Gear notes, trips and the numbers behind them.
Rooftop tents, 4-season shelters and the kit around them — tested on the road and written by the Often Outdoors crew.
-
Camping food without a fridge: how to plan three days in the heat
Camping food without a fridge works when you shrink the list of things that need cold instead of trying to keep everything at 5 degrees. Australia's food safety standards name...
Read article -
Does camping improve your sleep? A weekend in a tent, measured
It moves when you sleep, and two nights is enough to measure it. A 2017 study in Current Biology found melatonin onset arriving about 1.4 hours earlier in the same...
Read article -
Inflatable tent care: pumps, valves, punctures and storage between trips
Inflatable tent care is four habits and one rule about the bag. Inflate to the stated figure, open the valves before folding, dry everything before it is packed, and keep...
Read article -
Can you drive with a rooftop tent on your car? Fuel, speed and height
Yes, and the law treats the tent as a load rather than a modification. What changes is fuel, the speed the rack maker recommends, the car park height you now...
Read article -
How do you keep an esky cold longer? Three days in a Queensland summer
You keep an esky cold longer by loading it cold, filling it full and opening it as little as you can. The box is not what fails on a three...
Read article -
How do you stay warm in a tent on a single-digit night?
Not by buying a warmer sleeping bag. Most of your heat leaves downwards, into ground that has been cooling since sunset, and the insulation under you is crushed flat by...
Read article -
Dynamic vs static roof load: what can your car roof take?
Two numbers, and they differ by a factor of several. Dynamic is what the roof carries while you drive; static is what it carries while you sleep up there. Queensland's...
Read article -
Are inflatable tents worth it? What to check before you buy
It depends on who does the pitching. A poled tent needs a second pair of hands at one specific moment; an air frame does not, and that single mechanical difference...
Read article -
Do you need a 4WD to camp in Queensland? (2026)
No. Queensland's national parks hold camping areas rated for conventional vehicles, several of them under two hours from Brisbane, and QPWS labels every one of them. The catch is that...
Read article -
Can you have a campfire in Queensland this spring? 2026 rules
Sometimes, and the rule is narrower than most campers expect. In a Queensland national park a campfire is legal only in a fireplace the park has already built, collecting firewood...
Read article -
Are rooftop tents legal in Australia? A state-by-state guide (2026)
Yes. A rooftop tent is legal in every Australian state and territory, because the law treats it as a load, not a modification. What the law does regulate is three...
Read article -
Camping vs hotels: what a 3-night Queensland trip really costs (2026)
Queensland's average hotel room ran $234.65 a night in June 2025, so three nights of walls costs around $704 before you eat. The same three nights in a national park...
Read article
