Ashley Burke, What to Bring

What to Bring

Blue Mountains Car Camping Canyoning Trip


General Trip Information	Canyoning Page	Home Page	Email Me

by Ashley Burke

This equipment list is suitable for a typical Blue Mountains canyoning weekend that involves camping near the cars and doing day trips down canyons. Use this list as a guide of what to bring if you are coming on one of these trips.

Suitability

This equipment list is suitable for the following types of trips:

Duration of 1 night or more
Summer months (November - April)
Blue Mountains or Wollemi location
Activities include walking through gorges and canyons
May include abseiling
Camping near the cars and doing canyons as day trips.

For canyoning trips that require you to carry everything with you including all overnight gear through canyons then see the canyoning gear list.

For trips that do not involve canyoning or abseiling, eg: walking trips only, then check the bushwalking gear list.

Please contact me directly if you are unsure of what to bring.

Equipment List

Canyoning often involves abseiling and usually involves getting very wet at times. There may be swims and wades, or spray from waterfalls. We may even be abseiling down the waterfalls. Consequently, specific equipment is needed in addition to that needed for an ordinary bushwalk. Please check the equipment list below.

Abseiling Gear

Item	Comments	Availability
Abseil or climbing harness	Bring your own if you have one.	Can be borrowed from SUBW.
Two carabiners	Bring your own if you have any.	Can be borrowed from SUBW.
Descending device	There are many different types. Hydrobots or ATCs are recommended. "Figure of Eight descenders" are discouraged.	Can be borrowed from SUBW.
Gardening glove	This will protect your hand when abseiling. You only need to bring one, for your master hand (right hand if you are right handed).	You must bring your own.
Abseiling rope	I will arrange for ropes and these are normally supplied by the leader. However, if you possess a rope and would be willing to bring it, then let me know.	Arranged by me.
Helmet	Optional but recommended. Abseil without a helmet at your own risk.	Can be borrowed from SUBW.

Camping Gear and Clothing

Item	Comments	Availability
Sleeping bag	Lightweight sleeping bag, 3 season rating.
Pack, duffel bag or hold-all	A convenient piece of baggage for all your gear to be carried by car or on the train. Try to pack everything inside. Avoid loose items strapped to the outside and try to keep to one single piece of baggage.
Day pack	To carry your lunch, abseil gear and everything you need for the day trip to the canyon.	Bring your own.
Small tent or space in a shared tent	If you have your own small 1 or 2 person tent then bring it. If you don't, let me know and I will help arrange a tent space for you.	It may be possible to share a tent or borrow one. Contact me prior to the trip about this if needed.
Foam mat or thermarest		I have a spare to lend
Small camping stove (optional)	On a hot and dry summer weekend we may not be able to light a campfire. This is especially true on car camping trips where the campsite is not near a creek or river. A small gas or liquid stove is ideal for situations where it is unsafe or too hot and dry to have a campfire. If bringing a stove, please ensure you have an adequate supply of the correct type of gas cartridge or fuel for the stove, and make sure you test the stove to ensure it is in working order before the trip.	Can be borrowed or shared, 1 between 2.
Lightweight rain coat or spray jacket	You will be wearing this in the canyon, especially if there are wet abseils.
Water bottle(s)	Enough to hold 2 litres is required. If you are a car owner then it is a good idea to have a large water container in the car for everyone to share. eg: 5L or 10L.	Car owners may bring a supply of water by car.
Torch	A small head torch is ideal
Fleece or warm jumper	A lightweight fleece should be sufficient
A change of dry clothes and underwear	You can leave this in the car.
Swimming costume	You will be wearing this most of the time when in the creek or canyon.
Dry bag	For keeping your lunch and anything else dry in the canyon. A small to medium sized one is sufficient. Dry bags can be purchased at camping and outdoor stores. Alternatively one or two heavy duty bin liners (plastic bags available from supermarkets).
Hat
Walking shoes	For further advice on walking shoes, contact me directly
Shirt and shorts for canyoning	These should be made of a material that dries quickly. eg: lightweight sports clothing.
Wetsuit or set of thermals to wear in the canyon.	The wetsuit is optional. An alternative is one or two layers of thermal underwear over which you wear your lightweight spray jacket (with hood) and your shorts.
Cooking and eating utensils: Billy Plastic cup Spoon Pocket knife Fork (optional)	We use campfires for cooking so this means you do not need to bring a stove. A "billy" is a small aluminium pot which is used to cook over the fire.
Food	Bring enough food for yourself for the duration of the trip. Normally everyone brings their own food unless specific arrangements to share food are made. Your lunches will be carried with you through the canyon so bring a dry bag so your lunch stays dry. See food suggestions below for help on what sort of food to bring.
Personal items: Toilet paper First aid	Keep to minimum. Do not use soap or anything that will pollute waterways.

Food Suggestions

It is normal practise for everyone to bring their own food for the trip. That way, each person can eat according to their own preferences and diet, and less time is spent organising communal food.

Below are some suggestions on the sorts of food that are suitable to bring on a bushwalking trip of up to 1 week in duration. These are suggestions only, based on what I normally take on a weekend canyoning trip. Everyone's tastes and diet are different, so feel free to make any changes to the list below based on your preferences. Also feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about what sorts of food to bring.

The food list below is basic lightweight camping food for multi-day hiking trips. Since we will be car camping, do feel free to add anything you like that is more appetizing to this list. The main limitation is that the food mustbe kept unrefrigerated for what may be a hot summer weekend in the Blue Mountains.

General Comments

Things to avoid:

Lots of heavy tins
Food which takes a long time to cook or which requires large amounts of water
Expensive freeze dried food
Food that does not last well in the heat or which does not carry well
Food requiring extra utensils to prepare

On the other hand, food can be fun and easy to cook when camping, and it is possible to have good variety, including fresh foods, especially on shorter trips.

Breakfast

Cereal with powdered milk

and/or

biscuits or breakfast bars

Toast bread or muffins on the campfire

and

Tea or coffee

Lunch

Bring bread, cheese, tomatoes or salad and make up sandwiches. It is better to bring the separate ingredients rather than making sandwiches in advance. The longer the trip the more limitations there are on what fresh ingredients you can bring. For trips longer than a few days, staple sandwich ingredients are cheese, peanut butter and honey. For longer trips you will need long life bread, or on some trips we take flour and powdered milk and make damper on the camp fire. Some people take crackers such as vita-wheat instead of normal bread. For 2-day trips, a much wider range of fresh ingredients can be carried.
An SUBW tradition is the jaffle iron - we use it to toast our sandwiches over the fire.

and

Fruit (apples and oranges keep best)

Dinner

I normally take about 100 grams of pasta such as penne, macaroni or noodles, or rice. Then I add fresh vegetables such as a small onion, zucchini, peas or whatever I have at home. Then I add tomato paste (available in 50g sachets). Then I add herbs and some sort of flavour additive, such as a little stock powder, curry powder, or whatever. Then maybe I would sprinkle a little grated cheese on top. All can be cooked up in a single billy on the camp fire. The longer the trip, the more limited the options for fresh ingredients, but onions, parsnips and carrots keep well. Choose a flavour additive which suits your taste.

Extras

If you like to snack between meals then you can bring anything such as chocolate, nuts, biscuits, snack bars or other snack food.
A bottle of wine is nice to enjoy back at camp after the canyon.

[Top]

Web page last updated 04 Jan 2018


General Trip Information	Canyoning Page	Home Page	Email Me