There are various levels of “roughing it” and it isn’t necessary to become primitive to enjoy the experience. However, some people literally go camping with everything, including the proverbial kitchen sink.
Recently, we came across a group who had all their vans hooked up to generators. From this they drove all their electrical appliances, including the portable satellite dish so they wouldn’t miss the weekend football.
While this might be seen as the extreme, others are content to just getaway together, be it in a tent, a caravan or something in between. Bring the push bikes but leave the laptops, the ipods and the mobile phones locked in the car.
At national parks there are no flash take-away joints and cooking in the designated fireplaces is easy. Spuds in their jackets, wrapped in foil, cook great in the embers of your camp fire. Billy tea with a few gum leaves has its own distinctive flavour and the kids can help out cooking toast and marshmallows on a long toasting fork.
These are the times the kids will never forget, so why not plan to get away from the noise and pollution and go camping. It might not be 5 star accommodation, but the air is fresh and it’s a fun way to enjoy being family together.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.