When Aussie Land Rover Owners set out for a week long trip in the bush, they need to be prepared to be away from civilization for days. The nearest town or ranch may be over a day's travel away. When it comes to travelling into the continent, most of these vehicles are fitted with custom storage systems to keep all the gear readily avilable, whether it be food, spares, first aid kits or emergency gear.
Aussie Gear Storage for Trips to the OutBack
One thing that impressed me 'bout the Aussie Rover Owners, is that they had all spent some amount of effort to set up their vheciles for travelling and camping. Most had provisions some sort of storage system which was either improvised or purchased, additional recovery equipment and many, especially the more common diesels, also had provisions for extra fuel. A universal addition was a sand sedimenter bowl on the air intake.
Following are a few photographs and brief descriptions of some of the storage
systems I saw while camping with the Sydney chapter of the Land Rover Club
of Australia. Two camping accessories which seemed universal were Bush Kettles (also known as Volcano Kettles), used to make hot water for
tea at rest stops and meals, and Eskies which are electric compressor
refrigerator units - more or less a requirement in the sub-tropical temperatures
where sources of ice were few and far between.
Storage layout in the rear of a Discovery. Eskie on left, various bins on right
under shelf at window height. Cover for bin area becomes serving shelf.
Series III 109" station wagon: two long drawers under raised floor are used
to hold tools and food stuffs respectively. Interior panel of rear door
folds down for serving area. Eskie is lashed to left rear corner to prevent it
sliding around. This vehicle also has an 'U' shaped open mesh cargo restraint
behind the rear seat, and that has a shelf which goes around both sides and
the forward portion, making a great place to 'stuff' lighter gear like
sleeping sacks, tents and drizzies. (Phil's motor)
Shown here is 'Flash's classic 2-door Range Rover. His hand-crafted rack system is built to allow commercially available storage trays to be used, and easily slide into place. Eskie lives on the lower left, and packed into available space were a small jerry can and a few quarts of oil, not to mention the normal compliment of camping gear and etcetera.
Eskie is Aussie for Eskimo, a name brand. Last modified: Jan. 1998
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Digest Messages Copyright 1990-1999 by the original poster or/and Empire Rover Owners Society, All rights reserved. Photos & text Copyright 1990-1999 Bill Caloccia, All rights reserved. Empire/LRO List of charges for sponsorship
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