You guys know that I don’t really do outside well. In fact for a long time I avoided it like the plague because, well, there were so many bugs it felt like I was in the plague. Anyway, I’m slowly trying to get myself together and to enjoy the next step up from just going outside. And that’s camping.
I know that with our great trek around the country we will spend a lot of time outside and so I need to get used to it. Sounds ridiculous because most people can’t even fathom what I’m on about, but that’s my life yo. Anyway. In light of all of this, I told Seth that I want to get out more and possibly spend more time camping this year. Before we go away.
He took me lank seriously. So when we had a night off a couple weeks ago, we literally piled almost everything we own into our car. OK, I’m exaggerating a smidge, but serious… Camping takes a whole lot more planning and packing than rocking up at a BnB.
We booked seriously last minute and just wanted to go somewhere closeish to home. What I’m saying is, we took what we could get. The great thing about camping, is that you usually just pay the price of a movie and popcorn to stay somewhere for the night. So the fact that there was quite literally nothing else to do than stare into each others eyes was allowed in this case.
But guys, wow. I hardly ever just sit and do nothing. I guess that’s a Mom thing. But I feel uncomfortable if I’m just sitting. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind sitting, but then I need to be reading. Or watching series. Or catching up on social media. But there we sat, staring out over Route 44 and the vineyards beyond. We got there around 5, popped the tent up in 5 minutes and then had loads of time to kill.
So we made GnT’s obviously.
Still not convinced that GnT’s are my thing though, so I moved to my fave wine.
It’s funny though. Once you give in to the nothing, it’s actually pretty chill. We sat dreaming up plans for our camper, chatting about the kids, wondering what it’s all going to be like.
Then it was time for supper. In my head I had envisioned like, fillet steaks and Woolies ready made salads, but apparently we were on different wave lengths that day. Seth bought peri peri chicken kebabs and smash. Yup, smash. That you mix with water to become mash…
It wasn’t all that bad though!
We watched the sun going down before curling up in our tent for the night.
I had religiously kept the tent zipped up so that we wouldn’t be bugged during the night (literally). But all our efforts were in vain. During the night we had ants all over the place. I fell asleep easily but then woke up around 2am with ants all over me. plus I thought there was a man outside the tent. Or maybe one of the pigs that we re wondering around. Either way I was scared. So I did what any rational person would do and woke Seth up and freaked out.
Turns out it was just the wind. We’d never slept in our tent in the wind before but man, it sounds like someone trying to get in! Plus with our campervan mattress we couldn’t even stretch out our legs! It was the worst sleep I’d had in ages!
In the morning coffee was SO very necessary! Buuuuut we forgot out camping mugs, so we were drinking our morning cuppa out of our wine glasses haha. People on our Insta stories thought we were hard core alcoholics!
So what this really boils down to, is that I don’t hate camping. Well not really. IF you are kitted out for it. Which means that we desperately need to get another tent – preferably one that can sleep all 5 of us comfortably.
Do you guys have one? What other camping items are your must haves?
9 comments
I went camping for the first time last year and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, I’d do it again if next time it could be somewhere with an ablution block! The worst night’s sleep was the one night where the wind was blowing and the tent “window” flap kept making a noise, and my malaria-drug brain thought the one rope flicking was a lion’s tail – I freaked out in silence for a full hour before I realized I was just imagining things, whoops!! >.<
Oh goodness – that sounds hectic!! Ablutions are an absolute must for me too! I will not poop in the woods!
If your grandpa was still alive he could have made you one…. made our family one out of Gloria Flour woven bags and waterproofed it. Used it for years….
You didn’t learn any of those tricks?
I have NEVER been camping but with two boys, my husband, having grown up camping all the time, really wants them to experience camping. I’m wondering if I can leave it a bit longer for another year or two and then they can go camping alone – a boys outting??? Hahahaha. Then I don’t need to go myself 🙂
I say do it. Even just once. Then you will really know if you don’t like it or not.
We have a 3x3m canvas tent which is nice and sturdy (and lion proof, just incase), you can stand up inside, it also doesn’t flap in the wind too much which is nice but on the down side its heavy and takes a bit more time to set up. Well worth it though. As for my must haves – Lights, lots of lights. We always used to forget to bring anything but the small torch we keep in the car and I hated cooking and eating in the dark and stumbling my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night through pitch dark forests or whatever. Now we have lanterns, torches, head lamps and fairy lights, both battery operated and some electric ones for sites with electricity. It makes such a difference to have a well lit campsite if you need to do things after dark. But the best thing we have ever invested in by far (and would solve your major camping issue by the sound of it) is stretcher beds with fold up mattresses, They are so freaking comfortable…admittedly the mattresses take up a bit of space in the car but even the stretchers on their own are pretty comfy, though with the mattresses on them it’s almost as good as our bed at home, plus the best part is that you are up off the ground……so much less chance of ants and spiders getting on to you. I love the outdoors but have also always struggled with camping mainly because of never getting a comfortable nights sleep, these things have completely transformed camping for me, I cant recommend them enough. Plus instead of sleeping bags we have a fitted sheet, duvet and pillow and its so lovely. They also keep the tent neat because they look like actual beds when they are made up and have lots of storage space underneath.
I love the sound of all of those things! Like, I actually didn’t even know that any of those were possible in camping! And lion proof sounds pretty darn good to me – just in case! And on the lights issue, that is totally true – being able to see really helps a lot!
Go have a look at Outdoor Warehouse in Rondebosch sometime, they have all this stuff and you can test it out in the store. They have tents set up and all kitted out. We went and made a wish list of all the things that would make camping more comfortable for us, then we gradually bought the most important things.