On Tent Living: Life as a Backpack Journey By John Steele
Many people – well at least one - have written over the years, fascinated by my life style of minimalism, living out in the Victorian scrub in a tent. Today, people are making do with what shelter they have. Uncle Len in Adelaide, who has been silent from our blog this year, some say due to ill health, others say madness, lives in a friend’s shed. It would be hot. Me, I prefer tent living, away from it all in the great outdoors. I seldom see anyone out here, being in lock down long before it became the Victorian fashion.
How does one get the basics? Well, one starts by through-hikes, and this lovely Southern belle, “Dixie” tells you how at her YouTube channel of Home-Grown Wanderlust. The mind boggles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0tcmspXN8w
You know, what sorts of a tent to get, even the best boots. Boots are not so crucial if one is not trekking hundreds of miles, but simply finding a secure bug out spot, and setting down roots, as far as that is possible.
Further, I can suggest no better source of information that the number one book on this, Chris Townsend, The Backpacker’s Handbook, (2012). The book deals with getting prepared for trekking, and has a chapter on types of backpacks, another on footwear for wilderness travel, how best to carry the load, and then chapters more relevant to the alternative life style scenario, such as the appropriate cold weather and hot weather clothing, including the layer system for cold weather; types of shelter other than tents for trekking, such as bivouac bags, tarps and groundsheets, and related items such as kitchen craft and cooking, first aid and camp safety.
Although geared to harsh North American climates, there is much useful material here for Australians. Really, if the tent is going to be your home, be like me and spend some decent dollars getting something of high quality, an expedition tent, capable of withstanding storms. Check out internet reviews of product types you see in stores. I would definitely want to see the tent set up before purchasing anything, so as an old-timer, I am not keen on just buying something from say eBay, and hoping for the best. This thing is going to be your protection from the elements, and needs to be decent. I have set up large tarps over my tent to shield it from UV radiation, which tends to break them up, also to cool things down, and in the wet, provide another barrier of defence from the rain.
It is not a bad life, the only downside of being so isolated is if one gets a love bite from a brown snake one is probably a goner, but I am dead careful, as far as possible, so fingers crossed.
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