Your guide to packing for your next camping trip in SA’s national parks

South Aus­tralia has some won­der­ful bush camp­ing, with camp­grounds in more than 40 of our nation­al parks and reserves.

You can camp at what­ev­er lev­el suits you, from the most basic to an ultra-com­fy set up, but there’s a few things to con­sid­er when organ­is­ing your site.

If you’ve been fol­low­ing along on this series, you will have already read our stories:

• Every­thing you need to know for your first camp­ing trip in a nation­al park
• Every­thing you need to know about cook­ing on a camp­ing trip

Now it’s time to think about every­thing else. 

Here’s some ideas for pack­ing includ­ing light, fur­ni­ture and clothing:

1. Don’t skimp on light­ing options

Lanterns that can be recharged using the car’s cig­a­rette lighter are great because they save on bat­ter­ies, and you can use them both in and out­side of the tent. Look for lanterns that have LED globes, as they pro­vide great light and have much bet­ter bat­tery life com­pared to old­er flo­res­cent or incan­des­cent globes. 

Top tip: Dual colour lanterns (orange and white) are a great way to reduce the bugs in your camp­ing area. The orange light source makes it hard­er for insects to see you, so they stay away. And always bring a cou­ple of elas­tic-mount­ed head­lights. There’s noth­ing worse than hav­ing to bal­ance a torch on a late-night toi­let trip!

2. Go for com­pact furniture

Camp chairs that fold up with a bag are easy to trans­port and save space. Some even come with a drink holder.

A fold­ing table is great for food prepa­ra­tion and eat­ing, and a small­er table is handy for hold­ing your gas cooker.

A small plas­tic stool can be use­ful for remov­ing things from the roof rack and can be used to sit on, or keep things like water con­tain­ers off the ground.

3. Go back to basics for clothing

It’s easy to over-pack but basics includ­ing stur­dy shoes or boots, a shady hat, some­thing warm and some­thing water­proof are all essential.

4. And don’t forget…

• Always bring toi­let paper. You will usu­al­ly find toi­let paper in camp toi­lets, but it’s bet­ter to be safe than sorry.
• Dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, it has nev­er been more impor­tant to take hygiene seri­ous­ly. Make sure you wash your hands reg­u­lar­ly with soap and run­ning water, for at least 20 sec­onds, and dry them with paper tow­el or a hand dry­er if there’s one avail­able. Alter­na­tive­ly use alco­hol-based hand sani­tis­ers. Anti-bac­te­r­i­al wipes are also a good idea to wipe down sur­faces before you use them. Just remem­ber to dis­pose of the wipes in your rub­bish that you take with you when you leave the park.
• Wet wipes are ter­rif­ic for a quick clean-up if you don’t have any water on hand, and you can fresh­en up with a wet wipe ​‘bath’ if you’re at a site with­out showers.
• A small shov­el is handy for putting out camp­fires where they’re allowed. Also bring a buck­et so you can douse your camp­fire with water when you’re fin­ished with it. For fur­ther tips on camp­fire safe­ty, read our blog – Every­thing you need to know about safe­ly enjoy­ing a camp­fire.
• If you’re plan­ning on hav­ing a camp­fire, you need to bring your own fire­wood. Col­lect­ing fire­wood with­in nation­al parks is not allowed. Also ensure the fire­wood is free from dirt and weeds, to avoid bring­ing pest species into the park.

• Don’t for­get to take a cam­era. SA’s nation­al parks are gor­geous and you’ll want lots of pho­tos to remem­ber your trip.

Now that you’ve got your pack­ing list in order, read the last part of this series:

• Camp­ing in South Australia’s nation­al parks: book­ings, maps and mobile phone coverage