Camping

Sharing the portacot camping.
Two and a half months

 When the lactation consultant at Whangarei Hospital told me she took her newborn twins camping and suggested I did too, I recoiled in horror.

Two and a half months later there we were camping at our section in Taipa. Were it a public camp ground I don’t think I would be so game, being conscious of the noise levels – from us that is.

But the thought of sitting inside the same four walls all summer long didn’t appeal so, after a colossal pack where I think we literally took the kitchen sink, we set off.

Happy Campers

Back then our block of land was just that – no power or water - so we’d take the main tent, the kitchen tent, an “ablution block” tent, a chemical toilet, kitchen shelving, solar showers and everything else one takes on camping holidays. Oh and then of course there were the cots, baby bath, bouncinettes, play gym, stroller and all manner of baby paraphernalia imaginable.

The first beach trip was a nightmare. After spending all morning in preparation, we arrived at Whatuwhiwhi, unpacked everything and just got set up when the twins did a power-poo in tandem. By power-poo I mean it squirted out their nappies, out the top of the back of their body suits, all over their outfits and into the lap of whomever happened to be holding them. After using nearly two packets of wet wipes, we realised it was all-over-Rover and concluded there was nothing for it but to strip and dunk our not quite three-month-olds in the ocean before packing the car and heading back.

Sharing a cuddle with big bro

Although I’m sure I didn’t stay up until midnight New Year’s Eve, earlier we played a game of “can-a-round”. This is a type of relay when ourselves and unsuspecting visitors took turns at doing a lap of our gently-sloping half-hectare block pushing the unsettled babies in the double stroller before being handed a drink on return. You had to earn your beverages up there.

The night feeds, though, were easy. As they were fast feeders, one baby would get their nappy changed while I feed the other without any crying in between to wake our two-year-old.

Was it all worth it? It must’ve been as we did it all again the following year. And the next.

Witnessing my brother and his wife’s unimpressed reaction as their first newborn did a repeat performance, albeit a solo act, of the power-poo under the exact same tree last year while we sat and watched our kids frolic in the shallows made us realise just how far we’ve come.

These days we virtually only need to pack clothes and food, having renovated and moved a cabin up there. Our biggest problem is getting three excitable children to sleep in the same room. Surrounded by picturesque beaches to explore and with friends living next door the kids are in their element.

I’m not sure what we’ll be doing this New Year’s Eve but it won’t involve can-a-rounds with crying babies. I’d just be happy with having a few quiets on our new deck watching the fireworks at Tokerau in the distance while the children sleep peacefully within. Finger’s crossed.