I've always proudly boasted that I've been camping since before I could even walk, which in itself is an achievement since I started that activity pretty early too. If you'd asked I would have said that this proud moment in my life took place when I was just 6 months old.
Unfortunately I recently did the maths, to discover that I was probably a little older. While everyone may think their parents are a little crazy, I don't think mine would have taken their baby camping in the dead of winter. In fact, I'm disappointed to say that walking probably came first.
Well at least now one member of the family can boast to going camping before, most of the usual mobility milestones. Our niece Ava was undoubtedly excited all week about spending her first night under coated polyester.
Refreshed after a nice two hour nap on the way up to Kenilworth, she greeted us and the gum trees with big smiles before needing to eat. Post morning tea-time entertainment was watching us struggle to set up our big tent - the Taj Mahal - before piling out immense amounts of camping gear out of the car for our one night away. And people say kids need a lot of stuff!
Next on the baby schedule (between a nappy change and lunch) was a walk through the rainforest. From the comfort of the baby backpack hoisted on her tall dad's shoulders she had a great view of sunshine filtering through the tall palm trees. Even though it was cool, the air in the rainforest was heavy and humid.
While napping in her pram after lunch, she went for another walk, this time up Sunday Creek Road past trees that seemed full of bellbirds. It was quite a climb up the winding road to the lookout and her dad and uncle took turns pushing the stroller along the dirt road. Just in time she woke to look at the view into the valley which was awash with sunlight.
As the sun set and it got cool, the benefit of her immobility became clear. Rugged up in a fleecy jumpsuit and happy to regularly change her vantage point, her warm snuggles kept everyone warm while her aunt battled to get the campfire going.
After just a couple of moans and groans through the night, she was awake and ready for action at 6am. According to Australian lore, seeing a black cockatoo is supposed to signify the number of days until rain. The day before they were everywhere in the campsite, which should have meant rain was far off. But apparently either the cockatoos or us got it wrong, as that morning it started to drizzle.
While we tried to feed her breakfast in the tent, Ava looked exactly like every camper does when it starts to rain - bored and miserable. She clearly much preferred to be outside with the bush turkeys. Luckily it didn't last long so she still got to go hunting for two caches and watch all the kids playing in the park at Kenilworth while we ate ice cream and bought yoghurt from the cheese factory. After good nap on the way home, she was in great mood. In fact, I think she enjoyed the trip so much, 'camping' just might be her first word!
How old were you when you first went camping? Do you remember it? Had any child related camping disasters?
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