Help with first time gear purchases

Ive been doing some research but could i get some advice/opinions/knowledge on my current ideas please?

Im planning a 20 day self sufficent hike of the Larapinta trail, it is about 225 kilometers long. Temp during the day is warm, but pretty bone chilling at night.

I have not made gear purchases yet so im hoping you guys can make up my mind for me. I will be carrying my own food, fuel and so forth.. no worries about water this time of year.

Backpack----- TNF terra 60
Sleeping bag- TNF Cats Meow
food--------- freeze dried style
tent--------- 2 person options is what i need
stove-------- still not sure

any help would be much appreciated, this is my first trip and my head is spinning from needing to get so much done.

Hi Ryan, sounds like a lot of fun and adventure.

You will certainly get some good advice here. I will chime in on only one aspect...

Freeze dried food for 20 days you will only need to have a stove capable of boiling water like a jetboil, primus, optimus or msr. Have you experience with freeze dried meals? personally I can barely eat one, let alone only that for twenty days. Thus if you are certain about the freeze-dried, go with a canister stove as mentioned. Have fun out there!

Welcome!

As far as the pack, I'd suggest two things: 1) buy it last, and buy it at a store instead of online, and 2) drag all your gear, including the food sack you plan to carry, with you to that store. Load up the pack you're interested in and walk around the store with it. That way you learn two things: whether it's large enough for the load you want to take, and how it feels fully loaded. (If it's a good shop, the staff will be experienced and can give you loading suggestions.)

Sleeping bag doesn't sound too bad; TNF used to be the gold standard; now, I don't know - they got out of the market for about 10 years, but seem to be trying a comeback. If it were me starting out, I'd look at Western Mountaineering or, if those are beyond what you want to spend, Marmot.

For two-person tents, my preference is Big Agnes, particularly their UL and SL lines.

For stoves, the lightest will be the Snow Peak Gigapower or Lite Max, paired with a Snow Peak Trek 700, 900, or 1400 pot (depending on how much water you need to boil. If all you're doing is boiling water, I'd probably go for light.

However, don't rule out the Jetboil PCS. It weighs half a pound more than the Gigapower/Trek 700 combo (but only about 4 ounces less than the other two pots.) But, on a long trip the Jetboil makes up the weight by fuel efficiency. If I'm boiling water 2 - 3 times a day, I need two cylinders for a week-long trip with the Snow Peak combo, but only one cylinder with the Jetboil. (A cylinder weighs about half a pound, full.) The Jetboil has another advantage: the insulated pot keeps food warmer, longer. (I pour freeze-dried food into a pot rather than pouring water into the bag; it avoids dealing with a piece of wet, greasy trash. If you like cooking in the bag, there's no difference.)

Ryan

You will get a lot of helpful advice here, BUT you live in a place far more isolated and strange than most of us (all?) anyway please get local knowledge, preferably also some native input. Some of our Arizona/Texas boys are pretty experienced in desert travel, but a long major hike through a strange wilderness with unknown threats - Crocodile attack anyone? Does any one know exactly what to do if a crocodile attacks them?

And I agree - freeze dried food tastes like re hydrated dirt.
Jim

Welcome, good luck on your hike and have fun!

You've already gotten great advice on the pack. As far as sleeping bags, I second Western Mountaineering for bags if you can afford them. Down is lighter and more compactable than synthetic fills. Some people like the Cats Meow and some really don't. I believe MacPac is available where you are and is the equivilent of REI for us in the states. Often you can get a decent down bag from REI or someplace similar. Laufama also gets good reviews as an inexpensive down bag of decent quality. I've never used one so I can't confirm that.

For food look at trailcooking.com and onepanwonders.com. You can make much better tasting food with their recipies than freeze dried and it costs less too.

Finally, read the posts on backpackinglight.com There are a bunch of people from Australia and New Zealand who post there.

the extent of my freeze dried/ long term storage foods is restricted to basic MRE style meals from my time in iraq and afghanistan. I havent tried one of the freezedried ones from the camp store yet, but i assume it wont exactly be a culinary delight. Are there brands that are better? Or would MRE style meals/heatermeals be a better alternative?

good idea on the pack selection process... its a bit hard to do out here due to lack of stores and to be honest the quality of product you find here ( at least in the outback) is pretty low.
Im keeping my options open on that sleeping bag so far, i hear the cats meow is about 50/50 like/hate , but then again, what isnt. Im checking out westernmountaineering tonight.

stoves-i was pretty much set on the gigapower with the snowpeak cup and other goodies, i really like their quality. I saw another brand, i think novark or something close to that which made a very stable (in store feeling) stove similar to the giga.
Jetboil seems like a good choice due to my love of coffee and need of it on the trail to stay chipper.
awesome advice guys im really picking up alot of good ideas here.

honestly, getting the advice from US folk is better for me. Im from the states so if i can always turn that into useful info for me here. No crocs in this part of the northern territory, tho im always a bit on edge around the water.

if a crocodile attacks its basically STOP, DROP and ROLL... i think....maybe that was fire.

The gigapower with the snow peak cup is a nice setup. it will work fine for you, no need to change that.

As for food, well, I personally find I like the better brands of freeze dried stuff better than MRE meals, and they are a heck of a lot lighter. Some people do not. You can also do pretty good with dried ingredients from the grocery store, and/or a packet of chicken or tuna, etc. On average, I'd say
about 2/3 of the meals I eat backpacking are the purchased dehydrated variety, and about 1/3 are concocted myself, either as a freezer bag cooking style meal, or just with grocery store ingredients like dehydrated potatoes, jerky, tuna packets, instant rice, dehydrated hummous, pita bread, bagels, cheese, etc. etc.

Honestly, I'd take a look at a local outdoor store that sells them and try a few at home. I personally eat a fair number of the "Natural High" brand as well as the Mountain House propack stuff. I do add in things I make myself, or adapt from recepies I find on the net. see http://www.trailcooking.com/

I find that the freeze-dried are perfectly fine, so I don't have any issues with eating them. Among the "big name" brands, I prefer Mountain House. Even so, I do carry other snacks and things like oatmeal and pre-cooked bacon (ummm, bacon)for breakfast and during the day. For 20 days you could be at 30 pounds just for food!