Ten Plus Nine = Two?!

Yep, that's right - nothing wrong with our addition! 

You might recall a few weeks ago we purchased an Oztrail Tourer 9?  It was an eBay find and we were very chuffed with our bargain-hunting. 

Nick's been on the hunt since for an Oztrail Ten Plus - at the best possible price.  He spotted one last week (again on eBay) and we were the excited auction winners on Wednesday night.   Although the seller very kindly offered to meet us in Melbourne for the changeover, we were keen to explore a bit further from home so drove down to Gippsland today to finalise the sale.  It was a lovely day out, driving through some beautiful countryside - and chatting about camping/4WDing at the handover.

Once home again, Nick and Vaughan set up the brand new tent.  Lucky for us, it had never been taken out of its box because the seller preferred to sleep in his swag!  The roof frame was a bit of a fiddle but will remain in place as we have decided to use the square-fold method of storing the tent. 

Erin has always slept on a stretcher but our tent upgrades have prompted us to rethink our sleeping arrangements also.  Nick and I bought a new/never-used stretcher for Vaughan a week or so ago.  It was a bargain $25 (whereas the retail price is closer to $80).  We've since tried out a double stretcher but decided two singles placed side by side would work just as well.  I was shopping at Aldi on Wednesday and they had some on sale for just under $40 each, so I brought two home.  Hopefully they prove just as reliable as our other Aldi purchases.

As you can see in the pic above, the four stretchers fit into the Ten Plus fairly easily - and there will be plenty of room for our gear on longer stays, when Erin sleeps in her smaller tent.  (One of our local camping shops currently has a sale on self-inflating camping mats, so we are planning to layby some before the promotion ends - to increase our sleeping comfort).

Today's tent was purchased for a bargain $356 (around $100 less than the best new price we could find online).  Effectively we purchased it and the Tourer 9 for less than the cost of buying the Ten Plus from a retail outlet.  We're very happy campers indeed!