Family tent advice ... keep confusing myself!

2 small blackwolfs (eg. turbo lite 240) and a gazebo for living would be my pick.
You could get 2 oztents but you're looking at a grand each for those.

I can't see you needing a turbo lite twin 300 AND another tent. That's overkill.

I got a big family tent, and found when I use it, i'm the only one in it. My 11 year old prefers his own tent, and the 9year old that travels with us prefers to be on his own as well.
Even the camper trailer I now use is pretty much pointless on my own.

Gidday

No two lots of campers are the same and what suits them might not work for you. Is it possible to hire some gear for your first few trips? That way you can maybe try different setups to see what works. The hirers should be experienced and and should be able to give you a few tips as well. And while you are away you can have a look around the camp and see what other people are doing and learn from them. Wiith Blackwolf and Oztents for example costing what they do it can be expensive if you buy in haste.

Cheers

Rocco

Hi Bekka

When choosing a tent one of the first things you need to consider is - are you talking about static camping or moving every day camping.

If static camping then you wont mind taking a while to set up the tent, ropes etc.

If moving every day you'll soon get tired of threading poles, tying guide ropes, attaching flies etc if its one of those tents that need a lot of time to set up.

cheers

A pair of Oztent RV4's and side panels would be pretty much the best you could have but as has been already mentioned, the cost may be a draw back.
Also the Oztents ned to be carried on roof racks due to their length (2 metres).

When we were looking for our tent, we had narrowed our selection down to either the Oztent or the Black Wolf Turbo 240.
What decided it for us was the more practical awning on the Oztent which gives protection from both sun and rain. Add the peak side panels and you have a protected kitchen/living area that is hard to beat. We have never bothered with another front panel to fully enclose the living area, but it can be done easily.
The good thing about joining two Oztents is that there is a purpose designed joiner available that takes any water runoff away to the side.

When we looked at the Black Wolf Turbo, we determined that the awning was much smaller, could not be added to with accessories and they provided a video on how to collapse it when packing up.

The Oztent won it for us, but we only needed one.

As for the Cobb Cooker, you will soon become enthused with its capabilities, although I also use a Hillbilly Camp Oven which I am "addicted" to.
The Cobb is great though and you only need 7-8 heatbeads.
Two tips for you.
Stick with the Heatbeads for a consistent result. Don't attempt to use the Cobb brand cooking disks if you can even get them. They burn too hot.
As your Cobb Premium has a flow through mesh outer cover, air tends to flow through and in stronger conditions can affect the cooking temperature.
Buy a Cobb Bra from In Front Camping and this will solve this problem.
Mine is left permanently inside the cooker and will not burn. It is a simple but effective canvas wrap with velcro straps that wrap around the inside, or outside of the mesh wall.

Cobb Bra

Good luck and good times camping with whatever you decide to buy.

We now have 2 Quechua Base Seconds 4.2 tents that we purchased at the start of camping holidays that we have had in France in the past 2-3 years. We have found them to be fantastic tents, set-up is easy and very fast, and packing up the same after a couple of practices. They are very light, and compact when packed up (90cm diameter, 11cm thick, and around 12kgs). All stays are integral to the tent, and if the weather is OK, no to use the well thought-out guy ropes - which are permanently attached to the tent.

These tents have easily coped with a couple of serious storms, both in terms of stability and water-tightness. The 2 sleeping areas at either side of the tent are fully insect-proof, and have their own waterproof "tub" sewn in. The living area in the centre has a "tub" built into the groundsheet that goes under the entire tent.

The one that we purchased for the trip that we did earlier this year cost 259 Euros! Cost us $20.00 in extra baggage costs to bring it back with us.

When we compare all of the features and convenience of these tents to many - if not all - of the more expensive brands/types currently available in Australia, we cannot understand why the Quechua tents are not being sold in Australia. Quechua has a large range of tents, and the brand is extremely popular in Europe.

Check them out - www.quechua.com

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice! So glad I joined this forum....I'll be sure to let you know what we end up doing. Oh, and thanks for the advice on the Cobb Cooker too - we did buy the Cobb disks because they were 30% off at Anaconda but might take them back and stick with the heat beads which seems far more economical anyway.