Camping As a Holiday
by Alison Johnston and Richard A Johnston
As a family we have only been camping for a couple of years, but have grown to love it in ways I never thought possible, and been in situations we never thought possible!
I have a very healthy fear of snakes, I mean very healthy. When driving along bush roads I am always looking to the sides for the slippery suckers. I cannot stand them! Anyway we started off camping in public camp sites where there was plenty of activity and less likelihood of one of my legless foes showing up. We have now progressed to ‘bush camping’ where we do our own loo and shower etc, surprisingly we really are quite self sufficient.Another reason for our bush status, is we have 2 dogs, labrador/retriever cross called Lingo and Lulu,they are nearly 2 and are siblings. They are very naughty though because they don’t come when they are called! Our fault entirely I know but a problem we are working hard on fixing. Anyway ‘the puppies’ have to come with us everywhere we go because they are a part of the family!
One of the greatest aspects of camping is being away from it all. Spending quality time with each other and just sitting down watching the wonderful landscape of our magical country. Having a cuppa, reading a book watching the kids play down at the beach whilst husbando is always off ‘tweaking’ something here and there around the campsite. The days are always full of activity we swim at the beach, play board games, fish, walk and take in the surrounding sites and activities.
I find it to be really relaxing, waking up to the birds singing at the crack of dawn, listening to the waves rolling in, it is a fabulous way to start the day. We are always early to bed and early to rise when camping. The activity of the day wears us out, and there is no television to keep us up. The children play all day and rarely argue like siblings often do, which is a lovely, they are not complaining that they are bored and never ask to play their DS or PSP. We simply love sitting around at night talking about ‘stuff’ we don’t get to talk about in our everyday life and laugh and tell jokes.
We eat like kings when we are away, that is part of a great holiday I believe! What is even better is husbando likes to do all the cooking and tidying of the campsite, something I am not about to interfere with, I simply make the beds, that is, fluff the sleeping bags and sweep the tent floor. The first couple of days it is a novelty to do the bacon and eggs, then we are onto the cereal and fruit. We always start the day with a hot cuppa, talking about our night, ‘how did you sleep?’ ‘Were you warm enough or were you too hot? General morning banter, great stuff to get the day going. Check in on the kids and the pups to make sure all is well and husbando is checking out the site to make sure all went well during the night.
Camping is a great holiday. If you have never tried it before, sure it takes time and effort to get set up, there may need to be some tweaking along the way, and each time we camp we find a better way of doing something, that is part of the fun of camping. However, it is all worth the effort as we love it and happily I have not yet seen a snake.
About the author: Alison and Richard live in the beautiful Brisbane Australia suburb of Wellington Point with their 2 young children. Alison is a trained midwife and Richard a photographer. Together they have become successful Internet Marketers, to find out more about them, go to http://www.alisonandrichard.com, or to see their business website go to http://www.earnincomefromhomeonline.com