City girls, country boy: Camp together for the first time

Veröffentlicht: 17. Juli 2022, 09:24 Uhr

Von: wom87

I've always been impressed by Kia when it comes to outdoor adventures. Since our first big journey, when we spent a day to hike through the Cambodian jungle under torrential downpours, Kia has proven to be remarkably resistant.

Since then we have hiked on slippery peaks, collapsed deep underground in Pech -black darkness and was waded through ice -cold rivers in the highlands, and it has always mastered it with grace and courage.

When it came to sky jumping, she even put me in the shade and barely twitched when she plunged from an airplane from a 12,000 foot. She definitely deserved her strips, so I thought it was time to put her to the test and camp for the first time. And where could you do that better than on a tropical beach?

There is comfortable sandy soil under your feet for sleeping, warm weather so that you don't get too cold, and facilities nearby, including showering, toilets, a small kitchen and a covered lounge area above the surf of the Pacific Ocean. Electricity was available for a few hours in the evening and there were even solar lamps that could be used after dark.

It was a long way from the icy and stormy slopes of the Cairngorms with nothing but a hole for a toilet - what could go wrong?

day 1 - so far, so good

It all started pretty well. Kia was impressed by the crowd of space in the tent and even went so far that it was cozy. We had a good meal in a local restaurant and explored the area before we lay down for the night. Her only real complaint was the condition of the showers and I can't blame her for it.

For some reason, the plumber had decided to install shower and toilet side by side. I mean right side by side, or rather on top of each other. So if you use the toilet, the shower drips on you and when you use the shower, hit your legs against the toilet edge as you pour water over it.

Even me, a hard -boiled wild campers, found it quite nasty and think that a hole that was a grave hole might have been more hygienic and easier to use.

day 2 - the first signs

"How did you sleep, baby?" I asked hesitantly when we woke up in the morning.

"bad", the answer came expressionless. "I couldn't sleep on the inflatable pillow. We have to try something else tonight." After a short time of silence, her mood quickly raised when she opened the tent to see the beautiful crystal -clear water of the ocean, which stretched under a cloudless blue sky.

We had breakfast in the common area, while we tried to ignore the three dogs of the owners, which, to use Kia’s words, were "all in our grill". Kia doesn't feel comfortable near dogs, so she was always restless in the camp.

No matter: we soon set off to explore the island. We hiked a short path along the Taveuni coast, enjoyed some beautiful views on the way and have been completed with a bath in a clear pool under a waterfall. In the evening she was relaxed again. However, the pillow experiment did not go so well in the evening and Kia was shortly before the exhaustion.

That was after another ice -cold shower, a slimy surprise of a big toilet that landed on her foot in the toilet (in the dark, so she had no idea what it was and therefore freaked out), dogs that were relentlessly barking around the tent, a shower falls out of the fishing and moisture in the tent!

All in all, it caused a strenuous evening and a terrible night's sleep. This time the view from the tent offered no redemption.

day 3 - which can only be called a breakdown

A day on the beach lazy, swimming in the water and swimming in the sun could not improve Kia's mood. The dogs followed us everywhere, sticked out our feet and licked every bare skin. Kia found it more than just a little boring.

In the meantime, sand had penetrated everything in and around the tent, including our sleeping bags and our luggage. In addition, it is not an easy task to organize yourself and your luggage in so little space on a year of travel and equipment. I could see that Kia started to fight.

this night, when we failed in another attempt to make a reasonably comfortable pillow, Kia finally grabbed. It had gotten dark, and after taking our last trip to the wet and dirty toilets, we were startled to death when the dogs jumped out of the bushes in one of their wild outbreaks.

I recovered pretty quickly and saw the funny side of it - with dogs and pets in the country, it meant that this was a rather everyday experience.

kia reacted a little differently. I can only call it a collapse. I will not go into detail, but there was an unprecedented rage and, yes, there was sobs ... this test had broken.

Next ...

Fortunately for Kia - and our relationship - we were next to the next, so we would spend five days in a luxury resort. She survived the night and we broke up in the morning for more comfortable accommodations.

unbelievable, she did not prevent the experience from camping, even though she has decided to need cleaner toilets and showers in the future. She also suggested that three nights should remain the limit for our camping stops, and we agreed on an upper limit of six nights a month (20 percent).

I spend a lot of time with wild camps. I enjoy escaping the narrow of a city life like the one I lead in London. I like stripping all the unnecessary things in my life and only staying with the basics. But I also appreciate that this is pretty unique and certainly not for everyone.

It is no shame to need a little comfort. And it is certainly not a shame to find a compromise. I personally would like to camp more, but Kia and I plan to be most part of the year on the road, so we have to find compromises on the way.

Camping is one of them and that's a good thing. It is not necessary to slum all the time - nothing proves. We made a big decision to take this trip. The most important thing is that we are happy and enjoy ourselves as well as possible.