Given the developing conversation in the comments section of the previous post, I thought I’d start a little thread on that most divisive of topics – camping: lean & mean or lush & lazy, emphasis on the ‘lush’.
Are you the type to ditch the car and walk for days, sleeping in tiny, lightweight hiking tents, subsisting on scroggin and water from your environmentally-sound steel water bottle? Or are you more likely to load up the 4×4 with everything from the solar shower to the case of fine wine, herb & spice rack and the foam mattress?
To pee in the wilderness or look for a camping ground with ablution and kitchen blocks, recreation centre and powered camp sites?
Or maybe you’re somewhere in the middle. Maybe you like both, some of the time?
Ahhh, the simple life...
Me? I must say I like to camp near the sea or rivers so I don’t much need a shower block and I prefer to camp in quiet places because I can make enough noise all by myself – you should hear my guitar-playing. Then again, maybe you shouldn’t. So that kind of rules out busy camping grounds with all the facilities. BUT I do love taking nice food, good wine and cold beer. I like deck chairs at sunset with drinks holders; fresh coffee and B&E for brekkie. I also like that old foam mattress instead of the closed cell mats which feel more like you’re sleeping on a layer of second hand Mills & Boon paperbacks.
I once spent the most incredible ten days four-wheel-driving and camping with my sister and brother-in-law in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. Our days spent exploring some of the oldest rock landscapes in the world and seeing incredible wildlife, plants and views to leave you speechless. We’d race to pitch the tents, avoiding the ever-present ant armies, and get the chairs set up for an ice-cold Coopers under the vivid, red sunsets. Nights camped under millions of stars drinking and eating excellent food prepared from scratch (it was generally a 3 person job – one to cook and two to swat the flies away) and eating pistachios and chocolate. Not too shabby eh. We were literally days driving from any other humans and most of the areas for camping were little more than lines on a map – no facilities whatsoever. But we had the trusty 4×4 and a large chilly bin. (Esky, cooler, whatever). Two essential conveniences. The best trip of my life. Now, those guys know how to camp.
I suppose I’ve been a little bit spoilt by that experience ever since. Anyway, that’s why I’m kinda excited about the prospect of camping on those guys farm over the New Year…
61 acres of cloud... eat yer heart out!
Obviously it won’t be snowing then…
And I’ve found some inspiration for future luxury camping ideas – I’ll leave you with this little image of bliss in the wilderness:
So, which kind of camper are you?
Tyranny of Convenience 