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Winter Gear 26-Feb-2011 At 4:39:36 AM Mike Bee

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I agree with Gavo, go for Wide mouth Nalgene bottles. The gold standard in drink bottles, without a doubt.

Do you really need a 10L drom bag? I have both the 10L and the 4L, and I use them both alot, but for different reasons. On a bushwalk, I tend to carry a WM Nalgene and my 4L. That's 5L of water all up, which is as much as you need to carry unless you're walking up North (eg Flinders or Gammon Ranges). Anywhere like Tassie or the Grampians, and 5L tends to be ample in the vast majority of trips.

I have a 10L that I use for standing camps (eg Araps for the weekend), for kayaking trips (I carry a lot of water on those, saves filtering, and it's not like weight matters much), or if I'm on group trip when I'll be expected to carry water for others. On a normal bushwalk, 10L is too much. Still, you won't be disappointed with either, they are simply the best water bladders out there.

As has been mentioned, consider the Reactor and all it's pros and cons before purchasing. It's a great stove for what it does, but it's very specific in it's strong and weak points. For me, I didn't even consider it.

I'd think hard about the NeoAir too. I've got a couple of mates who own them, and love them, but I don't reckon they'd do the business for me. I use a Prolite 3 (old version of the Prolite) for normal 3 season bushwalks (and I would consider switching to a NeoAir for this), and normally a Z-Lite for my winter trips. Prolite 3, which are meant to be warmer than a Neoair, are simply too cold for winter trips (ie snow trips). NeoAir are a great product, but again, very specific. Gavo was on the money here, if you want a single matress to do it all, the Prolite Plus is the way to go, or perhaps something like a Mont Warmlite Primaloft mat. They are the same weight as a Prolite Plus, but they pack smaller, are warmer and inflate to be thicker. I don't find them quite as comfortable though.