I Started Camping in My Forties

Why? I read April Fools’ Day by Bruce Courtney.

You might like to read this article first.

Well here’s my camping story, Ellie. On New Year’s Day 1994, our family headed off on our first camping adventure. We had the bare essentials — a small tent and a new comfortable air mattress and not much else. For some unknown reason, we decided to go to Amamoor, where the Gympie Country Music festival is held each year in August.

Amamoor

Maybe I thought there’d be showers and toilets there — there were, but they were locked up — so no showers for us. Fortunately, this taster for camping was only 2 nights. The nearby creek where I’d imagined swimming was almost completely dried up and it was midsummer and hot! Not the most pleasant camping experience. One famous family quote came about from this weekend and is often used when out in the sun.

“Natural shade is cooler than artificial shade” meaning sitting under a tree is cooler than sitting under a tarp. My husband disagreed — of course. He maintained that any shade was the same as any other. I think it always feels cooler sitting under a tree. Maybe it’s the oxygen the tree breathes out that makes it seem cooler. We decided we’d never come back to this camping spot!

But on our way in to Amamoor, we had seen a circular green camping area that was packed solid with campers. We had been alone at Amamoor. While I like the isolation of camping, the camping ground has to be reasonably pleasant to fully enjoy the experience.

Cedar Grove

So two months later, we returned to the green circle clearing called Cedar Grove for a weekend. It even sounded more pleasant. We didn’t think there’d be a crowd as it had been pouring rain all week and the rivers were flooded. To get to the camping ground, we had to take a detour. I wasn’t going to chance driving across the flooded Mary River. It was Friday night and pitch black when we arrived.

Everything was saturated but we set up camp nevertheless. This time, we had a lot more of the camping paraphernalia needed for a comfortable getaway. Cooking was out of the question, so we dug out some crackers and cheese and red wine to stave off the hunger pains. I don’t remember what the kids ate. I’m sure they didn’t starve. We had a brand new dome tent that we all huddled in to keep out of the rain. And new sleeping bags. We settled in for an early night.

We woke the next morning to a glorious sunny day. We were the only campers in the entire camping ground. We went swimming in the fast-flowing creek and went for an exploratory walk after lunch. I laid back and relaxed with a book. A pair of hikers arrived and set up a small tent on the other side of the camping ground. Late afternoon, we started on the cheese and wine (again) and thought about dinner. We had a small gas stove so could actually cook basic food. The kids wanted hot dogs.

Have you seen any frogs?

And this is when the trip suddenly turned weird. A guy on his own in long trousers, shirt, and tie arrived and set up camp right beside us! Who wears business clothes camping? He had the rest of the campground but had to camp within metres of our tent. He started chatting with us. His conversation was contradictory. He asked us had we had seen any frogs. No, we hadn’t, but there were hundreds of cane toads. Later in the conversation, he says he comes here every weekend, but if he came every weekend he would know there were no frogs!

And did I mention the axe?

He started chopping up wood with an axe. If he’d been here every weekend, as he claimed, he would know you don’t need an axe here. The rangers have chopped up all the logs from very tiny kindling right up to bigger “all-nighters”. We began to feel uneasy about his presence. He had an axe. We had nothing. The tent is not going to protect us. So without saying a word, we hurriedly packed up everything and threw it in the trailer.

Let’s go!

Our plan was to drive down the road a couple of kilometres to Amamoor and set up camp there. But we’d freaked ourselves out. The road to Amamoor is a dead end. He would see us take that road and there’d be nothing stopping him from driving down and chopping us up in our sleep. So we drove all the way home. The only problem was we had thrown everything in the trailer with the kids’ bikes on the top. When we unpacked the next day, our brand new tent was riddled with holes where friction from the bikes had worn through. I was upset and angry so I cried and swore!

That’s not the end of the story. On the Sunday, we drove to my parents for a family day with my brothers and sister. When I told the story, my brother who had worked in Forestry advised me to call the ranger to report this guy. I rang the ranger and told him how weird this guy was. He let me talk and then he asked, “Did he say he was studying frogs? “I almost yelled “YES!”

The ranger assured me we had done the right thing, as they had other reports of this guy from worried campers. He hadn’t actually done anything, but we weren’t the first to be scared off. Maybe he just wanted the camping ground to himself?

We’ve never been back to Cedar Grove and later that year we bought a camper trailer with a lockable door! We loved camping in that camper. I had it all set up with clothes and non-perishable foods (and wine) ready for weekend getaways. We had dozens of weekends away over the next few years. Camping was definitely the best experience I ever shared with my kids. I’m so pleased I read April Fools’ Day.

Thanks to Ellie Jacobson of Flint and Steel for this prompt. As soon as I read your newsletter I was thinking about which camping story I’d share. I have dozens!

Here are a couple more of my camping stories.