Is there a decent camping gear store left in Sydney ?

I don't think so , but I hope somebody will tell me there is .

Last week I needed to buy three bases for tent poles - the type you use to prevent damage to the tent floor by poles and also to stop poles digging into soft ground .

I always used to get this stuff from Boots at Auburn . The girl there was puzzled by my description and could not find anything . Boots has been taken over by Rays Tent City and now sells clothes , BBQs , direct imported tents , fishing gear and packaged tit bits . Cross them off the list for the future .

So , I am off to the old dependable Kangaroo Tent City ,who have always been famous for their low end range of bits and pieces . They have a store at N.Parramatta so I head there with confidence . In the store I have a hard time locating the camping poles etc as I am lost in a jungle of outdoor clothes and BBQs . The staff cannot locate the pole bases and think maybe they don't sell that type of stuff any more . WOW , I am stuffed now .

Sitting in the car I review my options . Suddenly I remember the family run Thornliegh Camping Store . I am off with the speed of a thousand startled gazelles . I wheel into the street in Thornliegh , full of confidence to find a "For Lease" sign on the premises . WOW , I am double stuffed now .

I think I will have to get some aluminium ones made , as camping stores have disappeared as fast as the dinosaurs .

Hope somebody can let me know where there is still a live one in Sydney ,

Thanks ,

Willie .