Camping in comfort
Public campground, tents, and small children - sounds
more like a recipe for disaster than a relaxing family holiday?
Danielle Wright takes the family into the great outdoors and
discovers comfort camping is not an oxymoron.
From the beginning, our first family camping holiday is different
to our usual trips away. For a start, we need to take two cars -
husband and the surfboards, duvets, buckets and spades, air beds,
tables and chairs, and anything else we can jam inside in one car;
the kids and I in another. 
It's actually quite a relaxing drive - for
my husband in the other car, that is! At each rest stop he is more
chatty and bouncing with life. The kids (aged one and four) and I,
on the other hand, get rattier the closer we get to the holiday
park on the edge of Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty,
about a three-hour drive from Auckland.
As total beginners to the wonders of
family camping, we've made life easy for ourselves and hired the
biggest tent we could find, the Coleman Tasman, from local store
Camping and Outdoors (www.campingandoutdoors.co.nz).
For $45 a night, our new home has two large rooms, is sturdy enough
for the high winds, and we don't have to clean it before we return
it (a bonus on the last day when it is covered in dirt from the wet
ground).
For an extra $45, we pay the helpful
Camping and Outdoors man to put the tent up before we arrive. We're
glad we did, it would have taken us a long time to figure out how
to put it up and keep a one- and four-year-old entertained. Many
parental arguments were averted by this comfort camping move!
Beachside Holiday Park (www.mountbeachside.co.nz)
is located at the foot of the beautiful Mount Maunganui in between
a surf beach and a calmer harbour estuary for the best of both
worlds. The campsite is meticulously clean, with endlessly hot
showers and a communal cooking area with a TV, magazines and
books for the kids. On the weekends, security staff walk around the
campsite. It's a safe, family-friendly place.
Loud surf helps small people fall
asleep
The first night we're surprised at the loudness of
the tiny waves crashing against the shore. It drowns out any
campsite noise and is a convenient, constant lullaby for the kids,
who fall asleep easily after the fresh sea air and the
excitement of the start of their holiday.
The next morning, our one-year-old wakes
us before sunrise wanting to ride her dune buggy up and down the
boardwalk outside the tent. We drink great takeaway lattes from the
local café across the road (I doubt that all campsites have this
luxury!) and a few people start walking past our tent on their way
up the Mount.
"Morning," they chorus as they pass,
smiling at our children having their breakfast. How nice, we
think... Until the sun starts to rise and there must be a thousand
hellos. This is one busy boardwalk! It's a conveyor belt of
poseurs, first-dates, athletic bodies, and tourists.
The poor man's Gold Coast
Mount Maunganui is known as the "poor man's Gold Coast" and the
campsite is just a two-minute stroll to nightlife, bars,
restaurants, and upmarket resort shopping. If you're looking to get
away from it all, this is not the camping holiday for you. The
Mount is a busy place. During our holiday week, many major events
happen in front of our tent: An air show, paragliders whizzing down
the Mount, scaffolding and a temporary house positioned as hundreds
of people compete in surf life saving and blow-up flip-flop
competitions, and even people walking the stretch of the boardwalk
on their hands! For us city-dwellers, it only made our week camping
all the more exciting.
We relished living without TV and
electricity, but most people had satellite dishes, portable
stovetops and all sorts of mod cons in their caravans and tents. A
trip to the communal kitchen uncovered people scrambling for
sockets to plug in their laptops or mobile phone chargers, true
information junkies. One American camper was even Skyping on the
beach - showing his son a 360-degree view of his location. For us,
having the mobile phones and laptop switched off was a must.
Farmer's markets and cruise ships
A favourite daily event for our four-year-old was a walk to the top
of the Mount with his dad. The tracks are slippery in places and
it's steep, but the views are spectacular and it takes about two
hours with a preschooler for the round trip.
Every Sunday is the farmer's market in the
centre of town. From gourmet sausages to Pohutakawa smoked cheese,
smoked fish salamis, and the Totally Tamarillo stand, you can pick
yourself up an delicious BBQ menu for back at camp.
For a change from the beach, we often
headed to the salt water hot pools next to the campsite. For
$13.50, the whole family can soak in a variety of hot pools with
spectacular views up the mountain. Don't forget to take a bottle of
water - the salt water makes you thirsty. Our very large blow-up
plane was also a hit with the kids in the paddling pool, and we had
many temporary pilots over the course of the week.
The visiting cruise ships cause much excitement.
"Another one coming in," says a loud voice outside the tent on the
second morning. The imposing figure of a massive cruise ship is on
the horizon. Quite a crowd is out with binoculars. "Pacific Jewel.
I haven't seen this one before," they exclaim. For the next few
hours fresh tourists descend on the Mount. They are chatty and
friendly. Then, all at once, they depart for their next port.
Feeding the troops
If you're looking for good food, the Mount has it all - at a price!
$40 for two takeaway kebabs on the first night led us further into
the Port City of Tauranga nearby, where $10 worth of fish and chips
fed our family of four, with plenty left for the hungry seagulls -
try Bobby's Fish Market on Trinity Wharf.
Sunrise Café in the centre of Tauranga is
also a good place to stop when shopping. Whole-wheat toast and
scrambled eggs (full of cream, I should warn you) is $8.50 and the
kids enjoy crayons, a drawing table, and a box of toys. The
relaxed, homestyle atmosphere is family-friendly.
Rainy day activities
We had beautiful weather but were prepared for rain, with plenty of
alternative activities such as the nearby Te Puki kiwifruit farm
Kiwi360, an indoor swimming centre, ice rink, the BayFair shopping
complex, or a day trip to nearby Rotorua.
We'll be back!
You can rely on every night being different at a campsite. From an
18th birthday party, a hens' weekend, a group who've packed their
bongos, guitar, and loud voices for all-night singsongs, or
grandparents hosting their entire families for the night. After a
few days, you recognise the tribes: The polite Europeans on bicycle
tours, the retirees who come every year for a month to catch up
with their old friends, locals who rent a caravan over the summer
as a retreat after work, and us - families not quite sure what
they're doing here, but who are having fun all the same.
Survival tips for camping with kids
1. Choose a campsite located near shops and
restaurants. You don't have to be in complete wilderness to have a
fun camping trip. If the weather pours, take the kids to a movie at
the local cinema a few minutes' walk away instead of huddling
inside a tiny tent.
2. Book at least a year in advance. Some of the
prime sites are booked three years in advance, so be early if
you're planning a school holiday adventure. Ask to be sent a
campsite map and for advice on their prime sites. Ideally, you want
one on the end of a row, so you have extra room for the kids, as
well as a bit more privacy - rather than sandwiched in between two
sites.
3. Call a local camping store and hire their
biggest, roomiest tent, then arrange for them to put the tent up
just prior to your estimated arrival time - no need to battle with
the pegs, your partner, and toddlers!
4. Take two cars, one filled with every gadget and
camping contraption you can find, as well as any transportable
comforts of home - duvets, tables and chairs, and blow up
mattresses. The other filled with one parent and the kids for a
roomy trip to your destination. At least one carload will arrive
relaxed!
5. Blow-up water toys are good for beach camping
trips - a large ride-on aeroplane will help your kids make friends
(you'll have many "pilots" over the course of the holiday) and can
be packed away when not in use.
6. If you want some couple time, consider staying
at a "camping resort", which offers many of the resort options like
kids' clubs and water parks.
7. Bring a kids' table and chairs set so the kids
can eat properly - it will make you feel better about their
less-than-perfect holiday diets if they can eat at their own
table.
8. Find the local farmer's market and shop for
fresh produce at reasonable prices, as well as local
delicacies - gourmet sausages for the BBQ, or specialty
breads and cheeses with preserves made from local fruits
for a delectable ploughman's lunch back at camp.
9. Don't use the local dairy for your shopping.
Prices of milk, bread, washing-up liquid and other basics will be
double what you'd pay if you drove to the nearby supermarket - shop
where the locals would. Spend your savings on your holiday fun, not
your necessities.
10. Above all, leave the TV, video games, laptop,
and DVD player at home. The crashing of waves, mixed with a
day in the fresh air, is enough of a lullaby.
Danielle Wright (www.wrightathome.co.nz) is
a writer, editor, and mum to Henry (5) and Georgie (2). She loves
to show the world to her children through travel, seeing each new
experience through their eyes for the first time.
PHOTOGRAPY: DANIELLE WRIGHT, SHUTTERSTOCK
As seen in OHbaby!
magazine Issue 12: 2011
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