Camping In Long Gentle Rain - Rainy Camping In Large Family Pole Hot Tent

Hey everybody, welcome back to the channel. I'm out here in this beautiful camp spot again and there's no wind this time, at least for now. There's gentle rain coming down and hopefully it just persists through to the evening. I'm having a rematch of the nature hike tent from the last video because I was left quite dissatisfied after I had to take it down in that storm. So we're going to be pitching that big thing up, chilling out in the rain and the temperature is going to drop overnight so it should be quite cool in the morning. We'll get the fire going. There's lots of bugs around, you might be able to see them on the screen, so I'm going to have to get the thermocell cranking. But for now, we'll get the tent up before I do the other one over the top and hopefully it lifts the whole tent up a bit better. We shall see. So far so good. I put that in the wrong sleeve. Oh man, what an amateur. That's better. There we go, that actually went up pretty easy. Way better than last time. The rain seems to be on the verge of stopping. I hope it just dumps down. There are quite a lot of clouds up there though so it's looking promising. I've got to get my chair set up, table set up. I need a hot drink on and that thermocell because these bugs, the sand flies, they're going crazy. This is such a nice open space to be in and when it's not windy I have just full coverage from rain. It's really quite nice. In case you guys don't know, this thing is called a thermocell. It's got a little butane cartridge and all you do is you flick it on, you put in this repellent kind of pellet and you press go and it lights up. You see a little flame in here and it just starts secreting a scent and it really does work at getting the bugs away. I probably should have brought two but I think with just one we should be all right once it's on full power. This thermocell is working pretty good already. I think it says it gives like a 25 square meter of bug free environment. There is bug net on here though so I could zip it down if it gets real bad but for now I'm just going to chill out and get a hot drink on I think. This is nice. That's the view from my seat. How incredible. Just listening to that rain of English breakfast tea, sit back, relax and maybe one biscuit because I'm on a diet at the moment so I can't be smashing whole packs of Tim Tams especially when I'm not walking up the mountains. Builders tea. Not too much milk and a strong brew. It's good just how I like it. And in here, here's my rations of dark chocolate digestives. I have three for the whole camp so I got to make the most of them and of course we're going for the dunk. I'm going to savour these because I haven't been having sweet food. Each one has I think 10 carbohydrates in them so you got to be careful. Melted chocolate. It's delicious. I love this. Gentle rain camping. Storms are fun but just being out here when it's calm and cool and the nice pitter-patter of the raindrops on the big tent is something else. Soft, wheaty and the perfect amount of chocolate. Not too sweet with a nice savoury kind of saltiness. Perfect engineering in these biscuits. Looks like this rain's clearing up. I think it was supposed to rain all the way through till seven o'clock but it might be a bit patchy. There's still some pretty decent clouds up there this up and get the fire going. It's a pretty nice consistent rain coming down which is just providing an excellent ambience. It'll be even better when we have a bit of warmth too. This is a great little hatchet by the way, the Big Agnes little hammer and hatchet. I got this from the gear shop. I'll chuck a link in the description It's a great place to pick up all these bits and pieces of camping gear. I always use this thing to hammer in my stakes and it's also perfect for this type of little wood splitting. You should check it out, it's a good product. Burning these wood pucks again, that'll be my main source of fuel. The trusty little Lucifers, the all-time greatest fire starter. I reckon Heat's instantly radiating off this fireplace and we still have that beautiful pitter patter of rain. The only problem with these fire puck things, wood pucks, when you get them in there they expand and you open the door to chuck another one in and like ash goes everywhere. So you've got to be careful that they're not too close right to the door especially with this tent because the fire is pretty close to the inner. We've got another big pot of water on, have another cup of tea and we'll just chill out and wait. Still way too early for dinner so heaps of time to relax and just enjoy the ambience. Oh this is nice, a plastic insert window that's fully waterproof and taped. It makes it way better because you can see here the roof line cuts down so if it rains you've only got like usable space to here but now I can stuff things right into the edge and kind of just open up the whole tent and still get a cross breeze. The fire's roaring, it's getting real hot. Might have to take this jacket off. windows so you can be protected from the elements but still also have a view. I wish I brought more biscuits now but the good thing about this is I'm forced to be on my diet because obviously I can't go home and get biscuits. Well I could but that'd be very desperate. I just have to hold out for dinner which is going to be delicious by the way. I'm not skimping on the dinner, just the in-between treats. Incredible views up to the mountains, they're all misty and just nice drizzle. I'm making a big feast. These are nice and zingy, good acidity in these cherry tomatoes. It's going to be crucial to cut through the fattiness. Look at that perfectly smoked piece of salmon. The fire's roaring, the water's almost boiling already, that was so fast. It's so hot in here even though the temperature's cooling down quite a bit and there's a few more spits of rain coming in which is quite nice. Hopefully it gets colder though so I don't overheat tonight. It sounds like that rain's picking up again, that's nice. Hopefully it sets in for dinner time. The secret to pasta is you want to take it off a little bit before it's fully cooked for that perfect al dente. I think I'll do it now and I'll put some oil in there and fry it up on the tomatoes and this is the special ingredient. Beautiful extra virgin olive oil infused with roast garlic. It's a bit of that for flavour. Oh my goodness, I'll get this black pepper in too. So here I've got some parmesan flakes, get those in there and melt it up. I'm starting to get very very excited. Now time for the salmon. It's the main event, just get this all on here. Look at that. Maybe a little bit of arugula or rocket, whatever you call it, wherever we are in the world would go good. But this is like a next level pasta dish. Give it the taste test. Oh the cheese, that was so simple yet so effective. I got a coke zero gold here to wash it down. The good thing about these is when you have a sip, it kind of cleanses the palate and every taste feels like the first taste again. Let's go. Oh man, this is like a cheat meal for me. My diet's been pretty strict at home. Pretty much just like steak, chicken and salad and protein shaped. So have all this carbs and fat with the salmon man, the cheese and to be out here and eat it. It's incredible. This would be quite an easy meal to cook up on the tops as well in a storm. Just bring up the salmon and boil the pasta. You could even pre-boil the pasta. I'd probably add way more cheese and more olive oil if I was up there. Just because it burns so many calories when you're like chopping wood, climbing the mountains, being out in the cold. But I got to reign it in a bit when I'm doing these more chilled out camps so my weight doesn't blow out. All of you guys probably know what I mean. This is pure flavor. A few basil leaves would be good. Basil. Herbs. The Americans, all you guys, you pronounce a lot of words differently to the English and the Kiwis. Oregano. That's a good example. It's quite a nice cool breeze coming through now, which is good. It's starting to cool off. This fire though is still cranking to the max. I'm going to finish this. Just relax and I'll come back to you guys once I've tidied up. Finally, it's starting to get dark. It's a beautiful evening. The rain's completely stopped now. I went for a walk just to burn off some of that pasta. I think I'll zip the tent up now, get it all closed up, get it cozy inside. My fire almost went out. Let's get a few of these little dry pieces in there. Water's almost done. You don't want to get it too hot for a hot chocolate, otherwise you can't drink it fast. I don't think I've had a hot chocolate since the last time I was camping. Although I don't even think I had one then. Maybe I did in the van with Tim Tams. Yeah, that's right. This will be nice. It's another treat that I don't often have when I'm at home. I get to enjoy these little delicacies. It's so sweet and creamy. The jar is dark. Just a sachet and it makes the perfect little drink. I was in the supermarket the other day and I was looking at the price of these. It was $9. I remember I used to get them for I think $5.50 or even $4.50 on special. The price has doubled for hot chocolate. Isn't that crazy? I'm happy I came out in this thing again to test it properly. The last camp was just highly stressful. I would not recommend this tent in anything but very calm conditions. It can handle rain really well. It doesn't leak at all, but wind, it just doesn't go well with this thing. Too much material, not enough poles, but the bed chamber is massive. It could probably fit like, I don't know, four adults, probably five, but it's really like a family tent and it's perfect for that. It's like a palace for one person with the stove. I think I'll use this again next winter which seems like a long, long time away. It's, what is it now, November here in New Zealand and we're going into like full summer soon. It's about 10pm and it's only just gotten dark, which is not ideal for camping, but yeah, this and some light snow, freezing cold, fire roaring, great setup. I'm not going to chuck any more wood on the fire. I'll let this thing go out. There's heaps of coals in there, but I do not need the extra heat. I'm pretty sure my new sleep system is rated for negative two, I think, and I have an extra quilt with me, so it's definitely not even going to get that cold, maybe five degrees at the absolute coldest in the morning, probably more like 8C, so I'll probably be overheating again. I can't wait to get into bed, sort myself out, we'll get in there and I'll show you my ultimate new sleep setup. So this is my new bed. It's called the Zen Bivvy Trek and it's way, way bigger than other Zen Bivvies. It's extremely wide and it's got like a, I think it's a 50 denier, real soft fabric, I think they call it pongee or something, I don't know, but instead of clips, it has a zip, so it zips onto the sheet, tucks right in and it's just massive because it's supposed to be like emulating your bed at home. It's so big that I can fit another quilt inside of this, so when it gets real cold in winter, I can layer it up. I do have another lightweight quilt here, but I won't need it tonight, I don't think. We'll see, maybe in the morning it will get a bit chilly, but I'll tuck myself in in this and you can see what it's like. There's a moth! I have to get that. Oh man, I can just spread out too. That's so lovely. I love the Zen Bivvy products. Oh man, this one's a little bit more heavy as well. It's 600 or 700 full power down. You could chuck it in a backpack for a short overnighter, but you wouldn't really want to be taking this thing up the mountain. I only have to unzip it. It's very hot. Oh man, it's hot. I'm overheating already, even with the vents open, but it's been a good camp so far. Some delicious food, got some new gear to test and I'm real happy with this tent in calm conditions. But I think I'm gonna switch the camera off and I'll see you tomorrow for coffee and I have a very, very special breakfast, so I've got that to look forward to. But until then, I'm gonna go to sleep. Hopefully a good sleep. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night. What a good sleep. That was incredible. Already it's heating up and drying out. It's nice. My little enclosure. It's gonna take a while for this water to get boiling as the stove heats up. So I might go outside and have a little roasted sachets from home. We get one of those on the go and I think I'll go straight into breakfast. Cheers. Just look at this place. It's unreal to sit here and enjoy this. Be warm next to my fire and just watch the mountains. Oh man, that's a good brew. This is Colombian natural. A lot of people ask me, like, what coffee are you using? It's my own beans. I buy the green raw beans. They're the seeds of a cherry and I roast them. I have a drum roaster at home and this one is a Colombian natural coffee. It's a rare variety, so it's quite a unique flavor. It's kind of like a sweet grape, chocolatey, zingy kind of very clean and tangy brew. If that makes any sense to you. Coffee's kind of like wine. It starts to get real crazy and you can spend a lot of money on it. Believe it or not. Oh no, they don't fit. I don't know what I'll do. I'll get my sourdough slices This is home-baked fresh sourdough infused with cheddar cheese. Victoria, my wife, she bakes so many treats, scones, cakes, but she's got them sourdough, so she makes a loaf calories. I'm going to have to do a massive leg workout after this. We have one more brew then I think we'll pack up. All the sand flies have come back in full force as the sun's risen and it's warmed up a bit. The thermosail can't even keep them away. They're so beast mode here. What an epic bed this is. These poles are ridiculously long. Well that's that all packed up. That was pretty easy. You can just biff everything into the van. Heaps of room in there. That was a fun camp. The tent is a great tent for that style of camping, chilled out camping in the rain. I think next vid I'll be heading up into the mountains with a small tent and do some wild camping. There'll be no snow because we're going into summer now, but it's still nice to get up into the hills and away from the bugs when you're at higher elevation. But for now I'm going to get home, go to the gym, burn off that sandwich of my dinner last night. Thanks for coming guys. Have a good week. Have a good end of the year and I'll see you in the next video. Bye bye.