I’m finally back in the land of the living! After camping at Yellow Rock this weekend it’s great to get home to my own shower, bed, food and air-conditioning. We arrived on Friday afternoon and set up. It’s only 20 minutes or so from home which is AWESOME because if it all goes south with the kids we can just pack up and drive home. We borrowed Kerri & Gav’s camping trailer which folds out into a tent, and has beds and a kitchen attached. Not exactly roughing it, but for One Who Does Not Go Camping it was great to have a little luxury. Poppy and Daisy were SO excited to be going camping and hanging out with their friends all weekend. They couldn’t wait to pile into the car, and sat there for about 20 minutes before we were actually ready to leave, in anticipation of the trip. Despite being One Who Does Not Go Camping, I was feeling excited for the kids – they’ve never been camping before. In fact, probably the mother-guilt over never having given them that experience before was the main reason I agreed to go on the campout in the first place!
It was a hot, hot day on Friday {about 38 degrees or so} and we heard on the radio as we were driving to the campsite that there were severe storm warnings. Who knows why we pushed on regardless – but it turned out to be ok after all. It started to rain as we were all setting up our tents, and Sarah & Darren had a huge tarp that got put up as a communal area. It was a real blessing as it also saved us from the heat of the next day. We managed to finally get tea done, and the kids in dry clothes and into bed. They had a fantastic time racing around in the rain, and in each family tent. We were thinking…mmm kids into bed, then we can all settle under the tarp and socialise in peace…ahhh the serenity. The wind and rain had picked up a fair bit, and there was a lot of lightening and thunder. We thought we’d stick it out since it would probably be a short, intense storm and then be gone.
We’d finally got most things organised, and were standing outside our tent talking when * CRACK * we turned around to see the tarp collapsing. The guys decided that they’d just fasten the tarp down where it fell until the storm passed, so the dishes, tables and chairs all stayed underneath. The storm did pass, and by about 9 or 10pm the worst of it was over. We put the tarp back up, and settled in to play scrabble and chat. FINALLY the kids went to sleep after yelling “muuuuuuuuuummmmmmm” a thousand times. The tiredness finally outweighed the excitement of camping and they settled down. The night was incredibly balmy and warm, the breeze was perfect, and I totally adore this kind of weather – the smell of the rain and the vividness of the trees and grass. We finally went to bed – but not much sleep since the kids were unsettled in a strange place.
Saturday started out cool, but by mid-morning we could feel the heat of the day starting to press in on us and we knew it was going to be another hot one. Lots of friends came out for the day to have lunch and let the kids play. Probably about 60 people were there altogether. The kids were fairly cranky all day, so Nige and I took them for a drive in the car and they had a short nap in the air-conditioning. I’m glad we did, as they were exhausted.
That afternoon some people went down to the lake and had a swim. It started to cool down in the afternoon again, thankfully no rain! It was a little easier to get the kids to bed on the second night – thankfully! – and I was so exhausted that I wasn’t far behind them. Lots of people who are more hardcore than I 
stayed up chatting and playing games. Woke up bright and early again on Sunday morning, and started the process of packing up…that’s absolutely my least favourite part of the whole trip!
Got home by lunch time and gave the kids some food and then sent them both to bed. Poppy just wandered out of her room about 10 minutes ago but Daisy is still out to the world.
I might have changed my mind about camping…the kids had a great time, and it was actually quite a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll become One Who Camps Occasionally.
