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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want to camp in the Australian outback?

80 replies

MrsMushroom · 28/11/2012 21:02

Would you? We're going to Oz to see DHs family and friends....he's excited and so am I....and the DC aged 4 and 8.

He has just told me that his best mate is planning a family camping trip and we're all going.

AIBU to not want to? I HATE camping...and the outback is frightening frankly. There's nothing there ffs!

They love it..him and his mates.but I can't imagine what you do! They have done it lots but tbh I find the heat in Australia far too much and can just see myself sitting in a tent, melting and miserable...it IS beautiful in a bleak kind of way....but you can't walk far and there's nothing to do.

It seems to me, to be something a lot of people would like to do in their imaginations...but the reality is that being so far from shops etc will get me down. I can't imagine I will get broadband either.

WIBU to send the DC with him and not go myself? I have VERY pale skin...think blueish...and reddish hair.

I'll just melt or shrivel up out there!

OP posts:
FreudiansSlipper · 28/11/2012 22:40

Whistle i was there in 1999 wow 13 years ago. It was one of my favourite places in australia it was the first place we went to out of sydney. On our way we stopped at a little village that was having a scarwcrow event of some kind it was very odd we went in to the little grocey store and evereyone stopped and stared it was like the film

there was another national park in sydney we went to a few times it was pine forest and it felt like you were in the alps its was lovely but no one seems to know what i am talking about

We went to oz last year wish i had the time to take ds to pebbly beach

ZZZenAgain · 28/11/2012 22:42

ah playing games, fishing and drawing pictures of the snakes and spiders, rocks and sand, you will love it!

I hope you enjoy it, it wouldn't tempt me either but you never know for sure until you do it I suppose.

Original poster
MrsMushroom · 28/11/2012 22:44

All a bit Huck Fin really isn't it.

OP posts:
whistlestopcafe · 28/11/2012 22:47

It wasn't Blue Mountains was it Freudian?

sayayetaeapie · 28/11/2012 22:48

I hate camping in the UK - cold, mouldy crap campsite showers full of daddy long-legs and spiders. Pish weather. Arguing with family. Expensive. Nowt to do.

Camping in South Australia / Western Australia / Northern Territory (for 3 months):
dry, crisp nights. Clean campsites with hot showers. My nice tent + lovely camp bed. Other people in the campsite who lent us their drill to get the tent pegs in. The most amazing stars you've ever seen; the Milky Way across the sky. The Southern Cross... Red sunsets and sunrises, misty hollows and kookaburras laughing at dawn (youtube it!), ghostly silvery gum trees in the moonlight and red earth. Never saw any spiders or snakes. Sitting on a pier watching a huge stingray underneath, lit up by the moon. Kangaroos galore! Loads of beer! Lovely wine! BBQ! Getting pissed with random strangers....and TIM TAMS!

falls over

Envy (off to look at holiday pics and wish i had enough money to go back)
FreudiansSlipper · 28/11/2012 22:50

No maybe it was close to there but it was not the three sisters area with the terrifying cable car

i want to go back

curiousuze · 28/11/2012 23:01

Ach, good for you mrs mushroom, giving it a go even though you sound so apprehensive! I did the backpacking thing for a year in Oz and probably spent 50% of my time camping due to working on farms etc. It really can be lovely. And the stars are incredible. It depends where, what time of year and for how long. And it's amazing how you start to really get addicted to card games! I assume you'll have access to a car so you can always take yourself off to the nearest town and visit shops and so on if you need to.

Like I said I did a lot of camping - sometimes for month at a time - and I personally saw no snakes at all and only spiders I saw were inside buildings and non-venomous. So don't worry too much about all the scary stories! Mozzies can be really irritating but just wait till you get to Oz and buy the repellent they have there, because the stuff you get here is shit.

Also most Aussies are very conscious about not being in the sun too long etc so I don't think you'll be left to fry! Many campsites have swimming pools in them as well - just depends what your friends mean by 'outback'.

TellMeLater · 28/11/2012 23:08

We had our first intro to camping in oz and even though I'm terrified of creepy crawlers it was amazing, really worth doing. We went bush walking, sat around the campfire nattering while cooking food and getting more than a little drunk.

Original poster
MrsMushroom · 28/11/2012 23:16

Mainly, it's because I'm a very private person...I hate having to share space with other for any length of time. I'll just have to create a scenario where I can get away from the others a bit.

OP posts:
Longdistance · 28/11/2012 23:39

Now, I live in Oz, and wouldn't camp in my own garden Confused

But, if it's for one night, I'd do it. You never know, you might like it.

Original poster
MrsMushroom · 28/11/2012 23:52

Well that's it...either you're a camper or you're not. I'm not. I like soft furnishings and shops within easy reach. I like WALLS damitt!

OP posts:
GreenEggsAndNichts · 29/11/2012 00:38

I'm not a huge fan of camping, but I did like the few nights spent under the stars in the Outback when I was there several years ago. The sky is amazing, like nothing you'll ever see here. If you lie on the ground and look up, you'll feel part of the universe, and very very small. :)

I'm also an extremely pale, frecklish sort. Some of the best sun cream I've ever purchased was in Australia. A friend there recommended the brand as it was the one their cricket team uses. It was fabulous. I've forgotten the name, sadly, but most of their own brands are better than anything I've tried here or in the US.

Be sure to knock your shoes out before trying to put them on. And check inside everything before using, such as a swag/sleepingbag. Familiarise yourself with how to call for help if needed (essentially read and pay attention to all of the recommendations given to campers heading to the Outback.) Take it all very serious, but also realise you'll likely never need any of the info. You just don't want to be hopping around wondering wtf to do if something happens.

Or, if you're convinced you'll hate it, then don't go. But it would be a memorable trip. :)

GreenEggsAndNichts · 29/11/2012 00:40

oh, and I really dislike camping, for all the reasons sayay listed above! This will be worth it, though, more so than trying to camp here in the UK.

Glad to see you're going! Grin

Ozziegirly · 29/11/2012 03:33

There's outback and outback, same as there's camping and camping. If you're talking about drive for 2 days then pitch a tiny tent amongst the flies, then yes, I concur that sounds shit.

But if you're talking about; drive to a beauty spot, near a beach or a water hole, taking nice food and a good book, plus of course a gigantic cask of insect repellent, not too far from civilisation, then I think it sounds great.

I'm not much of a camper, although I do like a camper van trip - something nice about not sleeping on the ground.

Depends on the time of year too. I wouldn't consider sleeping in a tent or a camper van anywhere in Australia between October and April.

SomersetONeil · 29/11/2012 03:46

Good for you! It might be awful, in which case it's 3 or 4 days of your life you'll never get back. Big deal.

Or it might be really great. Or at the very least really great for your kids. Idyllic childhood memories, etc, etc.

SavoyCabbage · 29/11/2012 04:02

Is it the actual outback?

FairPhyllis · 29/11/2012 04:38

If you go to the loo at night watch out for the toilet frogs - take a friend with you ...

MrsTerryPratchett · 29/11/2012 04:59

I hate camping and the outdoors. I really enjoyed camping in the outback though. It was very civilized since the Aussies know how to do it. The stars are better than you will see anywhere else. However, I camped where there were electric lights, flushing toilets and fixed BBQs. I wouldn't do logging road camping. Also, they tried to convince me to sleep out in a sleeping bag without a tent, I told them I would do it on the second night if nothing had tried to eat them the first. "All" they found was a scorpion and a centipede. I said, "don't they poison you?". They said, "Yea, but they don't kill you". They are a brave and foolhardy people.

oldnewmummy · 29/11/2012 05:01

Where exactly are you going? If you buy a Telstra Elite Mobile WiFi device it'll give you broadband in a lot of places.

musicalendorphins · 29/11/2012 05:28

Depends. What season will it be when you are there, and what part of Australia? Check what the heat is like there...do you have asthma, or heart problems?

I cannot tolerate heat at all, and neither can dh.

I wouldn't go, maybe if it was an air conditioner camper I would consider it.

I used to like camping when I was younger, but in forest like areas where it wasn't broiling hot.

HoneyMurcott · 29/11/2012 06:16

Is it like, real outback or just bush? I'm with you, hate camping at the best of times and unless you are near water to swim in it's pretty boring. Aussies are VERY into their camping. Despite being married to an Aussie camping fan, he has never been able to make it comfortable enough or exciting enough to really enjoy.

WankbadgersBreakfast · 29/11/2012 06:40

Haven't read the thread, so it's probably moved on

As an Australian, who grew up in very, very remote places, YABVVU.
The heat isn't that bad, unless you're dim enough to go bushbashing at midday. Camp near a dam if you can. Swimming in a dam is the best swimming ever.

It's so peaceful. Miles and miles of ancient land. Really reminds you of how huge our country is, and how there's so much to see, and do. Wish I'd never moved to Perth sometimes.

And I promise you that you won't be eaten by a croc, mauled by a drop bear, or tasted by a dugite.
Just watch for the white tails and red backs.

BalloonSlayer · 29/11/2012 06:52

I think anyone who ever camps EVER is a lunatic.

However. The only time I think I have ever slept under canvas was in the Australian outback.

The thing I will never forget for the rest of my life was getting up to go to the loo and being outside in the middle of the night. The STARS! Oh wow the stars . . .

You know when you see programmes about space or Star Trek and you wonder why they have such a fantastic display of stars when it just doesn't look like that in real life? Well, it does, if there is no light pollution, no cloud and no other pollution.

It was honestly one of the biggest "Wow" moments of my life. Like being on a different planet.

Southsearocks · 29/11/2012 07:03

I've camped in the outback. We had kangaroos munching away right next to us, a possum in a tree, glow worms, and the most amazing stars I have ever seen. And you are allowed camp fires ( where we were anyway) which you can rarely have in the UK. But I do love camping!

Ditto Ballon - the stars alone should make it unmissable........

Southsearocks · 29/11/2012 07:05

Balloon sorry. We are not French!

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