Living in Australia comes with a few inherent risks – chief among them the ever-present and increasing danger of extreme weather. If you’re ever caught in a bushfire or flood, superstorm or cyclone, being prepared with an emergency plan and survival kit can save your bacon. Exactly what to put in a survival kit depends on our very Australian conditions. So here are 12 essential survival kit items to help get you safely through Australia’s big weather.

Before we launch in what is a survival kit exactly?

Well just think of it as a kit of tools and items to help keep you alive in a disaster or emergency. There are few basic needs that must be met for our survival. Here’s the lowdown:

How humans stay alive

How long do you think you’d last if you were dropped buck naked in the middle of nowhere in Australia, with no provisions and nothing to your name?

The answer is about 3 days. Less if its either really hot or really cold.

To blame for your rapid demise are our basic physiological needs – as humans – to survive.

Without air, water, food, and shelter from temperature extremes, we’re pretty screwed before long. Here’s how it works:

Air – Oxygen is a key component in the chemical reactions that keep our bodies alive. According to medical experts, Brain damage is likely within 5 minutes without oxygen and death is likely within 10 minutes.

Core body temperature – those same chemical reactions needed for the human body to function can only take place if we can maintain a narrow range of core body temperature (homeostasis) – around 37 degrees C. If our body temps drop below this range or rise above it, we get into physiological trouble.

Nutrients – Food and water provide the body with the nutrients it needs to function. Water makes up 70% of our body mass. It performs functions like helping to regulate our body temperature and lubricating our joints. Plant and animal food provides carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and minerals that we need to produce the energy that fuels life.

The length of time we can survive without food depends on our physical size. The body burns fat and muscle to survive without food. The more of those things you have, the longer you’ll last.

But what has all this got to do with a survival kit?

Well, knowing these basic needs helps you pack a survival kit to meet them. Your survival kit should meet at least the basic needs to support physiological life, until your circumstances change. Like maybe you’re rescued or the threat to your survival passes.

What should a survival kit include

To meet these core physiological requirements, your survival kit must include supplies to provide you with adequate:

• water
• warmth or cool
• shelter, and
• food.

While these basic physiological needs will sustain us, there are other important needs that also contribute to human survival.

The most critical of these are sleep, sanitation and safety.

A basic survival kit should also cater for these 3 things. Here’s why:

Sleep is when we process and get rid of toxins in our bodies. Sleep deprivation can cause headaches after 24 hours, memory impairment and temporal and spacial distortion after 72 hours and lack of clear thinking and decision making after 96 hours. Good luck trying to survive in a natural disaster or other emergency if you can’t think straight.

A lack of sanitation can lead to illness (like dysentery) and infection. In the harsh Australian heat and humidity, these can be life-ending.

According to Maslows hierarchy of needs, safety is also a basic human survival need. Makes sense. You’re not going to survive for long if an accident or other danger takes you out first.

Some additional elements that we think are important for human survival (but may not make everyone’s list) are light and communication.

A survival kit aims to help meet these basic human needs in potentially life-threatening situations.

You may not think it, but as Aussies we all face risks to our survival from natural hazards that can become natural disasters. Flooding and bushfires come immediately to mind.

One in four Australians (26.1%*) have had their home or property damaged by extreme weather or natural disaster events for example. And that’s just at home.

So what types of natural hazards do you need to plan to survive, down under?

Why is it necessary to have a survival kit in Australia?

1. Big country.

We’re also a vast continent. Our population is dispersed. We travel long distances routinely, mostly by road.

Around 28% of us, or 7 million people, live in remote and rural areas. We’re naturally out and about moving across this great, vast and sometimes inhospitable land of ours.

And sometimes big country and big weather can lead to big trouble.

2. Big weather.

Intense weather systems happen all over Australia. And they’re getting harder to predict. We’re talking natural disasters like riverine and flash flooding. Bushfires, droughts, dust storms and heatwaves are getting worse. And we’re dodging more regular dangerous electrical storms each Australian summer.

The message is, no-one is beyond the impact that our changing climate has on natural hazards here.

So it’s time we all got prepared. Took a leaf out of the climate change survivalist handbook and learned how to be more self reliant and resilient. And that brings us to our next reason….

3. Limited emergency resources.

Our big country, big weather characteristics make it harder for rescuers to attend to everyone’s needs.

Help is not always around the corner.

Your car may breakdown or get stuck and help could be days away.

Or flash flooding hits so severely that emergency services can’t get to you for hours.

You need to be able to help yourself out. The best way to do this is with a survival kit and an emergency plan.

Surviving in Australian conditions

We’ve already said Australian is a land of extremes. We are the driest inhabited continent in the world. The Australian outback is well known as one of the harshest environments on Earth. And it spans a great swathe of our big island.

It’s also hot down here.

Up to 50 degrees in some areas. ‘Stinking hot’ as the locals call it. The kind of heat that knocks the wind out of you. It can accelerate dehydration and cause deadly heat stroke ‘faster than lightning through a wet dog’.

It’s bone dry in many areas.

Much of the interior is arid and treeless. And with temperatures getting hotter, droughts are growing more extreme. With drought comes heat, dehydration, and dust storms.

Just go on a road trip from east to west or north to south and you’ll see what we mean. You don’t get want to get caught in a breakdown unprepared out there.

Oh and don’t forget those floods and torrential rains. It might sound benign but flood waters can be insidious. Staying warm, dry and safe during summer is becoming harder in our north and central regions.

While it’s mostly in the south and mountainous areas, Australia can still get cold enough to die from hypothermia. Who would have thought!

Oh, and while electrical storms make for a good Instagram reel, fork lighting in Australia is terrifying. Full stop.

The country is choc full of deadly creepy crawlies and poison plants. Just about everything you meet in the wild bites here. Even the kangaroos pack a punch.

So what, you say? What has this got to do with packing a survival kit?

Well, to survive here you had better come prepared.

And there are some items you’ll need in your survival kit down under, that you won’t use at all elsewhere.

12 items you must put in your Australian survival kit

Emergency preparedness requires some customisation. For your family, your abilities and your immediate surroundings and circumstances.

That’s why we have a list of custom survival kits and supply guides for those kits.

For most Australians, the Emergency Go Bag Essentials kit is THE all around evacuation kit in any emergency or natural disaster. Our Emergency Go Bag checklist pdf is free to download.

But you can also customise your survival kit list and uses for the specific conditions you and your family face:

• Flood emergency kit
• Cyclone Kit
• Bushfire emergency kit
• Car emergency kit (Get home bag)
• Bug out bag

…. and so on.

But no matter which kit you chose, here are the items to ALWAYS pack in your survival kit to customise it for Australian conditions:

1. Lots of water: At least three litres per person, per day. But if you’re walking in the hot sun, that increases to one litre for each hour you walk. That’s a ton of water to carry.
2. Non-perishable food items: you need food that can last in stinking heat and humidity for at least three days. We suggest freeze dried food or dehydrated food.
3. Aussie First aid kit: that includes insect repellant, antiseptic, long bandages (to wrap around poisonous bites), wet wipes for sanitation, and a space blanket (to keep out the heat or keep in the warmth).
4. Waterproof boots above the ankle: to protect against bites from deadly slitherers or creepy crawlies.
5. An LED torch or headlamp: darkness is disorienting and can confuse your decision making. Bushfires can turn the sky black in the middle of the day. And you don’t want to stray into floodwaters at night.
6. A PLB or personal locator beacon: so someone can find you if you get lost out there in the vast Australian bush.
7. Sun protection: Sunscreen and a broad brimmed hat with fly net. Sunstroke is very real in Australia and can cause death in extreme cases.
8. Protective clothing: Long sleeved, non-synthetic, UV protected shirts. Long, non-synthetic pants (jeans), work gloves and socks made from natural fibres (cotton or wool).
9. Mosquito net: if you don’t want to get eaten alive overnight, pack a big enough mozzie net to drape over you and your sleeping gear.
10. A multitool: make sure it has a knife and break glass tool in it. In case you find yourself trapped in flood waters in your car.
11. Map and compass: Australia’s bush mobile coverage is notoriously crap. Don’t rely on having phone signal. Pack a map and compass and the skills to use them.
12. N95 Mask and goggles: for dust storms and smoke inhalation.
13. A woollen blanket: to protect yourself from fire and stay warm.

3 other items to consider

Depending on the specific threats you face, and your emergency evacuation plan, you may also think about packing:

1. A lightweight tent and sleeping bag: if there is no shelter nearby.
2. Fire starter: A bic lighter and back up ferro rod kit should keep you warm and the wild pigs, dingos, or anything else lurking in the dark – away.
3. Cold weather gear: if you’re in the south of Australia or in the mountains make sure your clothing suits.

How to prepare a survival kit in 7 steps

So how do you go about preparing a survival kit that is right for you? Let’s run through a brief overview of the steps to take next in your emergency planning:

1. Think about the risks you face in your immediate area. Is it flash flooding, riverine flooding, coastal surge, fire, cyclone, tornadoes, or extreme storm cells?
2. Prepare an emergency plan with your family for your specific circumstances. What will you do – step by step – if you’re caught in an emergency? For most people, this will be to evacuate. But it may be to stay and defend your property.
3. Based on your emergency plan, make a list of all of the items you need to pull off your plan. Gather together the items on your list. If you need help with this, check out our custom emergency kit lists for ideas.
4. Pack these items together in one place. You may need to take some other steps here, like copying important documents onto a USB or backing up your hard drive.
   • If you’re evacuating, pack everything into a bag that you can easily grab and take with you.
   • If you’re staying put, pack these items together in containers in close proximity so they’re at the ready when you need them.
5. Store your survival kit where you can get to it easily. In a cupboard at the front door. Or in the laundry cupboard if you’re sheltering in place.

The key is to prepare early. Because in the panic of the moment, you’re unlikely to think clearly enough to grab what you need.

Conclusion

Australia’s big weather is no joke. When mother nature comes at you with all her mite, you need to be well prepared. But you don’t have to be a fire fighter or member of the SES to make it through. Make sure you have a survival kit ready and include everything on our list. So, when the weather takes a turn for the worse and disaster strikes, you’ll be ready to make it through whatever mother nature throws your way. Stay safe out there!