Snow - and the longest journey to get there!

With all the cold weather blasting its way over the southern tablelands this past week or so, I had it on good authority that there would be a good dusting of snow in the Brindabella Mountains, just south of Canberra. I figured when the BOM said there were likely to be blizzard conditions and snow down to 900 metres we would have as good as chance as any of finding plenty of the white stuff to play in.

In previous years we had organised a convoy with either the good folk from this forum, or from our local community to go into the hills with the simple objective of finding enough snow for the kids to make a snowman, have a snowfight and perhaps even a simple toboggan (on an old boogie board). We have found snow on each of our previous excursions to the south of Picadilly Circus on the Mount Franklin Road.

The late notice meant we were setting forth solo. Maxtrax were loaded into Terry, along with a primus stove, dry clothes, lunch and extra provisions for the Hobbits.

The Little Helpers are excited to be heading south!

So off we set – confidently proceeding over Uriarra Crossing and on our way up the mountains. The little helpers knew we were off to find snow, but we hadn't promised anything until we saw the mountains in the distance, with a great white colouring... excitement was building, promises were made that we would be soon playing in the snow when disaster struck...

4WD Storage - How we fit it all in...

One of the challenges facing any family going camping is how to fit everything in, and more importantly, how to keep everything organised during the trip. Our first camping trip in our humble Subaru nearly ended in disaster. Everything we needed seemed to be at the bottom of the pile of gear in the back, and required a major exercise in repacking every time we wanted to access it.

Needless to say a new system was required - and fast if I was ever to convince the family that camping could be fun!

Along came the Terracan, and I started thinking about how we could make life easier for us when we went camping. I had a few rudimentary ideas running around my head, when we bought an alloy sump guard. With the sump guard came a wooden box that the former owner had made for his newly traded Terracan.


The simple box structure is made out of 12mm ply


The top had cleats to allow use of the original cargo net

It looked like a great template from which to base our draw system. We thought we would start using it with the aim of working out what we wanted from a draw system. Funnily enough, we have worked out a system to fit the box!

We found some plastic tubs at Bunnings / Magnet Mart that fit perfectly in the box. They stack inside each other if required, or on top of each other if full of stuff. You can also purchase lids it you want. Originally there was a fridge slide on the right hand side, but we found we could fit a tub neatly in the space, with enough room for our esky to sit on top. On the left hand side we can stack up to three standard tubs, with enough room for a folding 1200 x 600mm table to sit flush next to them.

This is our most common configuration - the bottom box on the left contains heavy tools and spares

We can fit the tubs in various configurations:



We can even put two tubs on the top shelf - which is handy when camping. Usually we can keep the top relatively open, but when tent based camping, the top shelf contains most of our bedding, and it also will easily fit our camp chairs and bench.

There is enough room on the sides to shove all manner of items - we tend to put the kids sports gear on the right hand side (totem tennis, cricket bat and ball and picnic rugs). On the left we can fit in a first aid kit, axe, shovel and various ropes and odd bits. With careful packing, sleeping mats can also fit shoved down the side.

An added bonus of this style of draws is that we can do the majority of packing inside the house (or shed) and simply slide the draws in when required. This is fantastic as it means that we can get most of our packing done early (or leave all our gear packed) but don't have to leave it in the car. You can see on the right one of the taller tubs we use sometimes - it is compatible with the smaller tubs.

It is great being able to pack everything inside and just take the full box to the car once!

One other thing that has made our lives a lot easier is a seat-back organiser for the Little Helpers. There is plenty of room in this offering from Supercheap Auto for colouring in pens, colouring book, a few matchbox cars and a water bottle. It has worn surprisingly well considering the purchase price but I think will need to be replaced soon with something a little more hard wearing. It means the boys have their own little space that they look after and allows plenty of activities to keep them amused on the road. No we don't have a DVD player, and we hope to keep it that way.

Supercheap Auto Seatback Organiser

We have been trying a few different options with where we keep everything. On our last trip we stored the camper's awnings in the car, and used the space under the bed in the camper for clothing (in baskets we borrowed from one of the boy's wardrobes). It worked really well and made life a lot easier once we had set up, as we weren't tripping over a bag of clothes in the camper. Once we had the awning set up, we had plenty more space in the car, which was welcome.

Of course it is all a work in progress, and subject to constant change and modification (but that is half the fun), we have found that sometimes a really simple and cheap solution is really effective, and actually suits our purposes more than a more expensive inbuilt unit might.