The Two-Use Rule – Pack Smarter, Travel Lighter

Words and Photos Compiled by the What’s Up Downunder Team

Ever heard the two-use rule, where every item must serve at least two needs at camp? It’s a compulsive pursuit that helps you save kilos at camp. We kick off the addiction with these awesome lightweight winners.

Fabulous Foam Tiles

These perforated interlocking EVA Floor Tiles are brilliant barriers for a rainy day camp. I got them to shield our innerspring mattresses from condensation but Brian pinched them for our annex floor–so we have to buy more! They’re soft underfoot and their perforated profile protects damp grassy camps. Sometimes we lay them under a mat, depending on the conditions.

Zip Lock Magic

Do you use zip lock bags at camp? The clever crew at Dunny Buddy, makers of the Paperpod and Dunny Buddy toilet roll, use them for all sorts of things: From prepared food rations to left overs, tea bags, snacks, bathroom items like soap through to wet clothes and just about anything else: “They are light, pack flat and completely washable and re-useable. They are also very inexpensive to purchase.”

Occy Straps – The Underrated All-Rounder

Occy straps are the absolute camping bomb. We’ve used them as washing lines beneath our camper’s pull out bed and, more recently, to support our projector’s screen inside our annexe. I always handle them with extreme care as they’re super stretchy–and never to tie down a heavy load.

Turning the Fridge into a Pantry

Due to our van’s convertible spaces, we can’t stock our caravan pantry before we go. So instead, I treat our unchilled fridge like a pantry during the commute to camp and stock prefrozen fridge items in the freezer (mostly). Choose wisely: Bottled water, 1L milk, butter, first night’s meal work. Be sure to compress bottles to accommodate any liquid expansion.

Stubby Cooler Genius – More Than a Drink Holder

Words and Photos Marg & Bruce Gow, Baby Boomers on the Road

These heroic souvenirs that should never go to waste say Bruce and Marg Gow from Baby Boomers on the Road.

Insulate the Aerosols

Well use them around those aerosol cans of Must Have ingredients when you travel. That way, they don’t roll around in your boot or drawers of your vehicle. My silicon spray, lithium grease and even my insect repellent fit nicely into these and they all go together in the drawer.

Glass Goblets on the Go

Another use we have found for the stubby holder is for long-stemmed wine glasses. The stem bases fit neatly into the stubby holder and won’t rattle around or break in the drawer of our caravan. How neat is that?

Esky Savers

One drastic problem when driving on corrugated roads for any great distance is that the tops can unscrew on screw top bottles from rattling together either in the box or in the Esky. Place these in their own stubby holder and it stops them from moving as well.

Always Found

These stubby holders then are easily found in case of an emergency when someone offers you a cold drink, no longer being those elusive things lost somewhere in the fridge or the boot of the car.

Words and Photos WUDU Team, Marg & Bruce Gow