Why Camping is my favourite past time!
We are so lucky in this country to be able to go to these places, foreigners pay thousands of dollars to see them, yet they are literally hours and sometimes minutes away from our door steps.
Well where did that time go!?! 2 weeks away semi off grid in my favourite camping spot, in the Able Tasman National park, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island. We are so lucky in this country to be able to go to these places. Others pay thousands of dollars to get here to see these sights, yet they are literally hours and sometimes minutes away from where we live. We camp at Totaranui a Department of conversation camp site(DOC), one of the remotest DOC campsites in the South Island, and probably the furtherest from where we live in Christchurch. We have been going for the past 15 years or so, mostly with friends but this year, it was just our wee family of 4.
We started camping with just the bare minimum, borrowing tents, and slowly growing our setup year after year, into what is now a comfortable and roomy setup, some would say it’s Glamping! Let me explain the why, and give you an insight into our setup.
What I love the most about camping?
For me it is living off grid, well sort of. This year we had upgraded our solar system, to 2 x solar panels, capable of generating 390w of power, charging 2 x 100AH AGM batteries, into a 1500w inverter. I could actually write a whole other blog about this setup, it’s a bit geeky but it was something I enjoyed planning, researching and building over the winter. I like being sustainable and this was a foot in the door before we take the leap in installing solar at home. I installed the setup on our wee camper trailer, to allow us to have power when off grid. Mainly to help with my sleep, as I suffer from sleep apnea, and to be able to sleep well at night I need a CPAP machine. It’s something I wish I didn't have to use, but I literally get a better nights sleep with it, and it’s hard to live without after so many years. ITs also handy when you need to charge lights or run any small basic things like phones or tablets. So hence the solar.
Speaking of the trailer, this was another project I did a few summers ago, buying a cheap second hand trailer and doing it up, with carpet and a fresh paint job, racks, and gas bottle holders. This now has most of our camping gear in it, our tent, camp stretchers, chairs, beds, fridge, chilli bin, and power all setup and fully loaded ready to go at a moments notice. This has been a great investment as I’ve always wanted a Patriot Camper, alas given the price, I have slowly built up my own in a vein attempt to replicate my dream camper trailer. Though it’s a far stretch from a Patriot!
Part of my enjoyment in camping is getting back to basics, and being away from tech(to a point) and enjoying being in nature and refilling my batteries(pardon the pun). I recently read a book, Ikigai by Héctor García, Francesc Miralles. It goes into why the Japanese people may have discovered that being in and around nature, for for up to 2 hrs per week, can have a positive outcome on your health and wellbeing. We are after all part of this planet, and it’s advised that this could be one of the reasons why Okinawa in Japan is a Blue zone. What is a blue zone? It is where people tend to live longer than the average population, having a high rate of people living over 100 years old.
Getting back to nature, being surround by Birds, Weka, Takahe, and Kereru(Native Wood Pigeon) to name a few, and wandering around in bare feet, another seemingly good health hack, all have positive outcomes on your health. Quite a bit of my research and books I read, all point to grounding being really beneficial for your health. Grounding is a pretty simple technique where you try to get your feet back on terra firmer for 15mins minimum per day. It’s believed grounding helps discharge the body of negative ions. Though the human body has minute amounts of electricity compared to your average electrical device, there is a lot of scientific evidence pointing to benefits of grounding to discharge the excessive build up on a regular basis. This can help with inflammation, which is a leading cause in health issues. This might sound like woo woo, but there is a lot of evidence pointing to this for serious health benefits. All I know is I tend to sleep better and defiantly feel more recharged after a few days walking around in bare feet.
As ive discussed before I do love problem solving, its my jam, and my love of camping is filling a void in fixing problems. There is always issues popping up around the camp, and I love looking around me to see what I can use to fix the problem. Heres a list of just a few issues on my camping trip this year
breaking an oar on our blow up dinghy, fixed by whittling down a piece of Manuka and inserting it to brace the broken oar as a sleeve
finding a solution for our fan location for hot days in the tent, Theres a great tree branch that will fix that!
levelling camp beds, no this is not that simple and I still trying to figure out a great solution, so far 20mm square pieces of carpet seems to be my best solution.
finding a better solution for space and placement of items in our tent. This year pull out draws seemed to be the next game changer.
leaning out unnecessary items from our camping gear, you always take more than you need. Where is Marie Kondo when you need her?
solar shower issues, we broke 3 of our 4 in the first week. not ideal, but ok if you love cold showers!
what or how can I improve our camper trailer, im working on a rubbish solution next!
Driftwood used as a hanger for lights and cooling fan
The list goes on. I seriously love change, so I spent 2 weeks moving stuff around and trying new things on a daily basis. What if this goes there? or what if we do this? You have time to think and time to relax and observe your surroundings.
It’s a bit of an effort setting up a tent and how things are best placed, so I quite enjoy having the ability to change my surroundings and try something new each day.
We have tried a number of different setups, and tents, and last year splashed out on what a lot of people would say is a ridiculous option for a tent, that you use 2-3 times per year, but let me tell you. This tent was a game changer. It has room to swing a cat, or small child if you cant find a cat, black out rooms for privacy and keeping the tent cool on hot days and nights. Our choice, a Zempire Air Canvas Delta Force v2. This thing is pretty dope. Expensive, but man a game changer! Zempire has a pretty mean range of products, and we are slowly investing in upgrades and options but this is by far a great choice, and highly recommended. Though any Zempire tent is a good option!
Bedding we went with Zempire Monsta mats and bed cots, these are really comfy options, and quick to setup and pack down.
To keep things cool, we have a small 60litre Dometic 3 way fridge freezer. This runs on battery, 240v or gas, and is really down a good job over there past 6 or 7 years. If I was to buy another though id only upgrade to an Engel fridge. Ive had a hand me down before and they are the best, and super efficient. We managed one year to last 10 days off 1 deep cycle battery, no solar, and was completely blown away how good it was.
Something I don’t make time for enough, and that I still don’t do enough of is having time to read a book or two. Its nice to have time to relax, and enjoy some piece and quiet and actually get stuck into a great read.
I even snuck in a few hikes to try to keep my fitness up, and early morning swims to emulate a cold shower…brrr! Though what I like the most is there is no deadlines or time frames. Its just living and enjoying each others company, and watching the clouds pass by and enjoy the good times. We all work extremely hard, so we all should take time to relax, reflect and regenerate. Life is too short to not enjoy what New Zealand has to offer. It’s a great country and should be experience by all from near and far
This was one of the best holidays i’ve had in a long time, and really loved filling my cup with family time and sometime for myself. I hope everyone had a break and managed time away for them selves.
Let me know where your favourite camping site is, or your favourite camping product. I’d love to hear more about what time saving techniques, or camping ideas you have, and implement them in our setup.
The Wrap
And that’s it for this week!
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Until next time…
Wow Scott so pleased you enjoyed the break it looks an amazing place to enjoy and relax, as always love reading your blogs, your mum would be so happy and proud of your time away
Lots of love Dad