After the sad demise of the $30 Woolies tent that traveled with us to Central Australia and Mungo National Park among other adventures it was time for a replacement. It died at Cradle Mt and could not be resuscitated.
A visit to camping stores proved that tents are very expensive and quite technical. $80 for a 2 man at Katmandu that 'should' keep us dry was the best deal we could find.
A visit to Kmart soon changed all that. A 3 man tent for $30 that 'might' keep us dry. A $50 difference between 'should' and 'might' sold me on the 'might' and we handed over our cash at K-mart. What would you have done I ask?
This time we took Mum's advice. As a seasoned camper she stated that you have to put a tarp underneith the tent and one over it and that 'will' keep you dry. Sold on the definite use of the word 'will' we followed her advice as she is a seasoned camper.
Mark cut up the old tent and used the base as a tarp for the new (very smart) and we pegged a tarp over the tent in the hopes of keeping out the rain.
There are some joys in sleeping in a tent. My particular favorite is when the wind is blowing and you wake up with a tent stuck to your face. At first; terror! What is happening? Then it slowly dawns on you that the wind is blowing your tent over and you are the only thing holding it down.
When this happened I gently said; "Mark..." and nothing. I did not want to alarm him by yelling "Ahh we are trapped, help, help meee!!!!" So again I said albeit a little louder; "Mark..." finally this time a reply...
"Mmmmm"
"Ah the tent is on my face."
"Oh..." said Mark, "you will be ok."
OK I thought to myself...I am not OK...the tent is on my FACE!
I rolled over and tried to kick him. It turns out you cannot kick someone with your sleeping bag done up, you just look like you are trying to do the caterpillar.
Defeated I gave up. At some point I must have slept. Discussions the next morning revealed that Mark did not awake at all during the night. He did not recall the tent being on my face or having a conversation. Not helpful.
Other joys of tent sleeping include always slipping around. Camp mats are slippery and sleeping bags are slippery. Bottoms of tents are slippery also. Clearly the result is that all night you slip and slide around! A non slip sleeping bag should be invented.
The result of the $30 tent is that we stayed dry (thanks Mum for the tarp advice). When I say dry I dont mean dry like you are in your office or house as you read this I mean not saturated. We got wet, from the condensation in the tent! If one of us stopped breathing I am sure this problem would be solved. We are going to toss a coin to see who will do this. Apparently a $800 tent "will" solve this problem, it would want to for $800. It would also not want to end up on my face!
Today, however, we are heading back to the blessed mainland. Thank God for the mainland where the people are friendlier and our camper trailer is waiting to be retreived. The $30 tent will be reserved for emergencies.
Tasi has been wonderful and the Overland Track a highlight. Thanks Tasi...we will see you again.
Love Krystal
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