat once it's warm! Not only will the water get warmer over all, it will warm up more quickly.
How’s this for a small tweak to transform your Long weekend camping trip; get yourself an LED strip light that has a remote control option. It’s a game changer for making life easier! No need to get up in the middle of the night with a torch if you hear something outside… simply use the remote control from beside your bed to turn on the light. Maybe it’s even while you’re sitting around the campfire & you want to dim the lighting under your annex area - no need to get up, just use the LED strip light remote control stored in your front left trouser pocket…. the built in dimmer is worth its weight in gold! It’s such a simple little gadget that makes life easier!
There is nothing like transforming your long weekend camping experience like watching your kids have the time of their lives…. outdoors! In a world that has a current health epidemic that’s partly being driven off the back of kids stuck inside in front of technology, it’s such a pleasure to see our loved ones bucking that trend. Bringing your kids bikes when camping for a long weekend, improves their physical health immensely, almost always connects them with other kids camping (does wonders for their social skills) and can’t help it aid in giving them a good nights sleep (all that energy used during the day.). It’s such a small added tweak, with exemplary benefits received for all!
Here’s a little tweak that will make life easier with the part of camping we enjoy the least…. rolling up & packing away the dome tent into its carry bag! If you fold the outer fly, poles & inner screen tent section away together as one, (rather than 3 separately rolled sections), you will find it more compact in size & therefore will fit into the carry bag a little easier. We do this by spreading the exterior fly out inside the inner screen tent section before we collapse it, & once collapsed, we roll the dome tent up around the bag of poles. It’s only a small tweak…. but geeze it makes life easier after a long camping weekend getaway.
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