We recently bought a camper trailer to take our kids camping. Hubby and I both camped a lot pre kids but ours have never gone before so it's like we are going to the first time. We will be glamping it more than roughing it like in our youth, lol.
We have all the basics covered but what essentials or tips do you have when camping with kids??
Also any good spots within an hour or two of Cairns and the tablelands if you are happy to share 😉
We are all super excited and can't wait to start making all the fun memories!!
4 Replies
We had the best time, I can honestly think of no essentials, they just rolled with it and nature and new scenery gave them all they needed, it was fantastic. Only problem we had was them using camp toilets, so we ended up buying a potty training toilet seat for them to sit on.
We are lucky in cairns to have so many beautiful camping spots close by. Tinaroo Dam might be a good spot to start, there are several camping areas to choose from, each with their own appeal and you get to choose your site when booking so depending on the age of your kids you can decide if you want to be near the toilet block, away from the water etc. It's also popular so you'll likely find there's other kids around and it will be a social introduction to the camping experience for them and there's plenty to explore in the surrounding areas. Another favourites of mine is Homerule Station (WallabyCreek) if you're looking for a nature experience.
I used to find it helped to make up a big pot of whatever the family's favourite pasta is- Spaghetti Bog in our case, the day before and freeze overnight. It can then defrost during the day while you're driving and you simply need to heat up on the gas stove for the first night. By the time we set up the tent, made beds and generally got everything sorted it was nice to just be able to pop it on the stove and serve it up.
Obviously the idea of camping is to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, be amongst nature and all those wonderful things but depending on the age of your kids, there's no shame in bringing along a box of lego or the like to pop on a mat and keep little ones entertained for a bit. It's your holiday too. Enjoy.
When the kids were younger we took pencils and activity books for while we were setting up/taking down tents. Now we give them jobs to do (pumping air mattresses, pitching tents.. )
I pack each day's clothes in zip lock bags so I can send them off to the showers with a bag of clean clothes, they return with a bag of dirty clothes and we don't have disappearing underwear that's been dropped along the way.
We pre-cook as many meals as possible and freeze them. This saves on buying ice for the Esky, time cooking, and dishes to be washed while camping. It's just heat and eat. Even easier if you go somewhere that has a microwave in the camp kitchen.
Our kids are still young-ish (3,5,7&9) and three of them have special needs, so we try to only organise one or two things to do each day so we have plenty of time to regroup and reset. Make sure you have some fun, relax the rules a little and see how well they step up and be responsible. We find our kids handle this well.
Leave a pack of cards/some travel games in the glovebox of the car for rainy day emergencies. Went camping down at Jourama falls recently and it rained one day (like it never rains near Townsville! Who would have thought!) Having Uno and a couple of board games saved or sanity that day, and the kids had a ball! We may have started a fortnightly games night at home because of this!
Granite gorge is a lovely spot to go camping that's close to home. I used to go to Etty Bay when we were kids. Mission beach is also nice. We went to Innot Hot Springs a few weeks ago too for my birthday.
And if you want to go a little further afield, I'm currently sitting in the BIG4 at Cooktown. It's the slow season for tourists at the moment so the staff have been super helpful! The park is nice with lovely pool and clean and equipped kitchen. The is heaps to see and do up here too. We've played at the playground and musical ship, we've been up to the lighthouse, we explored Keating's Lagoon and we'll go hiking tomorrow before we leave. Next time we come up I hope to take the kids to the James Cook museum and the Botanical gardens.
Most of all, have fun. I find getting ready to leave for camping if most stressful as hubby works multiple jobs so I'm left organising and packing everything to go (kids still get too excited and distracted to help, but we are getting there, they try to pack their clothes now). This trip I had to even set up camp and look after kids solo for the first night and day as hubby had to go away for work last minute. I'm so glad we have two cars and could make it work as the kids really shined in being able to help set stuff up and bring responsible. It's been worth the effort just to see the kids growing in maturity.
Traveling Australia with kids is a good fb page