All these quality items that were hugely
expensive at the time, have withstood a
hundred adventures and outlasted all the
cheaper, inferior purchases I’ve unwisely
made over the years.
Quality gear lasts the distance and,
while the price tags might seem sky-high
compared to cheap Asian imports, you’ll
save your money in the long run. What’s
more, quality gear won’t fail when you need
it, or end up as landfill all too soon.
Make your goal for 2019 to buy the best
quality travel and caravanning gear you
can afford: everything from clothing and
footwear to portable fridges, car tyres and
sit-on kayaks.
Choose to give your hard-earned cash
to environmentally-motivated equipment
companies that use recycled and recyclable
materials, manufacture in carbon-neutral
factories (such as One Planet), that support
environmental causes and offer repair
services (One Planet, again) and sell their
products with small ecological footprints
and without plastic packaging.
There are plenty of Australian companies
that deserve your dollars so why not
choose to buy from those who serve the
environment best?DITCH: ALL PLASTIC BAGS
We may have finally banned the bag, but the
loophole — allowing sturdier, reusable plastic
bags to be handed out for a tiny fee — means
that there are an astounding number ofDITCH: CHEAP CAMPING GEAR
When I tackled my first Big Lap way back in
1995, I spent a month’s wages on camping
gear: a One Planet down sleeping bag, a
Kathmandu canvas day pack, a GORE-TEX
rain jacket, leather hiking boots and a
Windstopper fleece — all of which are still
with me today.
The One Planet sleeping bag and the
canvas rucksack that I threw into the back
of my boyfriend’s Commodore on that first,
big Aussie adventure, recently enjoyed their
third trip to Everest Base Camp.SWITCH: SUNSCREEN
Have you ever slid into a pristine outback
waterhole and found yourself surrounded by
a whirlpool of toxic sunscreen? Sunscreen
is a camper’s best friend but it may surprise
you to know that most of the sunscreens
sold in Australia contain toxic ingredients
harmful to humans and the waterways we
swim in as well.
Check yours now and if it contains
oxybenzone or octinoxate (recently banned
in Hawaii after being proven to damage
and kill coral reefs), make the switch to a
reef-safe, human-safe sunscreen that uses a
barrier of natural zinc oxide to shield your
skin from harmful solar rays.
You don’t have to be snorkelling to be a
part of the problem as sunscreen washed off
into the shower drains into our waterways,
making it vital for all Aussie travellers to
rethink the chemicals we put on our skin.
Sunscreens made by Natural Instinct (www.
naturalinstinct.com.au) are Aussie-made and
especially affordable.48 caravanworld.com.au
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Keep sunscreen out of pristine waterholes; invest in quality gear that
will last the distance; only buy sunscreen that is friendly to our reefs (and humans); refusing all
plastic bags is the only way to stop them ending up in the sea and in the tummies of our marine life