Fire Pit

[grizzzman]

Looking at your pic's I see a lot of "made" fire pits, Is that the norm there?

Thanks

[T1 Terry]

Freedom camping over here is all about making do with what you can get your hands on and what works and the aim not to leave a burnt patch where the fire was and be able to contain the fire as bush fires are a real concern over here at any time of the yr.
Recycling and readily available fuel are priorities so wood burners made from used 9kg caravan gas bottles is the most common type, these can take many different forms though. They are colloquially known as "choofers" possible from the smoke being similar to a steam train and the choof choof sound they made, who knows, but they are best known in Australian's camping circles as choofers.
It is part of the Aussie tradition to build a better mouse trap, so everyone in camping circles uses the choofer to make their design and construction statement and there are some truly amazing works of art available for viewing around any free camp and often the subject for a forum thread.... shown me yours and I'll show you mine sort of affair.
2 real categories, the stand on its base type and lay on the side type also known as a "pig" possibly related to the shape with 4 legs under it.

So, let's see the examples we have on this forum of the Aussie backyard designed choofer
I'll start with an example of the art put into a working practice, first as a heater

where is this 11.JPG

also at a men's cook off comp from a few yrs back

Gas bottle stove and camp oven.JPG

T1 Terry

[Dot]

Ash & Wendy camp while at the dump point002.jpg

This was at 40 mile beach when I had my hair attacked by lots of different people and clippers

[grizzzman]

Freedom camping over here is all about making do with what you can get your hands on and what works and the aim not to leave a burnt patch where the fire was and be able to contain the fire as bush fires are a real concern over here at any time of the yr.
Recycling and readily available fuel are priorities so wood burners made from used 9kg caravan gas bottles is the most common type, these can take many different forms though. They are colloquially known as "choofers" possible from the smoke being similar to a steam train and the choof choof sound they made, who knows, but they are best known in Australian's camping circles as choofers.
It is part of the Aussie tradition to build a better mouse trap, so everyone in camping circles uses the choofer to make their design and construction statement and there are some truly amazing works of art available for viewing around any free camp and often the subject for a forum thread.... shown me yours and I'll show you mine sort of affair.
2 real categories, the stand on its base type and lay on the side type also known as a "pig" possibly related to the shape with 4 legs under it.

So, let's see the examples we have on this forum of the Aussie backyard designed choofer
I'll start with an example of the art put into a working practice, first as a heater
where is this 11.JPG
also at a men's cook off comp from a few yrs back
Gas bottle stove and camp oven.JPG

T1 Terry

Dang that's a lot of choofer's. We build more of a single bonfire with larger groups. We build ours out of rocks most of the time. At times we have fire restrictions. When that happens we have LP powered barbecue's hung on the side of the trailer....er caravan

[grizzzman]

Ash & Wendy camp while at the dump point002.jpg
This was at 40 mile beach when I had my hair attacked by lots of different people and clippers

That looks more like it even the equipment looks some what like ours. Ours is much more adjustable and you can swing it out of the fire when needed.

[T1 Terry]

Dang that's a lot of choofer's. We build more of a single bonfire with larger groups. We build ours out of rocks most of the time. At times we have fire restrictions. When that happens we have LP powered barbecue's hung on the side of the trailer....er caravan

There are other photos of other gatherings with a quite a few more than that in the circle, but I can't find them at the moment This photo is from a different angle so you can see why we are all gathered around the choofers, Jon parked a tad close to the big fire and the guests of honour, JonD and his 2 boys, hadn't arrived yet so we had to huddle around the choofers. By the middle of the Taggerty week end that fire becomes rather hot as the resident pyromaniacs are in full swing by then with the smoke taking turns on who it annoys Shovels are used to collect hot coals for the various choofers as starting time for the cook off isn't exactly a scheduled event and some get caught napping and have to play catch up.

One of the unofficial rules that is often ignored as the comp really doesn't actually have any rules, is, the entrant must be male and must cook on an open type fire without assistance, choofers are included in the definition. That is supposed to rule out the use of gas BBQ's and the oven in the motorhome.... and SWMBO from giving directions, helping and even doing all the preparation. We won't mention any names but there have been a few winners of the Men's Master Chief Spoon who may have flaunted more than one of these unofficial rules.... and may I mention here that I still haven't won a spoon yet

T1 Terry

[Dot]

Hey remember that George won the water boiling comp

[T1 Terry]

Well at least he didn't burn it on the 3rd attempt

[Dot]

Mount BeauChuck002 (fang conqueres).jpg

Fire pits even for our accessories

[jon_d]

that year we did the runner to the hospital for asthma and then bugged out at midnight.