Hi guys...I always thought Kiwi's were real outdoorsy, adventurous types who roughed it... but after 8 nights of camping I found out what their secret is - their camping style is
easy!!! I thought you may get a kick out of some of these things we noticed while camping in NZ... and I'll say the Boyer/Nehrig camping set up is way more hardcore than any of this!!! But if you want to come to NZ and do a bit of camping... it'll be easy, here's why:
There's a way to do dishes at a sink using hot water!!! You just fill up your bucket from the laundry room and you're good to go!! If you're really soft you can just do the dishes in the kitchen! No more excuses for David's dirty spatulas, Amy, eh!?!!!
This is what you would consider 'typical' camp food, but really, this was the only day we ate sausages - and boy did they taste great!!! The other nights we cooked using our friend's electric frying pan... or the kitchen!!! But there were 3 built in gas bbq's in the common area plus some picnic tables so we didn't have to bring so much gear.
Now here's the part about Kiwi style camping that I was impressed with... our friends the Stanways are absolute legends!!! They brought their own BBQ set up in their own 'yard' by a garden mesh fence (you can just see it in the background) that they set along their tent and even closed off with a gate to keep their kids safely nearby when necessary... well thought out!!!
And this was the kitchen... two stove tops, two fridges w/freezers, two microwaves, two toasters... come on, folks!!! Is this really camping!?!? Well, I guess so and I guess this will make it much easier for us to want to come out in the future... forget all those propane tanks and slow campstoves... this is
easy camping!!! (well, I should probably mention that the other sites had electricity and people actually had their own toasters, coffee makers, lamps, computers, dvd players, etc... but then one asks - is that a holiday?!? "YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT" is probably the resounding answer you'd hear!)
One night the ladies went out for coffee and dessert at a local cafe (yes, we were camping) while the guys stayed back to hold down the fort, take care of the kids and try their hands at Texas Hold 'Em... and wouldn't you know it, our very own Tony Clark came out the winner!!!
But no matter where you are or how you do it, camping puts you out in nature so you can be part of God's creation... and it's beautiful!!!
This campground even had this little see-saw near our site and the kids were always eyeing up who was there playing... Helena in particular liked to join in the big kids' fun, though she needed a bit of help from her bigger friends.
And no camping trip would be complete without a bit of wrestling over resources... here it was Caleb's bike... there was one bike and 3 boys who wanted to ride it: Caleb (almost 4), Will (just turned 3) and Hunter (almost 3). You can only imagine the negotiations around this one... but somehow they all managed to get a ride and Caleb was the sharing hero in my book! On another topic, Hunter recently started wearing these footie pajamas that got handed down from Travis - he LOVES them... thus the reason he's riding the bike in mid-morning with shoes on - it was hard going to motivate him to change into anything other.
Tony's dad got us a new tent for Christmas - but if we come camping in CA, we'll have to borrow again... this one's stuck in NZ.
I thought you'd notice something different - GRASS! Yes, they said a lot of campgrounds are located on grassy paddocks which meant a lot less mud on the kid's clothes (we totally over packed because I had San Clemente type dirt on the mind).
Notice Hunter's jelly smile... there's nothing quite like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when you're camping at the beach!
Anyway, I thought of you all and our good time at Leo Carillo last summer! I have always enjoyed camping with the extended family, so it feels fun to have camping as an option to do with our kids when we live in NZ... it's just a bit different from what I grew up with, but I think I can adapt! Wanna come over???
