Day 3 setup:
The next morning found most things quite moist as there was a heavy dew. A few drips had found their way in through the roof and on to the bed – luckily on the side and not too wet. We then set about admiring the beautiful view of the ocean only about 10 meters from our camp – uninterrupted and pristine. Next on the list of things to do was to setup the camp properly, take the camper off the back of the ute, setup the Oztrail Festival 15 shade shelter and lay down all the flooring to stop the sand getting in everywhere.
Setting up camp:
This probably took us most of the morning to do as it was the very first time we had set it up totally. After forgetting how to do this and that we managed to not yell at each other too much and get the camp set up.We made sure we were protected from the wind. We set up shade for when the sun was at its hottest and ensure our kitchen and also our cooking area was shaded. We also had the task of setting up the new 200W Primus Solar Panel so that it caught maximum sun during the day. These are a fold out panel so we ended up using my stand up paddle board to lie them on so that we could get a really good angle. This also meant that we needed to move the panels throughout the day to catch this maximum sun. We didn’t put them on the roof of the camper due to its angle making it difficult to change direction to maximize sun on the panels.
Tools for setup:
One thing that we did forget ( or lose somewhere) was a level and this was something that was quite important to enable the whole camper to sit right and also to allow our bed to be as level as possible for a better nights sleep. Our trusty neighbours had one that they were only too happy to lend us. I was pleased that we had bought extra tent pegs ( large sand pegs that I call elephant pegs) and extra guy ropes – these came in handy to put up extra shade, and to secure the shade shelter to withstand the gnarly winds that can hit this area of the coast.
The setup of the toilet/shower area was without a hitch as a simple pop up shower tent from Ozrail ( the one with the poles that go round each side) was pegged down to the ground directly outside our second door way from the camper. This allows us to step directly out of the camper at night – switch on a little penlight torch we have hanging in it – and do our business without anyone around us seeing anything. On the second day we decided that we should have something other than a hardwater shower in the ocean and we set about filling a bucket with water, putting the Aquacube hot water system in to it, passing the shower hose through the zipper of the shower tent and having ourselves a warm shower (albeit get wet – turn off water – lather soap up – turn on water and wash off) but it still felt good and I was sure this wouldn’t suffice for me for a proper shower – but I was wrong – I felt clean as a whistle. Note to anyone doing it this way to save water – make sure you have your shower when the sun is still up as this makes for a bit of a chilly shower if the sun has gone down.