4 weeks on the road - how we went

[KristyMum]

Righto here's where we are at so far. We still have yet to come home but it's not any different in terms of conditions so this is fairly well accurate, or will be, for the maj of the travel. Any extras I'll add when we get home.

What we took

• Diva Cup gotta love the Diva!
• about ten or so red PeaPods from the lovely Alex and a couple of the wetbags
• Pea Pods inserts hemp and a couple of bamboo ones too
• 1 Fuzzi Bunz
• the odd h/m hemp boosert and 2 m/fibre inserts
• one Mandy Mac (tester) and
• Bummis Frog cover (mostly in case people asked about MCN and wanted to see fitted+cover)
• Bummis Wet Bag
• 1 Monkey Doodlez
• 1 Rumpster
• 1 Possum Pouches soaker for nights
• Spray Lanolin (Sheepish Grins I think) in Clean Cotton (love that smell!)
• flushable liners from Donna (thanks Donna!)

which looks like a lot but it didn't pack like a lot, all fit into one Westnet satchel bag.
Plus the Magic Wash (manual washing machine), cord for line, pegs, and Ecologic washing liquid which all fit inside the empty machine. Gaia and wipes for bum.

We had a mix of bush camping (BYO everything incl water), unpowered site camping, basic facilities bush camping, plus being at Mum and Dad's, and the station (twin tub was GREAT I miss it!), plus 'side of the road' camping lol

Diva'ing while camping:

• for non-loo-available stops (side of the road, bush camping) dig the hole in ground same as you would otherwise. Take a bottle of water. Wash hands first. Remove and empty Diva with one hand, keeping other hand clean to handle water bottle. Wash Diva and reinsert. Easy. Then wash hands.
• Same process for camp ground toilets and someone else's house (which I can't believe I didn't think of for when we're not camping lol, taking a water bottle)

Our night combo:

• Pea Pods, with one hemp booster, one bamboo booster, all triple folded, plus Possum Pouches soaker. Never had a leak - yay! I figured the PUL+wool combo for leak-proofing is kinda like having fitted+cover for poo-proofing and it's what I do at home.

What worked well:

• the PeaPods were GREAT. No stains because I got all red ones with the dark inner, so even one nappy that sat for two days in a wetbag in the car, it washed up looking perfect. I could boost as much as I liked for long stints in the car (6hrs+ at a time sometimes). Dried quick. Actual drying conditions were perfect, but I wanted them dry quick because sometimes we didn't stay all day somewhere, so they needed to dry soon after pegging, so the PP were great in this respect.
• I found a use for the PeaPods wetbags yay! If it would be a full day of being in the car before I could wash (sometimes we did 11hrs with only one lunch stop) then I'd put any poo ones wrapped up on themselves, and into the little PeaPods bag, then the lot into the Bumms bag. The pee ones went right into the Bummis bag. This made it easier when I got to wash, I could do the pee ones asap and then the poo ones if I was short on time (ie it getting dark, running out of drying time).
• The Magic Wash was good - not sure how long the handle will last, but otherwise great. It even survived the odd curious dingo that came into camp lol - the washing machine remained intact but several campers boots were scattered around place with teeth marks lol and Jake's shorts and one wipe went wandering They didn't seem to bother with the nappies that were hanging on the line tied between the trees... the Magic Wash sealed well, never leaked. And most of all, nappies got clean!
• Where we needed to for washing water, we simply used the rinse water from the dishes, or the bucket from under washing hands to wash with, then the same again to rinse with.
• The Magic Wash barrel can come off the frame, so you can bung it in the back of the car, leave the frame at camp, and have the 4wding of the track 'agitate' the nappies while securely in the Magic Wash barrel.
• pretty much every wash was in cold water, apart from one wash with leftover hot water from the billy that had the veges in it. Apart from that all cold water washing and all went well.

What I changed/used less:

• Having no Little Squirt - After a while of using wipes, I changed to mostly use toilet paper moistened with Gaia (half water half Gaia premixed in bottle). This meant no poo squished into wipes w is harder to get off w no LS. Also meant that the toilet paper wipes, and the poo went into the same spot. So in the end the wipes were used for other things and we toilet papered. When I ran out of Gaia I used Sorbolene or just water.
• If I was somewhere where I could flush, then I used the toilet flush to get rid of maj of the poo from the nappy, then a good shake was usually enough. I STILL have forgotten to use the flushable liners what a nobb! So that's on my 'derr don't forget' list for the way home... rather embarrased I am Donna!
• Used mostly the PeaPods - they washed and dried quick, and no stains. I reserved the Rumpster and Monkey Doodlez for 'post-poo' wearing (pee only lol) so I didn't have to worry about how long before I could wash them if they were poo'd ie not having to think about stains setting.
• some idjit (ie me!) forgot the Snappi to go with the Mandy Mac, so I just used the Bummis Cover fitting snugly and it did just fine - never done a Snappi-less fitted+cover before lol so was pleased with that - always read you could do it but just never did.

PICS:

• being a cloth nut, I have pics of different drying locations and styles/methods (strung up on a tree lol/different versions of clotheslines etc), and 'on-bum-nappy' pics in awesome locations like gorges, waterfalls etc so I'll load those up when I get home.

thassal for now, HTH someone somewhere!

[~Miss Cinders~]

LOL Kristy! You are one of THE most clothiest chicks I have ever come across!

I have bookmarked this thread for further reference!!

[WB]

awsome stuff!
I still wouldn't camp though.. I like flushable toilets too much oh and soft springy beds and hot running showers...


So where's the pics?

[KristyMum]

a bit of stubborn in there too methinks my dear Cinders...
the real reason apart from sticking to what I believe in, is that to go to some of these beautiful and remote places, you become so so so much more aware of the impact you have on the place... even if you already knew it, just *being* there is enough to soundly ram it home, yk? So there's that.

pics when I get home, not there yet btw air mattresses suck lol. We usually take swags but thought we'd spoil ourselves as well as not having quite enough room for all the swags and the rest of the gear - well jeepers they're noisy so you can't go for a night-pee quietly and one person moves and it's just about as bad as a water bed so we learnt that lesson...
any thoughts on alternatives/helps in that dept?

ps Genie, surprised the snot outa me but the Silent Grove/Bells Creek camping area has flushable loos and showers!!!
here's a pic of the Bell Gorge that we walked into
http://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/im...pictures-9.jpg
and this is Galvin's that we went to the next day
http://www.ingrids-welt.de/reise/aus...gibbgorge2.jpg

(I'll load my pics later)
IN that sense, it's a better alternative to thousands of covered up poo in holes all over the bush... when you consider the number of people that come through that area. Would like to find out more on the specifics of running and use of them and how they manage it tho... (add that to the 'to do one day' list!)

[Peach_Bums_Mum]

Wow Kristy - a very comprehensive cloth report! Sounds like cloth + DIVA went well

[desertbaby]

Sounds like you are having a great time and that cloth is working well.

As for the air mattress....can't help you there. We last went camping pre-kids, so had plenty of room and took a double foam mattress....luxury You are making me very jealous though...can't wait til we are back in Oz long enough to head up north again.

Looking forward to seeing your pics.

[nangari]

How timely is this thread! We are about to go to Mole Gorge for a long weekend and I've been contemplating what to do in regard to cloth/disposable/washing etc. I use Microfibre Terry inserts for Eenee Pouch Pants so they should be easy enough to wash and dry while away. I was wondering about the flushable pads and if they would be alright to bury in our bush toilet. They are completely compostable but it's not exact composting is it?

Thank you so much for your detailed description of travelling with cloth. Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time. And yes, being in 'nature' sure reminds you of the impact all the plastic is having on our planet.

Cas

[KristyMum]

well we got back at 2.30am today
so I'm having a quick scroll through the last 4 pages of threads (if there's particular ones you reckon I should check out yell out!)
checking some bookmarks
then continuing the unpack etc

have an idea on sauce bottle LS lol as well as a few more 'oops' and lightbulb moments from when we're away and will answer PMs, questions in posts etc then