Too much of it - external or internal - can at best be irritating and annoying , at worst it can ruin your trip or camping holiday unless you take some simple precautions to lessen its effects..

Intestinal gas (wind), like death and taxes is part of life as we know it. It can be delayed, diminished or directed but not deleted. Too much internal wind can cause discomfort, bloating and acute pain which may require medical treatment and results in burping and belching and flatulence. (breaking wind, shooting bunnies or farting, to use the vernacular.)

Mostly when people are touring or on a camping holiday their normal routine is significantly altered. They tend to eat and drink richer and different types of foods and in greater quantities. Also people on holidays don't normally get a lot of exercise, particularly if it's a touring holiday, and in any case the whole idea of a holiday is to relax, unwind from workday routine and stress and to eat, drink and enjoy yourself.

All of which is almost guaranteed to result in excess internal wind!

Gas in the digestive tract comes from two sources; swallowed air and the normal breakdown of certain undigested foods by harmless bacteria naturally present in the large intestine.

Swallowing air is a common cause of gas in the stomach. Everyone swallows small amounts of air when eating or drinking, however eating or drinking rapidly, chewing gum, smoking or drinking carbonated beverages, especially through a straw or from a bottle, can result in excessive air being swallowed.

Burping or belching is the way most swallowed air leaves the stomach and the way to avoid having to say "oops" or "pardon me" after a noisy and embarrassing burp is to avoid swallowing too much air in the first place. In particular sip your drink and eat your meal leisurely and enjoy it. Not only do you then savour the taste and flavour of your meal and drink, it lasts much longer.

Flatulence, on the other hand, is the result of intestinal gas generated by the inability of the body to absorb and digest some carbohydrates; the sugar, starches and fibre found in many foods. Most foods that contain carbohydrates can cause gas and by contrast fats and proteins cause little gas. Foods that cause gas in one person may not do so in another and it is thought that the balance of common types of bacteria may be the reason.

The sugars that cause gas are: raffinose, lactose, fructose and sorbitol.

Raffinose is a complex sugar found in beans, cabbage, sprouts and in other vegetables and whole grains.

Lactose is the natural sugar in milk. It is also found in cheese, ice cream, bread, cereal and salad dressing. Many people have low levels of the enzyme lactase needed to digest lactose.

Fructose is naturally present in onions, artichokes, pears and wheat and is used as a sweetener in some soft drinks and fruit drinks.

Sorbitol is a sugar naturally found in apples, pears, peaches and prunes and is used as a sweetener in dietetic foods and sugar free sweets and gums.

Starches such as potatoes, corn, noodles and wheat cause gas although rice does not. Fibres in oat bran, beans, peas and most fruits will also cause gas.

Common sense says that eliminating foods that cause flatulence is the way to go however many of the foods are both nutritional and favourites so it is more practical to reduce rather than eliminate. If however that's still not an option and your favourites include foods such as black bean soup, boiled cabbage and broccoli with fried onions followed by prunes and blue vein cheese washed down with claret and stout and you don't want to apologise for assailing the auditory or olfactory senses of every living creature within 500 metres, then it is perhaps advisable that you consider dining alone.

As a point of interest a human generates around 600 cc of intestinal gas per day whereas an elephant, a strict vegetarian I might add, has a flatus production of several million cc's per today. So if you intend bringing an elephant to a happy hour, it may be advisable to ensure that he or she is seated downwind.

Mostly when people choose a campsite they will carefully consider the view, morning/afternoon sun/shade, overhead branches and water run off in case of rain etc, but rarely is there any discussion about the wind.

Yet the one weather condition that is guaranteed to test the resilience of most campers, their marriage and their equipment is the bloody, bloody wind!

Camper trailers and caravans are affected only by the very strongest of winds and most modern tents be they dome, A frame or cabin style, will also withstand quite strong winds from almost any angle, but only if they are securely pegged down and this means having enough of the right pegs, poles, guy ropes and springs for the various conditions.

The pegs that come with tents are mostly useless except in perfect conditions so it is wise to purchase extra long steel pegs for soil and clay conditions and sand pegs - REAL sand pegs about 2 feet long - for soft sand conditions. ALL tents stay in place and upright only because of the pegs that hold them to the ground.

Most tents come with ropes and rigid poles (although some tent poles are designed to give with the wind) but they rarely come with springs that can absorb the shock of gusting winds. It is a very good idea, if conditions are forecast to be windy, to secure your tent, whatever its style, with extra guy ropes and with springs to absorb the shock of the wind. It is particularly important to secure the corners and to ensure you have extra secure pegs at these points,

Old inner car tubes cut into loops about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide make excellent tension springs. They cost nothing and they are not as heavy or bulky as traditional steel springs. The fact is the more deep pegs, guy ropes and springs you have in place the less the chance of your tent collapsing or blowing away even in the strongest of winds.

The key to keeping tents waterproof in heavy rain and strong winds is to keep them tensioned so that the rain runs off the tent and onto the ground. If the tent becomes limp then water will begin to accumulate in the folds and gradually seep into the tent and in no time at all everything will be wet.

One way of helping to keep your tent upright and dry in wet and windy conditions is to erect a tarp. But for a tarp to be effective it must cover the tent, must have a ridge pole - a spacer bar or tight rope - to keep it taut at the top with enough fall to stop rain pooling, and it MUST be tied down at every eyelet, preferably with a pole, a guy rope, a tension spring and a very secure peg. This will allow the wind to billow and spill from the tarp. NEVER secure the tarp with ropes over the top in an attempt to stop it billowing.

If you don't have enough poles for every eyelet there is a new product on the market, a tarp bungee cord which has a ball at one end and a safety hook at the other. The ball goes through the tarp eyelet and the hook can be tensioned to a peg using a piece of rope if necessary. These come in a packet of eight which costs around $6 and will ensure that every eyelet is secured and that the tarp will billow rather than flap annoyingly all night or worse take off. It is also more comfortable to have the back of the tent into the wind and to drop the tarp as low to the ground as possible.