Camping Information. We supply the swags, pillows, doonas, linen, and all camping gear, all food, drinks, lunches and snacks. We cook a variety of delicious, well balanced meals with plenty of fresh vegetables, such as pasta, curries, laksa and stirr frys, rather than barbeque style. Breakfast is porridge, muesli or cereal, tea and/or real coffee. Lunch is packed, wholemeal rolls with cold meat, tomato, cheese etc with fruit, juice, and snacks. Included in the price is a cold beer or soft drink after the day's walk, and wine with dinner. We normally sleep in swags, in the 5,000 star hotel, and they are very warm and comfortable, but we do carry tents as well, for privacy if required and in case of rain.

Special food requirements. Please let us know in advance if you have any medical dietry requirements so we can accomodate your needs. However we do ask people with non-medical food preferences to relax them for the trip if possible as our cooking is done on a two burner stove so providing different meals is problematic. If you are a vegetarian your preference will mean that everyone will eat less meat. There are a few meals where we can prepare a non-meat version. Your cooperation on this will be appreciated.

Prescription Glasses. There are some steep, uneven surfaces on some of our walks and some occasional 'rock hopping'. It is essential for your safety that you can focus clearly on the ground, this means that bifocal or multifocal glasses can be unsafe so we suggest you bring some suitable single focus glasses if you require them.

Boots. Our camps are always on sandy, even groung but the general ground surface through the Macdonnell Ranges is hard and rocky, with sharp quartzite. As we often venture away from the camp it is very tough on boots, and feet. Boots need to be thoroughly checked well in advance of the camp.We have found that peoples 'old favourites' have cracked, broken or fallen apart as they can deteriorate in storage, particularly glue and stitching. If they don’t look certain to make the distance, buy a new pair now, and break them in properly. Even if we should have a wet day or two it will not be wet underfoot, and the multi-layered lined type are not necessary for Central Australia and may be too hot. Simple sturdy leather boots are fine. Remember, your feet are likely to get hot rather than cold during the day. For winter nights Ugg Boots are good.

Health. Before a camp like this its good to make sure that your body and mind are in good shape. If you have any medical conditions or potential medical issues make sure that you have seen your doctor recently and are well supplied with prescription medications as you will not be able to purchase them while on the camp. As we do quite a bit of walking on some of our trips, make sure that any corns, calluses etc. are seen to before hand and that problem nails are trimmed, and all nails cut.

Charlie & I are not trained therapists, and the Creative Camps are not designed as 'art therapy' events. Emotions sometimes become heightened around the creative process - this goes with the territory - and of course we do our best to look after participants in their fragile moments. However, if you are 'generally' rather than 'occasionally' fragile, we are not equipped to respond adequately to your needs.

What to bring. I will supply campers with a comrehensive list of what to bring well in advance of the camp. This list changes to refect the average temperatures as shown below:

	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct
Av. Max	28	23	20	20	22	26	30
Av. Min	12	8	5	4	6	10	15
Rainy Days	2	3	3	3	2	2	5

To clarify the general situation: all your personal overnight gear and warm clothes etc. stays in camp/ trailer during the day and does not need to be carried. Bring along what you need in a small, preferably soft bag, as space is limited. Surplus gear (good clothes for the plane trip etc) can be left in Alice, we will store these for you if necessary.

Bring your own day pack, (or we can supply one but please let us know in advance of the camp). In the day pack you will carry your lunch, your camera, some art materials perhaps, as well as a light goretex or japara in case of cold wind or rain...this unlikely but possible. More likely are quite warm conditions, and sunburn. Therfore a light, long sleeved shirt with a collar is a must for sun protection and a wide brimmed hat is an essential item at all times of year.

A torch is also essential, the head torch (miners light type) is useful as it leaves your hands free.

We supply some cloth gaiters to cover the socks and boot tops and fly nets if they are required.

We carry a first aid kit, a satellite phone, insect repellent, toilet paper etc.

The bathroom. There are no showers at our campsites. However we will arrange for you to have a hot shower during the week at nearby locations, except when we are at Ruby Gap which is too remote. On the other days we provide enough water for a bowl style body wash, so bring a towel. There may be water in the water holes, though often very cold it is most refreshing. The toilet will be a sit down 'bush toilet' that we make ourselves, this of course means no flushing but it is clean, comfortable and private.