To not go camping?

[BillHadersNewWife]

We live in Australia. Every summer after Christmas, DH and our friends like to go camping. I don't.

I've done it a few times now....camping here is very rough...at least the way they do it is.

They prefer a pretty remote spot...it IS beautiful, breathtakingly so...wild, deserted beaches etc...no shop for miles. You have no mobile signal there.

I hate it. I like the views and the wildlife obviously but not the lack of good coffee, internet and beds.

I'm 47....I have a bad back after every trip. By day two I'm often going a bit mad from the nature-ness of it all.

DD1 hates it also...she's 15...DD2 is 11 and still enjoys it.

DH has said he doesn't mind at all if DD1 and I don't come this year. He's happy for us to stay home and bond....DD2 doesn't care...as long as her best friend goes too which she is, she'll have her Dad....

AIBU though? Is it miserable and wimpy of me?

I'm English and haven't ever got used to the roughness of the camping experience here. No loos...no shops...no PEOPLE!

Feel a bit sorry for the advertising metrics following this thread. The best it can come up with is Weymouth Caravans

No crocs in S.A.! And as for spiders, we live semi rurally so they're an everyday thing here. Massive harmless ones scare me worse than the bitey poisonous kind. I know that's ignorance but still...seeing something the size of a side plate scuttling across my kitchen floor still sends me hysterical.

A tiny little white tip or red back doesn't worry me because they seem quite shy. DD squashes them because I can't bear to.

This yells for Calvin and Hobbes

God I'm so jealous, we did some proper Australian camping a couple years ago and I would love Christmas with no people somewhere remote...the dream! But I guess if you gate it you shouldn't have to go every year, can't you alternate activities?

Don't go.
Surely its far too hot in SA at the moment?

If the others want to go, wave them off and leave them to it.

Sounds like the perfect solution to stay home and bond with DD1 and your DH sounds like he's great about it.

We were talking about going camping with friends at a gathering the other day. In the UK in a campsite with showers etc, I’ve tried it, I don’t like and won’t go again. Have a lovely time at home with your DD1.

I love camping

.... in a Camping and Caravanning site, with electric hookup, hot showers, clean toilets (ideally having won a recent award), with laundry facilities and near a decent supermarket (and takeaway).

Jesus god no to camping. You have the perfect solution and it's good for the DCs to have one parent to themselves sometimes.

You've tried it, you don't like it. DH is happy for you and DD to not go... thise who wany to can go and those who dont can stay at home/go somewhere else. Sounds perfect! PS i wouldn't be going either but credit to you for trying it out.

Nah. Do what you want.

I love camping - but arthritis means I'm past the stage of willingly freezing my arse of at 3.30am and being unable to move for the first hour after waking up (again), and no amount of air beds can change that. Doing a last minute tick check in a tent isn't my idea of fun, either - bitey spiders, snakes and mosquitos appeal even less than disease carrying arachnids.

I'm strictly a hotel person now. Warmth, proper shelter, coffee, hot water and, most importantly, a decent bed.

Surely its far too hot in SA at the moment?

I'm in WA and my mum was saying that to me yesterday. I was wearing a sweater. I think it was 19 degrees in the middle of the day.

It's not hot everywhere in Australia all of the time.

I would (and do) LOVE that kind of camping, but it's a very individual thing. OP you shouldn't have to do anything you don't want to do! And DD shouldn't either. Your DH is totally ok with you two staying home to do things that make the two of you happy so do that with no regrets! I hope you have a lovely bonding time together :)

Regarding the weather, we've had a couple of very hot days and it's now just "nice" in the 30s. We go after Christmas and they usually check the weather the week before and then go when the weekend looks nice.

They're all self-employed so can go easily as they choose...including DH and I.

Yanbu. I never camp.