Your New Zealand Summer Camping Gear Essentials List

Yippee, the summer camping season is here. You can either hit your favourite camping spots by car, or as many of us here at Outside Sports prefer to do it – with human powered camping. We love getting out there hiking, bike packing, and climbing our way to places off the beaten track. Leaving the car at home or trailhead means a lot more freedom to enjoy adventures, but also means you need to make every gram in your pack count. 

So we’re all about light camping gear – but never at the expense of function and durability. There’s no point in having a light pack if your gear is going to disintegrate after the first night or two. Being careful to buy only quality gear is the way to go even if it costs a bit more to begin with. 

Like everything the classic choose ‘two out of three’ equation applies to camping gear. There’s low-cost vs light-weight vs durability. You can pick any two of those things, but don’t expect to get all three – unless you’re prepared to pay.  

With that in mind we’ve put together a list of essential summer camping requirements for the New Zealand summer, and recommendations on how to choose the best product for your needs. 

1. Tent 
2. Sleep system 
3. Backpack 
4. Food 
5. Cooking gear 

Now let’s take a deeper dive into each of the items on your list. 

There’s no industry standard sizing for tents, so when choosing your tent, look at its length, width and height. Ideally you want a bit of space above your head and below your feet to allow for some gear storage and to reduce the chance of getting wet from condensation build up if you have a single skin tent. Sometimes a two-person tent is not actually big enough for two people, so consider going up a size to make nights more comfortable. 

How and where will you be using your tent? If you're hiking weight is likely to be more of an issue than if you have a bike to help carry the load. The ‘packed weight’ is the important number because it includes the tent, poles, pegs, and ropes.

A 3-season tent is a good choice for most summer camping trips in New Zealand. 3-season tents are usually double skinned and have plenty of insect mesh to keep the mozzies and sandflies out while allowing air in to keep you cool.  

A 4-season rating means you can use it year-round, including in snow, low temperatures, and high winds. If you're hiking at high altitude or deep in the southern backcountry in summer you'd be wise to consider a 4-season rated tent. It will keep you warmer because the tent is made from more solid material and it will cope with a certain amount of snow without collapsing.

If you are rough on your equipment or the ground is rough you might want to consider sacrificing a bit of weight saving for more durability. An extra groundsheet can help protect it from sharp rocks and sharp roots. 

Single skin, or one layer tents, are usually lighter and pack down smaller, but can also have problems with condensation, particularly if you are pushing up against the ends of the tent.   

Double skin tents have an inner and outer layer, and are generally slightly heavier, but have fewer problems with condensation.   

Side entry tents open on one or both sides of the tent, and front entry tents open at the end. if you are sharing a tent with someone else a tent with an opening on each side is a lot easier to live in, and when you get out of your tent in the middle of the night you don’t need to climb over your pack.  

With a free standing tent the main part of the tent is self-supporting. However its fly (the outer waterproof layer) will usually not be free standing and will need to be pegged.  

A non free-standing tent needs to be fully pegged, making it slower to put up and take down, and harder to set up in hard or rocky ground.  

At Outside Sports we have the Southern Lakes best range of lightweight, durable top-quality tents from Nemo, Orson, The North Face, MSR, Marmot and Salewa. See them in-store at Queenstown, Wanaka, Te Anau or Tekapo, or shop online. 

One last bit of advice - Practice setting up your tent before you go! 

Your sleeping mat, sleeping bag, and what you wear to bed form your sleep system. In this article we’ll look at your sleeping mat and sleeping bag options. While we do that keeping in mind ‘Where, when and how do you want to use your camping sleep system? And are you a ‘cold sleeper’ who feels the cold at night?’ 

Warmth:
Quality sleeping mats have an R-value, which gives you an indication of how warm a mat will be. Look for an R-value of 1.0 to 2.0 for summer use. A rating of 3.0 is suitable for three-season camping, and 4.0 to 5.0+ is for winter camping. If you feel the cold at night go for a higher R-value. 

Size and Weight:
Weight and pack size might either be the most important or least important factor depending on the intended use of your sleeping mat. Since space is always at a premium in your backpack or bike bags, a three-season sleeping mat should have a packed volume of under two litres. Closed-cell foam mats are bulkiest, so most backpackers just strap them to the outside of their pack.  

We have five types of sleeping mats to choose from. 

• Self-Inflating Mats  

• Insulated Air Mats   

• Non-Insulated Air Mats  

• Closed-Cell Foam Mats  

• Foam Rolls  

For more details check out our article on choosing sleeping mats for camping. 

You can't sleep well if you're cold, so if you’re going to sacrifice a bit of weight and space in your pack , your sleeping bag is probably the place to do it, because even an ultra-efficient super light-weight bag will still be one of the heavier, bulkier items in you have to carry.  

Temperature Ratings:
A sleeping bag's temperature rating identifies the lowest temperature at which a bag was designed to keep an ‘average sleeper’ warm. Choose a sleeping bag that’s rated a bit colder than the lowest temperatures you expect on your camping trip. 

An ‘ISO’ or ‘EN’ temperature ratings are standardized tests that mean you can compare temperature ratings between brands. EN was the old standard. ISO is the new standard and is more consistent. 

With ISO/EN testing, a bag is assigned two temperature ratings: comfort and limit ratings. ‘Comfort’ rating is the lowest temperature at which the bag will keep the average ‘cold sleeper’ comfortable, and is generally the temperature assigned to women's bags. The ‘Limit’ rating is the lowest temperature at which the bag will keep a ‘warm sleeper’ comfortable, and is generally the temperature assigned to men's or unisex bags. If a temperature rating omits the term ‘comfort’ or ‘limit’ then it's likely the brand's own estimate, not an ISO or EN test result. 

Insulation Type:
Your choice is between down vs. synthetic insulation. 

Down insulation. Downis more expensive on average than synthetic insulations, but it's lighter and more compressible. In addition, down fill is more durable than a synthetic fill, which means it retains a more consistent level of warmth for longer period of time  

Synthetic insulation. Synthetic is cheaper and it continues to insulate if it gets wet, which isn’t beyond the bounds of possibility for a summer camping trip in New Zealand. 

Down/synthetic blends. Some bags combine synthetic insulation on the bottom, where it will compress less, and down on top, where it will loft better.  

Weight:
When you compare weights, make sure you’re comparing sleeping bags with the same temperature rating. 

The first thing to consider is how long you plan to be camping for, because that will tell you the size of backpack you need. 

3-5 nights: You’ll want to look at 50-80 litre backpacks. Packs of this size are great for shorter trips too, which makes them a versatile option. 

5+ nights: Summer camping trips of five days or more usually call for packs of 70 litre plus. You can bring extra clothing, a warmer sleeping bag, and a 4-season tent. They're also ideal for family camping trips because you always wind up carrying most of your kids' gear too.  

The type of frame is the next decision. Internal frames are more comfortable and external frames allow carry heavier and bulkier loads like inflatable kayaks or paddleboards. Frameless backpacks are super lightweight, but are much less comfortable with a heavy load. 

Ventilation. Internal frame packs can get a bit sweaty, so most feature either a suspended mesh back panel or ventilation channels to provide some air space between your back and the pack.