Hi Roger:
Don't discount parkas in the desert... on posting to the Sahara in '93 ,I was directed to take not only my parka but also my snowshoes!
The justification was that we could be hauled out and shipped directly to some other part of the world without a chance to pickup our winter kit... besides it drops to 0 degrees Celcius, some nights in the desert!
Needless to say the whole Canadian contingent seems to have had a mass amnesia and we all used the space in our luggage for more desert related items such as scuba gear!
Cheers! Mike