Myth busting everything you need to know so you just go! If you’re the sort of family who have long been eyeing off other tent set-ups, we’re here to tell you, now’s the time to get amongst it.
If it’s your first foray into the great outdoors, let us help you with your camping baby steps. Put your L-plates on with this guide to camping. What’s holding you back?
I don’t have all the gear
We get it – starting a new adventure hobby is expensive and takes up a whole lot of space. Garages across the country are full of skis, snowboard boots and poles that haven’t seen powder since the early 90s. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If your camping kit and caboodle are looking a little on the light side, don’t rule out a camping adventure just yet. The more you take, the more you have to set up, clean and pack down, so it pays to approach camping with a Swedish appetite for minimalism. If you’ve got the basics – a tent, bed, pillows, camp chairs and an esky – we’ve got the rest – BBQ cooking facilities, toilets and showers.
We’ll have to drive for hours to find a campground
Hold onto your Google Maps, our campgrounds are far from remote and isolated. For the most part, you’ll find them close enough to the holiday action you won’t even need a map to find your way to the local CBD.
There could be a bathroom situation
You won’t need a shovel and spade for an Ingenia Holidays camping adventure. In fact, you won’t even need to face a long-drop, either. If passing nature in nature has been what’s putting you off a camping adventure, you’ll be happy to know our campsites all come with bathrooms and showers, so you can keep your business as usual. Dial the comfort up an extra notch by booking an en-suite campsite, which will mean you won’t have to cross the park in your nightgown if you need to use the amenities in the night.
I’m not outdoorsy
Do you need to be outdoorsy to sit in a chair, watch a sunset and drink wine? We think not. You only need to take a wander through a holiday park to see what campers actually get up to – eat, sleep, drink, repeat. Spending the day at the beach is about as outdoorsy as you’ll get – throw in a short walk through a national park and you’ll barely even need a closed-in shoe for your next camping adventure.
There won’t be any decent coffee
Forget your caffeine detox, the only daily grind you’ll find camping is in your coffee consumption. Not only will you find cafes within most Ingenia Holidays parks,but if you decide to DIY, portable Aeropress and plungers exist, making instant coffee a thing of camping yesteryear.
Camping is uncomfortable
If camping were uncomfortable, why do 11.84 million people do it in Australia each year? Invest in a good quality air mattress (or borrow one from a friend if you’re new to this whole camping thing) and take your pillows from home. There’s no need to be stuffing a jumper full of socks like MacGyver – at least while you’ve still got your camping L-plates on.
I’ll be stuck cooking and cleaning all weekend
“I can’t wait to be cooking and cleaning all weekend,” said no parent ever. Before you panic at the thought of toiling over a hot stove – make one-pot meal plans that won’t leave you cooking and cleaning for hours for the hungry hordes. Or keep things simple with ready-made meals to outsource the washing up altogether. Of course, if you want to outsource the lot, we can take care of all the cooking with onsite restaurants at 3 of our parks, so nothing disturbs your camping rhythm.
What will the kids do without their devices?
The whole idea of camping is to get back to nature, but we understand the impending panic for our smallest digital dependents. Our parks are packed with playgrounds, water slides, pools and jumping pillows which will obliterate the words “I’m bored” or “can I play on the iPad” from the camping vocabulary. While our parks all have WIFI and connectivity, we guarantee your Screen Time will chart a decrease with so much else to see and do.
Explore our parks
