Life in the great outdoors: Handy camping tips from readers

Tuki Glamping, Hawke's Bay. Photo / Supplied

We asked for your tips for great camping holidays. Here are our favourites.

Take plenty of changes of clothes. Also have bedding with plenty of padding between the warm soft body and the cold, hard earth.
Cheryl Hard

Take all your meat and milk frozen, it will keep all your cold items cold.
Belinda Gasteen

Best tip for camping? Make a list. List everything you will need from insect repellent to a hammer — you'll need that to tap in the tent ties.
Kerry Smith

Take clothes pegs, so many uses. If a storm happens to encroach on your idyllic camping trip, pull your car up to the side of the tent the wind is coming from and tie the guide ropes to the tyres of the car. Seriously works, we have been left with last tents standing because of this!
Zoe Bone

Best tip for camping is to charge the UE Boom and make sure you have music downloaded for when you are out of service.
Jessica Rosoman

I love fresh coffee when we go trekking and wake up early outside in the bush — you can buy a Swiss Gold filter for around $40 — they are light and portable and produce a great brew.
Paul Tudor

Leave the kids at Grandma's!
Sarah Topliff

Never take a shortcut when setting up the tent — a friend ruined their tent when they didn't attach the fly properly and the waterproof layer rubbed off in the wind where it met the poles.
Trudy Morrison

Do not touch the walls of your tent when it rains.
Gregory Clarke

Take a small bottle of vinegar you can use for sun burn and for bee stings.
Shara Mcgaffin

One word: Flexitubs! These bad boys have been a game changer for my family's camping trips. Also, camping is such a good opportunity to slow down and enjoy what beautiful surroundings we have here. Smell the roses!
Siobhan Flanigan

Plant lettuces in a small tub. Fresh lettuce for salads. When done you have a tub to take dirty items home in.
Toni Van de Westerlo

Walkie talkies if you have kids so you can let them have freedom.
Amy Wren

Check your air mattress before you go and have a backup plan for wet weather.
Josie Juniper

I've even taken a bit out of the top of a bottle of white wine (there is some you can get in a plastic bottle for light weight ) then frozen it — nice cold wine without compromising taste too much.
Colleen Watts

Take red wine. There's no need for a chilly bin.
Erina Baars

Always take a good head torch as can be used for reading at night, putting any loose tent pegs back in when it's dark or for finding your way to the toilet in the middle of the night. Make sure you take some spare batteries as well.
Andrew Rowe

Sand is the perfect scrubbing brush for cleaning plates.
Isabelle Clarke

Enjoy your surroundings but on a practical level use a small whisk broom to sweep out the tent and keep things tidy.
Avaq Smits

Prepare in advance. Buy a lightweight planter box and sow lettuce and herbs so that you'll always have fresh salad ingredients on hand.
Noodle Gerba

Put a foam layer under your air bed. This will prevent any holes!
Amanda Bull

A door on each side of the hikers' tent so you don't have to climb over each other in the dark....best investment we made. In our 60s, we have to get up at night.
Marion Armstrong

Put your tent up at home before you go, check everything is there and there are no problems!
Andrea Powell

Each night tidy all your clothes and valuables away in your bags, if it rains and floods you'll be glad when you can evacuate quickly!
Debbie Ann

I used to find it so bright in the morning so an eye mask would be my tip!
Wendy Gibb

Minimise what you take but always include a chair.
Kathryn Clark

Never put tent up in the big space in the dip (when it rains the dip is rain collection spot!)
Jillian Bell

WINNER

Use cheap garden solar lights around tent pegs so no one trips on guide lines.
Erin Kinnear

Erin won a two-night stay for two, with flights included, at Tuki Glamping's stunning property overlooking Tukituki Valley, in Hawke's Bay.