First Aid Kit

A customised First Aid kit

I started out with the Australian Saint John's Ambulance first aid kit which, as you can see from the state of the bag, has been carried on numerous expeditions, often in the car, and often for heavier-duty camping that this trek.

So, I pulled out all the contents, selected those items that might be relevant to hiking (like sprains, cuts and grazes, bites and stings) and then worked out what was missing. From there I added back in some components that age and experience suggest could come in handy; like an ibuprofen gel for strained muscles, a foil blanket for hypothermia, and some adhesive covers for blisters.  Here's what the finished (?) kit comprises:

• A triangular  bandage
• An elastic crepe bandage
• A small roller bandage
• 2 gauze dressings
• A eye pad dressing
• A burn soothing dressing
• A few assorted band aid plasters
• A strip of adhesive plaster dressing
• A packet of blister plasters
• A part roll of Leukoplast tape
• A strip of 'butterfly' clips (would closure strips)
• Some Tea Tree antiseptic cream (part tube only)
• Some Voltaren Emulgel (part tube only)
• 2 itch relief cream sachets
• 1 sachet of antibiotic cream
• 2 antiseptic wipes for cleaning grazes
• a Vaseline lip balm stick
• some paracetamol tablets
• some ibuprofen tablets
• some antihistamine tablets
• some Imodium tablets
• 4 strong painkiller tablets (Keral)
• scissors
• tweezers
• safety pins
• a small blade for removing splinters
• An emergency foil blanket
• An instruction booklet
• A multi-pocketted bag to store it all in and access it all easily.