Those in this world who screw up their noses and say to me "camping? Haven't you heard of this marvellous new invention called hotels?" are really, truly missing out! To help them understand why, I want to bust a few of the myths about camping, 2011-style. Glamping - glam-camping - as it has come to be known.Myth: "The toilets are always stinky!"
Actually, pit toilets have come a long long way! Ventilation systems and ways of breaking down that what fills them have had fabbo breakthroughs in technology and a modern pit toilet usually makes you wonder how on earth "they" (the people who install toilets in remote places?) got the toilet there!
Myth: "Tents are impossible to put up and always leak."
Most tents now come with colour-coded poles so it's pretty hard to go wrong. Even the cheap and previously nasty brands are much higher in quality than they ever used to be. Spend the money and buy a decent tent, and let your dad's old mouldy one stay right where it is at the back of the garage.
We use a Black Wolf Mojave for car camping and yes, it's big, designed to sleep about 6 people! But you can spend comfortable days lolling about inside in comfort if it rains, and it has an amazing ventilation system of little flaps and straps that meant it was by far the coolest tent at the entire camping and 4WD show where we bought it in high summer.
Myth: "Camping is uncomfortable and dirty".Ohhhh no it isn't. Grab some 4WD sleeping mats for home-bed comfort (save those blue foam rolls for padding the truck when you're moving house), a solar shower (black plastic - heats up when it sits in the sun - genius), and some gour-met food and you're on your way. A folding chair with inbuilt pillows and insulated pockets for drinks should complete the picture.
Our "5-day esky" is supposed to keep food cool for yes, 5 days, but apparently that experiment involved dry ice and opening the esky just twice a day for 30 seconds at a time, not every 30 minutes from the time of the first "brekkie beer" til bedtime. But it certainly will keep your glamping fare - vino, cheese and chocolate - icy cold for the length of a weekend. Get one with wheels or you will regret it when your camping buddies stop at the bottlo on the way and fill it to the brim with heavy beverages!
Myth: "There are no camping spots nearby."There are good spots everywhere, you just need to know where to look! A National Parks annual pass for the car works for me in the same way as my gym membership - I've already paid for it so I had better use it and get my money's worth.
Keep an eye on my blog for tips and hints on good camping sites in Sydney's surrounds, but don't expect me to give away all our secrets at once!
Inspiring!
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