Our First Family Camping Adventure
Of all the adventures we have taken our family on - over seas and across countries, car trips and air trips and boat trips - we have never taken them camping! Charlie lived in four houses before she was even two, but she had never slept in a tent!
This fact seems absurd to me now. It took us more than six years of having a family to try camping, and now that we have - and it was such a success! - it seems so silly that we didn't try it earlier. Of course, we've been doing other things. Busy with all those other adventures, not to mention the business and birthing/raising three kids. And had we tried any earlier we likely would have had a newborn or at least a moderately-pregnant me, and our success may not have been so grand.
But it was!! We went camping and it was a marvellous, gorgeous, grand success!!
It started, as nearly all of our adventures do, with an idea Toff had. You should know that Toff is a rock climber. The appeal of a sport that requires mind power as well as physical power is the perfect downtime activity for him (he likes to use his brain a lot. I, on the other hand, like my downtime activities to also be relaxing for my brain - reading a pleasant book, drinking a gin and watching the waves roll by, taking photos of him rock climbing, etc.) Along with a few of his rock-climber-now-parent friends, they thought that a climbing trip with a few other families would be perfect! The climbers get a chance to climb, and also bring their families along, the kids get a grand new experience and even get to try rock climbing too! Those spouses of us who don't really climb aren't left home to juggle the kids by ourselves, and we get to dabble in climbing as well (I like to do the same climbs my 5 & 6 year olds do! Our skill level is nearly matched.) And, like most things we do, we like to surround ourselves with as many people as possible.
So we found ourselves amid a group of 8 adults and 8 kids (all 6 and under) for one week of camping, climbing adventuring! Our other friends, (including the other original ideators of the trip) a group of 8 more adults and 10 kids, camped at another site. We went on a couple of adventures all together - just imagine the glorious chaos!! 34 of us in total, all scrambling over rocks and making sure all kids remained mostly safe, mid-wilderness toilet emergencies, hiking backpacks filled with a baby or two, as well as ropes and brightly coloured bike helmets and harnesses, and don't forget the snacks. (Snacks are the secret to success on nearly any adventure with kids.)
Chaos of only the very best kind.
We set up camp at Lake Natimuk, this gorgeously odd caravan park next to a desert wasteland type setting as the lake fills up only once every ten years!! But the grass land and large gum trees still made for an amazing visual backdrop, and a great landscape for the kids to wander - free and nearly unchecked. The most freedom to explore that they have seen in any of their little lives!
That was the most amazing part for me. The heart-sparkly feeling of watching the kids enjoy the limitless freedom to wander and explore. (Dried up lake beds, as it turns out, are great places to let kids explore as they can be seen from so far away - especially when they are wearing bright pink mohawked helmets!)
Every morning the kookaburras would wake us up with their laughing kind of song. The kids would unbury themselves from their sleeping bags and stumble into the camper-trailer of our friends next door. They'd all pile into bed together for a series of morning cuddles and lots of giggles, and when I'd follow a few minutes later, I'd be handed a baby to hold and a fresh coffee. My particular kind of heaven.
The days were spent with a slow morning, organising a couple of coffees each, warm milk & honeys for the kids, breakfast for all - pancakes or weetbix or a big plate of bacon. We would make our plan for the day and head out for an adventure. Rock climbing or hiking, over to Horsham for a relaxing day at the local playground & eating ice creams by the river, juggling all of the kids so the climbers could have at least one day of full-on, challenging climbing. One day Toff & Zak even set up a little ropes course for the kids in the small trees at our campsite so Sinead and I could have one afternoon off to find a cafe that served wine and make a couple of excellent scores at the local opshop. Days went by in a blur of activity. Watching the kids put on a dance performance at the outdoor stage, taking turns pushing the babies in the swing, playing charades, watching them zoom around on their bikes and make friends with the other campground residents.
Then we would settle in for an evening at camp! Gin or a beer and a group dinner - feeding the kids first, then releasing them to explore a little more while we ate our own dinner. When the sun set the glow sticks came out - one for each kid to wear on their wrist so they could be spotted from far off, two for each of them to play with - the fire was lit and marshmallows roasted. Then kids to bed, where they mostly passed out very quickly as worn-out adventurers. More fire & red wine time, looking over at our cute little campsite lit up with fairy lights (now a camping essential!! It made the space feel homey and also a little magical!) The kookaburras would sing when the day was over.
On our last day when it came time to leave we dragged our feet in the most spectacular way!! We were so, so reluctant to leave and give up our camp life! Pack up happened quicker than we would have liked, and on the drive home we stopped at every chance we could find. Lunch at the pub 10 minutes down the road? Happy hour at the cafe just next to the ferry? Yes please.
We left our first camping trip dreaming of a life we could build that would look more like this day to day! Adventure and spending time together as the priority. New places and faces and learning together in shared family experiences. For now, we will be happy that our first camping adventure was so successful. We will be dreaming of our next adventure, and don't be surprised if you find us camping in our own back yard, with a few of our closest friends (and don't forget the fairy lights.)
This fact seems absurd to me now. It took us more than six years of having a family to try camping, and now that we have - and it was such a success! - it seems so silly that we didn't try it earlier. Of course, we've been doing other things. Busy with all those other adventures, not to mention the business and birthing/raising three kids. And had we tried any earlier we likely would have had a newborn or at least a moderately-pregnant me, and our success may not have been so grand.
But it was!! We went camping and it was a marvellous, gorgeous, grand success!!
It started, as nearly all of our adventures do, with an idea Toff had. You should know that Toff is a rock climber. The appeal of a sport that requires mind power as well as physical power is the perfect downtime activity for him (he likes to use his brain a lot. I, on the other hand, like my downtime activities to also be relaxing for my brain - reading a pleasant book, drinking a gin and watching the waves roll by, taking photos of him rock climbing, etc.) Along with a few of his rock-climber-now-parent friends, they thought that a climbing trip with a few other families would be perfect! The climbers get a chance to climb, and also bring their families along, the kids get a grand new experience and even get to try rock climbing too! Those spouses of us who don't really climb aren't left home to juggle the kids by ourselves, and we get to dabble in climbing as well (I like to do the same climbs my 5 & 6 year olds do! Our skill level is nearly matched.) And, like most things we do, we like to surround ourselves with as many people as possible.
So we found ourselves amid a group of 8 adults and 8 kids (all 6 and under) for one week of camping, climbing adventuring! Our other friends, (including the other original ideators of the trip) a group of 8 more adults and 10 kids, camped at another site. We went on a couple of adventures all together - just imagine the glorious chaos!! 34 of us in total, all scrambling over rocks and making sure all kids remained mostly safe, mid-wilderness toilet emergencies, hiking backpacks filled with a baby or two, as well as ropes and brightly coloured bike helmets and harnesses, and don't forget the snacks. (Snacks are the secret to success on nearly any adventure with kids.)
Chaos of only the very best kind.
That was the most amazing part for me. The heart-sparkly feeling of watching the kids enjoy the limitless freedom to wander and explore. (Dried up lake beds, as it turns out, are great places to let kids explore as they can be seen from so far away - especially when they are wearing bright pink mohawked helmets!)
Every morning the kookaburras would wake us up with their laughing kind of song. The kids would unbury themselves from their sleeping bags and stumble into the camper-trailer of our friends next door. They'd all pile into bed together for a series of morning cuddles and lots of giggles, and when I'd follow a few minutes later, I'd be handed a baby to hold and a fresh coffee. My particular kind of heaven.
On our last day when it came time to leave we dragged our feet in the most spectacular way!! We were so, so reluctant to leave and give up our camp life! Pack up happened quicker than we would have liked, and on the drive home we stopped at every chance we could find. Lunch at the pub 10 minutes down the road? Happy hour at the cafe just next to the ferry? Yes please.
Comments
Post a Comment