Outdoor

• Hiking, where weight decides everything
• Camping, where you have room to carry properly
• 4WDing, for touring a long way from help
• Boating / Marine, where wet hands and salt change the answer
• Caravans / Campervans, for touring with a base you take with you

HOW FAR FROM HELP IS THE REAL QUESTION

Not what you are doing. How long until someone with more training than you arrives.

Twenty minutes from a town, your KIT has to hold a situation steady. Four hours down a track with no phone coverage, your KIT is the treatment. The same injury demands a completely different level of preparation depending on that number.

Work it out before you go, and pack to the answer rather than to the activity.

EVERY AUSTRALIAN OUTDOOR KIT NEEDS THIS

A pressure immobilisation bandage. It is the treatment for snake bite, funnel-web spider bite and cone shell sting, and none of those are rare enough to gamble on.

The SURVIVAL Snake Bite KIT carries a SMART Bandage with a pictogram printed along it, developed with snake safety experts SSSafe. The pictogram changes from a rectangle to a square when you reach the right tension, so you can see it rather than guess. The KIT also holds a splint, a tick spoon, an emergency blanket and a whistle, which is why it earns its place on trips that have nothing to do with snakes.

SURVIVAL recommends proper first aid training alongside any KIT.

ON-PERSON VERSUS BASE CAMP

Most people should carry two, and they do different jobs.

The base KIT stays with the vehicle or the camp and carries the depth: the SURVIVAL First Aid KIT - Large, or the Outdoor Bundle (Gen 8) if you want the snake bite capability alongside it.

The on-person KIT goes with you when you walk away from camp, which is exactly when an injury is most inconvenient. The SURVIVAL Slimline First Aid KIT and the SURVIVAL Compact First Aid KIT both do that job.

GEAR THAT GOES WITH IT

A SURVIVAL Waterproof Dry Bag keeps a KIT dry in a boat or a pack and dust-free on corrugations. The SURVIVAL Remote & Outdoor Module adds capability for trips where you are managing an injury rather than just covering it.

Also see Outdoor Gear and Snake Bite Treatment.