City mouse went camping

Camping was never my cup of tea.  We don’t marry well, at least according to my other half.  I concurred.  But hey hey hey,  there might just be a tiny camping seed in me waiting to be sowed.   Who knows? 

Hence when an opportunity arose early this year, I dipped my head in.  Gotta give myself some excitements and new challenges. 

Mid-life crisis?

Anyway…….After much planning and coordinating, the plan materialised.  That was in the Waitangi long weekend.

We had 8 families camped together.  No jokes!  The camp site, African Safari Experience located near Kawakawa is owned and managed by a South African family.  They offers 11 spacious safari style tents furnished with bedding essentials.  Other facilities include communal kitchens and toilets/showers, trampolines, bonfire and BBQ.  Basic but adequate.  Definitely a good start for people like me.  LOL  We had two families pitching their own tents so we are all in the same area.

  

Erecting a tent

There is no power to the tent, so we brought along our newly acquired sleeping bags to keep us warm and snuggly.  It did get quite cold at night.

And as with any other Asian activities, good food is always in the equation.  We all reckoned this was more like a food camp.  LOL.  Gosh, to say that we were indulging in an abundant supply of scrumptious food is an understatement I kid you not.  We had Korean BBQ dinner first night, then burger BBQ lunch and western BBQ dinner the second day.  And we were still munching leftovers in the morning before we left.

We had activities like cricket, board games, water gun battle, river dipping, bonfires etc to keep the boredom at bay.  

The bonfire experience was superb with stars looking down upon us.  We had songs, crack up jokes and some ghost stories. Would be ideal if there were enough ghost stories to share.  But then again, I would probably end up holding my bladder all night long!  LOL.

"Camping"

Free car wash

On the second day, we drove to Paihea and spend the rest of afternoon there for a change of scenery.

The camp site has certainly met my expectation if not exceeded.    The feeling of walking alone 2am in the morning to get to the washroom 100m or so away is…..somewhat….surreal.  The noises (from whatever birds/bugs/creatures) in the woods, cold air, my flashing torch light and the sound of my own footsteps.  It is spooky but not terrifying.   

This trip is a success because of the awesome company we had.  When you throw good bunch of people and good food together in an equation you get awesomeness.  LOL  I had a good time.  So did AJ and Rick.  We all had so much fun.

Hope we keep this summer camp an annual affair.  After all it is a kiwi summer tradition!

Told you there is a tiny seed in me.  Now, time to do some tent shopping!