Quest 2 Wander : The Begining, the first seedlings of discovery...

I think I've always had a wandering soul, new places, meant a new adventure, a new home meant a new surrounding, a new job, meant new experiences.... 

I was fortunate in my 20's to take a job that meant I got to travel, and was taught by the person training me (Ken was his name), to take the time to look around, see places, eat at new places, and really take in the surroundings, not just the latest construction site we were working at.  This shifted my workaholic nature, and awoke the wandering soul within.  From that job, I then headed off overseas for a few months, back packing in my 30's - which was really a 20's rite of passage that I missed out on whilst working hard.  

It felt like I had started my adult life a little backwards to everyone around me, at 18 I was in a relationship that lasted 10 years, I also worked for the same company for 10 years (different positions every year), then at 28 was single and changing companies for the first time, moving inner city, had no car for the first time (car accident), and learning to be single as an adult for the first time.  Meanwhile around me, my friends were settling down and having children.  

So 30's hit and I was traveling, changed careers - away from professional services, and returning to study with some vague plans for the future.  Instead those plans went out the window, as along came children and marriage, and a move to the country (which was completely not the plan - I was a city girl at heart).  I absolutely adore being a mum, and although it took sleep deprivation and busy to a whole new level, I also know becoming a mother made me a lot better person, as I stretched and grew, and desperately tried to keep up with the new stages that come with raising boys.

Fast forward a little more and I entered my 40's with divorce and being a single mum, still in a country town, back to renting, with a crappy car, next to no belongings and being a waitress to make ends meet.  As a side note I had also chalked up 8 surgeries in 10 years, and now had premature menopause. So my actual 40th was spent down the beach with my boys and my best friend and her kids, very quiet, and it was where I remembered how much being by the sea meant to me, and how getting away could be healing.  

Later that year my Dad reminded me how much I loved camping as a teenager, and he kindly passed on his gear for me to use, as he had reached a point where camping wasn't practical for him anymore.  So 8 years ago, armed with my Dad's 4 man tent, shopping bags of stuff from the house, I took the boys camping, single mum style - at a caravan park, with power, as I didn't have the gear to go without power. That was a life changing trip. 

It wasn't the easiest - I had a 6 yo and a 4 yo, who had not camped in a tent before.  Everything we did, I had to get them to help, as we were making do with what we had.  I was literally using the kettle and toaster from our house.  I utilized the campground stoves etc - which meant a nightly walk with everything in supermarket bags to the camp kitchen.  There the boys played with new found friends whilst I cooked and then cleaned up. Every morning we had toast or cereal, then packed lunches, water, a huge amount of beach kit and walked down to the beach nearby.  The boys had back packs to help carry enough stuff that meant we could spend the entire day at the beach.  We would be at the beach by about 10am, and return back to camp at about 5pm.  Our one treat during the day was a walk to the milkbar for one icy pole. My dad had given me a small powered fridge, so all our food we had bought with us, keeping the costs as low as possible, which mean the icy pole a day was affordable.  

The tent was small, great for my Dad using as one person, but crowded when you have 3 of you sleeping in a 4 man tent.  So the back of the car had our clothes and most of our gear.  Tables and chairs came from op shops, which had to be pulled out and packed up each time we ate. We used our bedding from home, with Yoga mats on the ground, and all got up at same time and went to bed at same time.  Our nightly story time - as I discovered I had forgotten to pack books - became a feat in making up stories, as the boys gave me characters and places and I made up stories incorporating them.  This has become a camping tradition that we still do, 8 years later. 

It wasn't easy that first trip, logistically everything was being pulled out and put away multiple times, and having to instruct children to help set up a tent, carry the gear etc etc. but every tough moment was so worth it. The freedom to just enjoy the kids, not worry about a house to be kept clean, or the continuous "to-do" list that goes on side every parent's head (x2 when you are a single parent), all of that was silent, and the laughs, the few tears, the shear joy that was experienced instead - made every logistical hassle meaningless. 

So since that first camping trip, I made a point of always having another booked.  We now have a lot more gear, which means we are completely self sufficient at our tent.  We stopped having powered campsites when the little fridge blew (whilst on a trip, not fun as it happened 2 days in and our entire food was it in - and I had about $30 to spend to re-buy our food). 

Two years ago Mark joined us, after the boys had decided whilst on a camping trip a year before that I really needed to find a boyfriend. Their main reason they thought it would be a good idea, was they wanted to have someone else carry their gear to the beach.  I still insisted that they carry all their own stuff, including their own lunch, towels and boogie boards (whilst I still manage to feel like a human pack horse with extra stuff).  I did have a giggle on the first beach trip with Mark, when both boys pretended to struggle to carry their boards, so Mark offered to carry them.  They happily handed them over and took off running to the beach, so happy to finally not carry their own boards!  

Last year we have ventured into camping in National parks, bringing with us our own shower and toilet and water supplies. The gear has changed, some upgrades, some replacements, most gear is still been sourced from op shops, buy swap and sell, ebay.  We upgraded the tent,  to a second hand Coleman tent after the first trip. It had a broken tent pole that I repaired with tape.  We still use that tent if it is just me and the boys.  

We also have another larger second hand Coleman tent for National Park stays, and when Mark is camping with us.  Only this year did I invest in our first new tent - yes another Coleman tent, which is an instant up tent - 8p - that is for when Mark and I are away by ourselves, or with just one child.  Now the only school holidays we don't camp is during winter. 

Quest to Wander has come about as Mark and I started to plan for a future beyond the children being children.  Seeing vanlifers and tiny houses on the rise, has certainly inspired us, so we are planning a 8-10 year exit strategy, to change from being in a house, to being in a van, and also having a tiny house to eventually come back to.  This will be our journey from where we are right now to where we would like to get to.  

We started this dream a while ago, but life likes to belt us around a little, and we were building up towards getting a van, but instead we ended up with a new bathroom, as the floor to our shower broke and revealed a floor that had to be replaced.  I also had to have both knees replaced (#BilateralKneeReplacements) due to early and chronic onset of osteoarthritis.  My new knees are currently 18 months old.  We are still paying off our bathroom, but my cousin has also joined us, and is likely to start her tiny house adventure first. So we will be documenting her journey along the way.  

I plan on sharing what gear we have for camping now, what gear we started off with, and the tips and tricks I have for making camping life the best life.

Given the world crisis of COVID-19 in 2020, I thought there is no better time to share how to go camping, utilising what you have, limiting the expense, so as restrictions ease hopefully you too can experience the healing that comes from being in nature. 

All new experiences come with difficulty, but to us, being away is freeing, away from Tech, near the water, with fresh air, and minds less cluttered - the rewards always out weigh the effort.