Life at No.22, Musings

Camping and not so much Glamping

Suzanne

I have wondered if Shakespeare had lived in New Zealand; if he had, he might have written about the Ides of January.

Because in Godzone, we’re annually forewarned about our destiny to encounter wicked weather around early summer.

We know it’ll pour or, like now, blow gales on our parade. Especially if we’re camping.

All ready time to relax

We tempt Papatuanuku (Mother Nature) when we organise to stay at a holiday park or DoC [Department of Conservation] site.

We pack hope, plus tents, or even a caravan, folding chairs, portable barbecues and half the contents of our kitchens.  We’re too full of enthusiasm and visions of alfresco activities to ask the Rain Gods to end the drought.

For some unfathomable reason, the Rain Gods don’t forget. They deliver a month’s worth of water in a couple of days. We just couldn’t leave well enough alone and stay inside our dry apartment with non-zippered doors and a refrigerator. 

No, the Squire and I may very well trade our comfy apartment again for the great outdoors, which becomes the great indoors when rain falls in bucket loads.  We would be driven to the interiors of tents or the communal park kitchen where a TV blares horrendous children’s programmes over and over. 

Think of all the forces of the natural world we fear, like a cyclone, king tides, and birds that squirt fresh laundry with poo. The damper to camping nirvana is humans at the next site.  That’s another long story, maybe never to be told.

More pearls for the memory jar.

Even after all these tales of past woes, I share while dry with the warmth of the sun. We will look at each other and probably say, “What were we even thinking about the notion of camping in January? It is always rubbish weather.” Having said that, we will probably chat again in a month about our next camping foray. 

Luckily for us, unlike Shakespeare’s Ides of March, our Ides of January haven’t seen tragedy.

It has been mostly comedy and sometimes soggy, with a side of hot sausages and cold beer.

Will we push our luck this coming New Year?

Not likely, says she.

Published by Suzanne

Travel and Life Musings from New Zealand and Beyond. . . . . . .

40 thoughts on “Camping and not so much Glamping”

        1. Yes, it is very sad and a major worry for you all. My sister lives in Woolongong and the smoke has been an issue for them. Hopefully there are no more arsonists around to cause further chaos.

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  6. When I was a child we used to camp and there would inevitably be a very wet day. For reasons I still don’t understand, we would drive along the coast to an ugly resort town and go shopping. It got us out of the tent, where there wasn’t really enough room for us to sit around, but it was still a miserable day.

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        1. We did then we couldn’t then we redid and now back to putting it on the back burner. I wrote this post a few weeks ago. Since I spent a few hours on it thought I would publish it 🙂

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  9. I’m sure I used to love camping and it was never that wet or cold or uncomfortable. But I used to like golden syrup on my porridge and wearing vests and today I know better… enjoy it while you can!

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    1. Oh we will go camping again just not in January. Our family went camping, us kids had a ball in various pursuits. Mum on the otherhand did not. That was the unfortunate end to Dad’s list of great adventures he had in store for his family. I’m glad to hear you had happy camping memories, Geoff.

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  12. It’s magical to have wonderful memories. We’ve done plenty of wild camping and now mainly camper camping which I guess is ‘glamping’, but I would hope we will venture out again trudging along some amazing countryside looking for a good spot to set up the tent, you can’t beat it! Looking forward to hearing about your future camping escapades 😉

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    1. You’re right Sam there’s nothing quite like getting away and being one with nature. Loved doing when we had the motorhome. Not so sure I would feel so “safe” in a tent without being at an organised campground. Freedom camping here in NZ is very restrictive now. Too many out and about. We will wait until February. Your trip up Scotland was fun 🙂

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  13. I have the utmost respect for people camping in tents, especially after having tasted (and lived) the camper life. We have become too spoiled for that and have felt bad in the past for those tent campers around us when it rained. That being said, having multiple wet days in a row is awful in a small van as well, especially with a wet dog. Not much fun either way. But, if it solves the drought, we shouldn’t feel too bad, right?

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    1. Oh my goodness you brought memories back of our time when we lived fulltime in a motorhome, one rainy day was pleasant after that it was not and that is when a good raincoat became a godsend 🙂 If we had the chance of a motorhome or tent I know which one we would prefer. It was fun doing the tent thing and surprisingly we managed to have a reasonable nights rest.

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    1. Nothing wrong with a cold sausage in a bun, if you’re hungry and tired anything tastes good. We need a largish tent as Les can’t bend down too much and he is 6’4″ so not a short person. Must get organised and go camping. Just waiting for the kids to go back to school!

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  15. Love your story Suzanne . Camping has featured in many of our holidays .. but have to say not recently … think we may have become a bit soft 😉 However, we still have all the kit and I say never say never !
    Your lead in photograph is just absolutely stunning … the deep milky blue waters with glints of light with those mountains and brooding skyscape is just perfect . Love it !

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  17. Pingback: Slow Travelling at HOME – Life at No. 22

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