essential travel equipment

sounds like a pretty good idea, ill see what i can find round Melbourne

25lts of water isn't going to go far either.

Don't forget the cargo barrier!!!!

Lyn, there are different kind of people. One been grown in such environment that they need to be told everything, need to be guided and supervised whole life. They need to put cargo barrier, go to 4WD courses, participate in tag along trips etc. They cannot make own decisions, cannot invent and cannot learn even from own mistakes - they simply have not got capacity for all this activities. They easy can get lost even on Hume freeway without GPS. Though they may be good followers.

From other hand there are people around with enough capacity to learn by themselves and to think outside square. I would rather go bush with them and hope that OP is later, not former.

Good Luck

sorry i forgot to specify in the first post. the plan so far is to stick mainly to the coast with one or two inland trips on unsealed roads, we are keen on doing at least one proper track if we can find a group that are willing to do so. the majority of offroad work will be on beaches and small trips into the bush on either unsealed roads or light 4wd tracks. we do not plan on being out of civilisation for more then 3 or 4 days at a time witch will mainly be spent camping. we will not be towing a trailer so all out gear needs to fit into the truck with the roof box. i have some 4wd experience but this was gained in NZ witch seems to be a totally different environment to what we will deal with here, higher temperature more radical weather, less traffic on longer more out of the way routes and longer between furl stops. we will be taking a gps as well as detailed maps for each state/territory. just the two of us in one vehicle.
i do plan on doing a 4wd course just to get a better idea of recovery methods witch i hope i wont need to use and also general tips on vehicle capability. i do not plan on making any modifications to the truck with the possible exception of a snorkel kit depending on how frequent water crossings will be on what will largely be a costal trip.
we are also hopeing to do it in reltive comfort, we have a large tent with a fair bit of camping gear including showers, tables, chairs, oven and
fishing gear.

@matthew h

Ok, main emphasize is beach driving not far away from civilization. So my list will be:
1. Tyres. Best you can afford.
2. Air pump. Do not be tempted with cheap cnazone crap - you need good one. Do not forget tyre repair kit.
3. Bead lockers - not entirely essential, but very useful on soft sand
4. Suspension, though it may be stretch to your budget
5. Recovery will include proper long handle shovel. And spade. Nice things is high-lift jack, but you have to have proper jack points. On sand shovel can do almost anything. You do not really need winch and if extra paranoid you can include winch kit for your high-lift. Snatch strap is useless when you travel alone, but people appreciate when you ask just for tug and not for everything. Do not forget proper bottle jack and jack plate. Some swear by plastic sand-tracks - I never use them, but seems like on sand they are winners. Forget about exhaust jack.
6. You do not need much extra fuel because you not that far away from civilization - I would say absolute max two 20l cans - you have to watch weight. Only plastic and of course only approved.
7. Water is really depends. 5l per person per day proven to be sufficient, but you need to save it continuously. I would say 40-50l. Do not buy dedicated cans - they way too expensive and bigger ones way too cumbersome. 15l spring water cans from Safeway proven to be indestructible and versatile. And even if you manage wreck one it is not disaster.
8. Good topographic maps a must. And of course compass - do not relay on GPS gizmos, compass is incredibly cheap. Get touring atlas as well. Apart of "true" topographic maps there is very good publisher "Roof Top" (or other way around). I like their publications - not only topographical features, but also plenty of info about camps and attractions. If you like to have GPS (useful, no doubt), get proper one that as least water-proof - they do not expensive anymore and CashConverter flooded with them.
9. Considering you not far away from civilization, I would not put much emphasize on spares - just belts and hoses. Ditto to tools - just small set of essential sockets, plies and screwdrivers. I have Leatherman tool (not cnonize crap!) and it saved my bacon uncountable times.
10. For reason mentioned above I would not worry much about long-distance communication. If you extra paranoid then rent satphone. If you alone UHF semi-useless, but some sand-places encourage people to have UHF on and on specific channel - it is very good idea to know that no-one on other side of dune. Though you cannot be guaranteed because you depends on that party from other side. I personally found high flag completely useless, but some places require them, so do comply.
11. Keep your center of gravity as low and as close to center of your car as you only can - rollover on sand is real possibility. You may rethink about putting stuff on roof.

I think it is main things. Ask if I forget something.

DISCLAIMER. Some (or all) may partially (or fully) disagree with my list or some items either included or missed. You welcome compile yours. Cheers

Hi Old Girl,

Maybe that's a tad harsh? We all have to start somewhere. Surely asking questions of a knowledgeable group of people is better than not asking and just waltzing off - as I'm sure many do.

While we now consider ourselves reasonably seasoned travellers I do recall our own state of ignorance and uncertainty prior to our first inland trips, well away from populated places. No forum back then, and we hadn't done any 4wd training then either. But we prepared as best we could, we went, and we learned without coming to grief in the process. Now we can hopefully pass on some experience to those that ask.

For all we know the OP is just going around the coast, sticking to the bitumen - no need for a tagalong there. If he's planning on a solo CSR trip that might call for a agalong. But maybe he will get a better idea of what he can do when he reads these replies.

Cheers,

Val

Hi Val,

I agree. I would consider ourselves to be experienced long distance/offroad travellers and campers but as recently as last week we found ourselves under prepared for a trip to the Fitzgerald River NP. On top of having issues with our UHF we completely underestimated how much fresh water we would need for our stay. We had 40 litres for 4 days for 2 of us but did not account for how hot it was going to be and we also ignorantly thought we would be able to get fresh water from the river not realising (embarrasingly)it was actually a salt water river. Too much track research and not enough local area research! Upon leaving we were down to our last 4-5 litres and it was 45 degrees and a very long way back up to the highway. If something happened to the car on the way back up we would have been stranded in extreme weather with very little water waiting by the vehicle in the hope someone else came down. After that experience I will always carry at least 10 more litres than I think I need especially during the hotter months/locations. Bad things can happen to even the most well prepared people. Luckily, I keep the truck well maintained and do not take any unecessary risks so we were fine but I will definitely be investing in a PLB before we do a trip like that again. It's these experiences you need to learn from and ensure you do not put yourself at risk like that again in the future, if you do not learn from your past mistakes it is inevitable that one day you will find yourself in trouble.

Cheers

Craig

Hi Old Girl,

I too think you are being a bit harsh. Everyone has to start somewhere and at least they are asking questions and doing research.
It is those ones that just head out there with no preparation, get stuck and need our tax dollars to rescue them we should be getting down on.

If they do lots of research they are at least heading in the right direction.

Should have also said...
Beer and lots of it. Its the universal currency when needing a tow!