Camping in remote areas has become easier than ever, and the most significant change comes from gear rather than the destinations themselves. With adequate equipment and some preparations beforehand, you can venture far into the real wilderness without giving up on good rest and warm food.
Start with honest payload math
Check your vehicle’s Gross Vehicle Mass before you load a single item. It’s easy. Find the GVM in your owner’s manual, subtract it from the kerb weight, and that’s your working budget. Then weigh your gear. And for the sake of handling, fill your water tanks before you weigh – not after. Potable water is a kilo a litre, and five days for two people is easy to get wrong. Most people want more comfort than that.
Build a power system you can actually trust
Being worried about running out of power is a real bummer and can affect an otherwise great trip. It’s easy to overspend on panels you don’t need, assuming you even have the space for them. The thing with solar power isn’t just the amount your panels can produce (though that’s important) but knowing how much you actually need in the first place. Short of that, here’s a way not to go about it.
You pull the fridge slider out, and next to the fridge goes your 240v boom box. Camp lights and phone chargers are spread around in disarray, cords snaking across your kitchen setup. You start the long-range diesel kit ’cause it’s getting cold, and though you nod off reading a bit earlier than expected, the 12v fan keeps running all night. You wake to a flat battery, which means no coffee.
Instead, list every item you expect to have running, research or monitor them (either the manufacturer or by plugging in a volt/amp meter). The more draw/minor items are easy to overlook. Once you know how many amps are being drawn over a typical day you can work out what your daily draw in amp hours (Ah) will be and size your solar setup/secondary battery setup accordingly.
Choose a rig built for the conditions
Tent camping isn’t bad – it’s just tough. One rough night of wind and rain, one evening trying to sleep on a slowly deflating foam mat, one morning spent repacking a wet tarp in the rain and darkness, and it’s tough to get back into the rhythm of the trip.
Hard-floor camper trailers and hybrid setups close a lot of that gap. You get a solid, sheltered shell, a real bed, often with a second pull-out mattress for kids, a built-in kitchen and a bunch of storage that you can leave packed while you travel, meaning no daily loading and unloading of big plastic tubs in and out of your car or ute. Austrack Campers even design their off-road models with exactly the kind of tough, go-anywhere remote travel in mind – which makes sense, since much of Australia is defined by that trackless, long-stretch-between-towns space.
The advantage of these campers over a caravan, reversing the caravan/camper-trailer arguments above, is that they’re still relatively compact and easy to tow through towns and down tracks where the shrubby overhangs along the track would clout your expensive white fibreglass caravan. Instead of turning around, making your partner get out in the rain to spot you driving in reverse, you can unhook a hybrid camper in a few minutes and keep going.
Plan your itinerary around a base camp
Using a “hub and spoke” model is ideal for remote camping. It allows you to travel light over the rough terrain while the bulk of your gear stays in a comfortable campsite. Just unpack, set up your base, and then take off every day to explore new tracks.
There are also tactical advantages to doing things this way. You’re not spending half an hour breaking down camp in the morning and another half an hour setting up at night. Your burlier 4WD maps as well as your GPS unit – because you definitely should not trust your life to a phone app that needs reception to update – can stay centrally located, rather than on the floor of your passenger side covered by a wet swag. Your Tred Pro recovery tracks are also of no use to you if they are in the bottom of a bag of sugar.
Eat well out there
Preparing meals in advance is not appreciated enough when it comes to travel comfort. If you vacuum-seal marinated proteins before your departure, the fridge life is extended, and the camp prep time is reduced. Pre-portion dry goods into labelled bags, so your modular kitchen remains organized even after the second day.
For cooking, a high-output gas stove can be used, but the arrangement around it is equally important. A spice rack, a proper cutting board that can be locked in place, and a pot that fits your stove properly are not unnecessary conveniences. These are the things that will make the difference between a 15-minute meal and a 45-minute meal that makes you frustrated when it’s dark out.
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The trip you actually want to take
Many campers just want to get away for a few days in comfort and leisure, not in a state of perpetual stress in the name of adventure. It is not a contradiction. It means that most people want to experience the wilds but not necessarily have to endure it through the night. The trick is to not make things too comfortable, and not too easy, stripping the journey of its very purpose.
Last Updated on March 11, 2026
