Gear News: Campfire camp oven long-term update and OZtrail’s new Shade Dome
As we move into autumn it’s getting closer to outback touring season, which means winter nights around a campfire and, hopefully, food cooked in a cast-iron camp oven.
Aus Geo ADVENTURE’s Senior Gear Tester, Mark Watson, has been testing (and cooking with) a Campfire camp oven for the past few months while he’s been on some long-term remote assignments and, unsurprisingly, has been very impressed with this campsite staple’s cooking performance. So much so, in fact, that us here in the office can’t track him down to get it back. Instead, we receive the occasional text message about how the Campfire camp oven has been reliably cooking up a storm whenever possible. Watson notes that the oven “retains heat, keeps ashes out and the food we’ve cooked in it has tasted amazing, and it should be able to continue to produce top nosh for years. We love it.”
There will be a full gear test on this excellent Campfire product online soon but, in the meantime, we are sending Watson some of Campfire’s cleaning and servicing products for the oven. The Campfire Cast Iron Scrub combines salt and natural oils to help remove any burnt food from the oven prior to it being seasoned/protected with the Seasoning Oil (which also helps minimise the chance of food being stuck to the oven wall and reduces any smells) also sent to the AG Adventure office by Campfire.
With the amount of use the camp oven has had the past couple of months, it is due for some TLC, so look for the online review of the stove and these products here soon. See www.campfirecook.com for more information on Campfire’s wide range of camp cooking products.
Stay sheltered with OZtrail’s new Shade Dome range
OZtrail’s Shade Dome series of gazebos is all-new and, as expected, features the brand’s high quality and innovative design ethos.
The Deluxe Shade Dome 4.2 and BlockOut Shade Dome 4.2 provide maximum shade cover (4.2m x 4.2m x 2.35m) for the footprint and pack down to a compact size. The Deluxe Shade Dome 4.2 is made using seam-sealed 150-denier heavy-duty fabric, a steel frame and zipped roof vents. The silver PU-coated canopy is claimed to cut out up to 98 per cent of UV rays from the sun. The steel shock-cords mean the whole thing is very easy to set up. It weighs only 17.3kg and packs down to 240mm x 230mm x 980mm.
The BlockOut Shade Dome offers similar construction but utilises OZtrail’s BlockOut technology to reduce heat under the shade by up to a claimed 11 degrees Celsius. It weighs in at 16.5kg and packs down to the same dimensions as the Deluxe Shade Dome.
See www.oztrail.com.au for more info.
