Closed up against rain or cold, the tent is cozy without feeling cramped. The attached flap of PVC vinyl provide a place to take off shoes before entering to keep dirt out of the tent.photographs by the author

Closed up against rain or cold, the tent is cozy without feeling cramped. The attached flap of PVC vinyl provides a place to take shoes off to keep dirt out of the tent.

If you learned “Waltzing Matilda” in grade school you might recollect that the song is not about a dancing girl, but about a “jolly swagman camped by a billabong under the shade of a coolibah tree.” The coolibah tree is about the only thing in the song that is what it sounds like, a tree. Waltzing is Aussie slang for traveling on foot and Matlida is slang for a bedroll, or swag. The swagman was a drifter who had fallen on hard times and was looking for work. The song was written in 1895, and these days the term swag has come to mean a portable sleeping shelter falling somewhere in size between a bivibag and a tent. They’re common in Australia, and have recently crept into the North American market.
The swag has webbing and buckles to keep the roll tightly rolled up.

The swag has webbing and buckles to keep the tent and mattress tightly rolled up.

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