Having looked around the ADFG website for clues as to what you may be subjected to it's rather hard to tell. For example, on the sleeping bag front. If you are to be in a 'bring your own bag' dormitory I'd approach that very differently to if you are in a vehicle supported tent, which is again very different from going snail where if you don't carry it you don't have it.
In the latter case I'd be really massing my budget on something like a Feathered Friends bag 'cos they have a great reputation over there. True, they are a tad spendy but I'd ignore that given you have two huge obstacles to overcome here, both weight and bulk. If I had to cut corners elsewhere to address that I would. Although you'd be looking at spending twice the amount of money that you would on synthetic you are looking at something that'll be about half the weight and half the packed size. Plus there's the investment factor because you can reasonably anticipate much greater longevity. Whilst I naturally wouldn't deviate from what Alberta Ed advised in the case of these huge lumps and in the conditions of a] I've got to carry it, b] I can choose exactly where I want to put it, c] I am the only liability to it, I deviate from him on this.
That said, under different conditions that ECWS Sleeping Bag System brizbane pointed you towards seems to offer you a clump of usefulness. Whilst all up it is a hell of lump, if you aren't man packing more than single digit distances, and may well be sharing with folk that are less conscientious than you, toughness and the ability to dry the brute out easily could well take priority. Wet folk [or working dogs] coming and going can soon w4nker a down bag even if your admin is up to speed and no matter how well you annex off your bit of the tent. Crap spreads.
For working in the damp I'd take a modular approach. Unless it is raining properly I like some sort of soft shell. The Pertex 6 I use will tackle half and inch of rain an hour and I Nikwax it. It will get wet eventually if the rain comes on but it'll shrug off drizzle and wind and is light. Most significantly it is very breathable and really easy to ventilate. Given that you aren't going to be using it as a rain jacket I'd say just grab one of the many soft shells that have come on the market since in a cut you like. The snowboarding scene has a lot to offer here too. There's no need to get all anal about hydrostatic head measurements and all that because of what you want to use it for. This should keep the costs down low for example; I know someone here that has one of
these. Whilst I don't consider it a raincoat in any sense sleet and snow don't bother it at all and it has some neat design touches. Works well in its niche at a pittance of a price. You might want to find something like that for cooler days being sedentary. Stick a duvet vest under it and you'll roast.
For proper rain gear, without getting into the ins and outs of each fabric, I think of three general heaps. A] technical lightest and best, B] high street, C] Military. An economical route into the light weight group is Lowe Alpine's Triplepoint. I've had a jacket made from it and have a hat made from it and it works great. I recommended it to a friend and he got a whole bunch of stuff made from it. He stands on the end of a harbour wall fishing in it in the driving rain and goes home dry. Mah woman currently has a Triplepoint jacket and likes it as much as I like Gore-Tex. The only downside of it is it isn't tough like a lot of the Gore-Tex jackets are, so it isn't great for undergrowth.
If you want something tough and waterproof Seeland and Harkila gear with the Gore-Tex liners are obvious choices. If you want a cheap route into that kind of stuff you'll probably need to look at some military stuff. For example; the Austrian army does a nice M65 jacket with a Gore-Tex liner in plain green. Dirt cheap, tough, low rustle and all that. True, you wont have all the refinements of a dedicated mountain jacket or a sailing jacket [Helly Hansen gear already mentioned], it will keep you dry amongst the twigs and'll be much harder to damage. Following along this route another way you could always pick a tough combat jacket / or a nice civilian equivalent and button in your own liner. Here I'm thinking something Dutch like
this. That should give you a great woodland work wear beater with some good flexibility.
Whilst I'm here I'll also mention strides. Craghoppers and all the me too tactical trousers should be compared to something simple like
these. And yeah, get the knee pads.
