Tag Archives: adventure

The Big Pack: What To Take When You’re Camping with a Toddler!

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I don’t pretend to be some kind of packing know it all. I don’t know if I actually know anything at all but we recently embarked on a week long camping trip in the remote Northern Territory with my 22 month old son, Little Vick and we SURVIVED! It was our first camping trip as a family and we had the car fully loaded and falling out at the seams. Like, I couldn’t even see Little Vick in the backseat it was so loaded! It’s easy to over pack for such an occasion (never me, no no). It’s even easier to under pack and live verrrry uncomfortably, but I think we got it just right. Hopefully this list might offer some insight when you are forced to think through what is needed for a family camping trip cos it surely requires some thinking ahead and preparation! I need not be a hellish kinda experience.

THE (LONGEST) CAMPING PACK LIST:

    • Tent – that’s kinda the biggy to remember
    • Bedding – we took a blow up air mattress & portacot for Little Vick
    • Contraption to blow up mattress - can be a good set of lips, manual hand pump or an electric (lazy) one which can be re-charged through the lighter in the car.
    • Bedding – an extra blanket is always wise & don’t forget your pillow!
    • Newspaper – to put down under mattresses to stop the cold coming up through
    • Tarp – this has various uses but we used this as a ground cover for our central area to save dirt getting trampled into our tent by our feet. Some people use foam mats alternatively
    • Camp chairs
    • Camp table – a compact-able one is good for space saving
    • Torch – good for getting up at night (to a toddler)
    • Camp light – ones that can be re-charged through car cigarette lighters are amazeballs
    • Matches
    • Citronella candle to annoy mozzie’s right away
    • Mozzie repellent (by the gallon)
    • Sunscreen
    • Toiletries
    • Clothing - which should include sunglasses, hat, hiking/walking shoes, warm jumper/jacket
    • Towels
    • Backpack for walking and exploring
    • Toddler backpack/carrier – this is our lifesaver!
    • Portable gas cooking stove
    • Gas bottle
    • Cooking equipment – we took 1 x saucepan, 1 x frying pan
    • Cooking utensils – I suggest tongs, flip, spoon, can opener.
    • Picnic set – usually contains plates, cups, cutlery in a compact-able form
    • A good knife
    • Chopping board if it is not in your picnic set
    • Cooking oil
    • Water – gallons of it – we bought it by the 10 litre drum & took 4 of them for a week
    • Drink bottle to transfer water into to take on walks and explorations
    • Esky
    • Ice for the esky
    • Food. We took a variety of fresh and canned.
    • Toilet paper
    • Rope – this is a multi purpose ya never know kinda thing. We ended up using one as a clothes line
    • Hammer
    • Plastic bags for rubbish
    • Dish cloth – boo… the dishers still need to be done
    • Tea towel
    • Dish washing liquid – I always feel better taking something a little environmentally friendly since the water has to get tipped out on the ground. Something like the Eco Store brand. We also used this as a soap.
    • Maps
    • Book
    • Backgammon or a pack of cards
    • Paper and pen
    • Toddler entertainment – they probably won’t need much since the environment provides heaps of stimulation but we took bubbles, a couple of books, crayons & paper & a ball. Also bubs comforter is a real good idea. We couldn’t have done it with out ‘koala‘!
    • First aid kit – we made up our own consisting of things from band aids, to Panadol to bandages, to tweezers, to antiseptic.
    • A good sense of humour and desire for adventure - an absolute must!

Have I forgotten anything? What else do you like to take camping? Please share :) Thanks to Walkingon Travels & Suitcases & Sippycups for linking me up with Travel Tip Tuesday.

Can I also ask a favour? I’m currently in the running to be crowned in the Top 25 Australian Mummy Blogs… totally rad. I want it. Two clicks and you can help me live my daydream right here. Easy peasy. THANK YOU :) xox

Camping in The Northern Territory…….. Really???

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When Mr Vick mentioned the word camping the little adventurer in me came alive. The mother in me however stopped dead in my tracks and cringed. 22 month old + Kakadu. Not the perfect equation I would think. The imagery in my mind went something like this: toddler screaming all night in a tent that is if a crocodile had not indeed wandered up and eaten us for afternoon tea, or if we hadn’t ambushed a snake who is a bit hostile…or we could end up with a Dingo in our tent. Then there’ll be dirt from our ears to our bum crack and not a drop of crocodile free water in sight to wash ourselves with. Mr Vick’s sense of adventure will surely get us into some sort of trouble but there was nothing that was going to stop him from going ahead with this fantasy. He was like a pig rolling around in stenchy dung at the mere thought of it, so it was obviously going to be happening. We could do this right?

We bought a 6 person Holiday Home, an over extravagant name for a mere cheapish tent and loaded up our miniature box of a hire car to the sheebers with every thing you could possibly think of. Cos let’s face it if we forgot something we were up Shit Creek. I could barely see Little Vick from the front seat. Of course he didn’t seem phased. This queer, spontaneous behaviour from us seemed perfectly normal to him. Just another day being a Vickerty (one of my clan).

We mapped out a bit of a plan. That’s battle no. 1. The word ‘plan’ is a little foreign to Mr Vick who’s ideas of a plan is, well you could say, loose, which is oh so fun for an organised to the every minute type like me. We both have to meet in the middle, in theory. Anyway we managed to get a map and come up with something. 1 week out of Darwin on the road was shaping up like this for us:

2 or 3 nights in Kakadu, 1 night in Katherine where we would load up with supplies and then 2 or 3 nights in Litchfield National Park before returning back to civilisation in Darwin. It looks swell on the map. Simple, yes?

Simple or not we hit the road ready for the unknown but surely an adventure of sorts. I gave us 3 days before we were dirty, grumpy, hungry, sleep deprived, hating each others innards and threatening divorce and returning to Darwin. Mr Vick was convinced we’d last out the entire week.

Where we being ambitious? How many days would you attempt camping with a toddler?

Stay tuned for to hear about our Kakadu adventures next post :)

Sigh Sunday: The Kings Little Pathway!

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I can’t ever imagine a King actually chucking his comfy old walking shoes and a daggy backpack on to creep along this ledge can you? Apparently he did however and if it’s good enough for a King I reckon it’s good enough for me! If I got my courage on I would put myself on this edge although currently I feel like wetting myself just looking at the skinny ledge via a picture. I’m really not sure how my vertigo and the pathway would get along but all the same….

It’s magnificent isn’t it? El Caminito del Rey is the Spanish pronunciation for the place (The Kings Little Pathway is the English translation). Sounds kinda sexy yes? I doubt it. It looks to me like a place of hard work and when I say hard work I mean hiking, rock climbing… all things requiring big scoops of energy and a certain athleticism. Definitely a pathway to an adventurers heaven. Perhaps it would be sexy if there was a Spanish lad waiting at the other end just for you!?

It’s positioned 100 meters up from the river level below and was built in 1901 when workers needed access between the two falls for inspection and maintenance of the channel. Can you imagine building such a thing? One word….HOW? It blows my mind.

Do you reckon you’d trust those little bar supports under the ledge? The Spanish must think they’re alright although in Google it describes this pathway as one of the scariest hikes in the world and Google knows everything.

Oh, oooopss… as I was just finishing up on this post up, I looked into why this is one of the scariest hikes in the world only to discover it actually was closed in the year 2000 after a couple of fatal falls. They are currently restoring it and no doubt will upgrade the safety aspect for future re-opening.

Now, who’s done this walk? That would really impress me if any of my readers actually had!!!

And who would want to? What’s your favourite hiking experience?

Happy Sunday ! :)

 

Sigh Sunday: Peru Baby!

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It’s been on my bucket list for some time. It’s something I’m willing to wait for, cos clearly I wont be hiking into Machu Picchu with Little Vick on my back gasping for air and coming down with an attack of the chucks, head spins and nose bleeds (otherwise known as altitude sickness – wow I’m selling this place so well from the get go aren’t I?). I like to think of myself as a bit of a trekker and this, I hear, is the ultimate. Besides, the Inca civilization…. what a fascinating part history which I known a big fat nothing about. I feel way naive right now. I must get educated.

I have been reminded of my desires for Machu Picchu after talking with a friend who has recently returned from visiting the site. She completed the 4 day trek with minimal training and knowledge about what she was getting herself into. We decided the latter was probably for the best. Apart from gasping for air at times (seriously she was up in the clouds) she LOVED the adventure. I love adventure. So this Sunday I wouldn’t might a bit more of it in my life.

 

Have you made the trek into Machu Picchu? Is it on your bucket list?

Where are you dreaming of this Sunday?

 

 

Adventurous Parenting in Thailand. Trusting ‘The Gut’…. (in Thailand and all places)

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Some of the adventures we got up to in Thailand would make my mother shake her head. They were things she would not put herself through not to mention consider it to be a family activity in which her 1 year old grandson should be apart of. As “young“ people we tend to be more instinctial parents rather than the logical old school form which is where my mother probably hails from. We want Little Vick to grow up experiencing and learning from the world by being directly being apart of it. Long gone are the days of toddlers “being seen and not heard” (but seriously have toddlers ever been not heard?).

For those of you who read my last post about our scary elephant ride, perhaps my mother does have some reason to shake her head at times, but hey what 1 year old shouldn’t be able to boast about riding an elephant through the jungle before he was 2 years old?

When Mr Vick suggested we all go kayaking on day 2 of our trip in Thailand, I didn’t hesitate in saying “yes, lets do it!”. The Thai boat co-ordinator at the resort was left scratching his head for a moment when we asked him for a mini life jacket for the “little one” whom we were pointing to. They obviously don’t usually have to cater for the miniature kayaker, but none the less he managed to get something on him before we all crawled into the slim line, wobbly kiak.

 If I’d stopped and thought before we set off about what all the nasty possibilities of including a toddler (who doesn’t like sitting still one bit) in a kayaking expedition out at sea, I’d probably have weaseled us out of it quick smart. I mean think about it…… Little Vick could refuse to sit contently still and he could have fallen in, jumped in, tipped us over (imagine capsizing?!) or Little Vick could have been scared witless the entire time and screamed us deaf, we could have ended up strandard somewhere, a motor boat could have ran us over, or a freak wave could have caught us unawares and we all ended up in the drink, or a shark…. and on the horror stories could go.

Instead we jumped into the adventure fearlessly and loved our time paddling in the sea. It was magic to see the island from the perspective of the water. The same sight the local fisherman got to enjoy every morning. The water glistened and sparkled from the sun. Resting back on his Dad, Little Vick sat perfectly still (phew!) and enjoyed the ride too. He loved the water splashing up on him and together with a slight sea breeze, it was deliciously refreshing. I have to admit it was a bit of hard yakka for the arms and for us to get our paddling in sink it took a number of moments of concentration and a bit of patience. I was quickly deemed a bit of an incompetend stearer of the vessel but none the less I still had to be charge since Mr Vick was taking care of Little Vick. Seems our destination was a tad further than it looked from our departure point but after a bit of huff and puff we arrived at a secluded part of our island which wasn’t accessible by foot. It was a lovely little secluded paradise. We climbed in and around the rocks like young children exploring untouched places - noticing everything from new follage to shells to how the wind was blowing ripples on the water. We drempt of building a jungle home and playing Jane and Tarzan. We enjoyed the sun on our skin, although it was probably burning me up. Unfortunately I can’t share such images photographically with you because I didn’t want to risk getting my spiffy camera water logged in the kayak, so these memories are only captured in my mind. But they’re the best ones aren’t they?  

The time came to go back to the island. Our dedicated time for the boat was ticking down and I was worried we’d disobeyed the boat man and treked too far away. There was a 1 km radius barrior, but I was sure we had gone at least 2km’s. Who knows? But we better not be late too. I’m not quite sure what the very non scary looking boat was going to do about it anyway. 

I am happy to report we all made it back alive (and not in trouble for not following the rules). Not just alive, but with a peacefully sleeping toddler in the back of the kayak. Out of all the possibilities, I never thought this one was possible. He’d fallen asleep! That’s how scared he was folks.

Another water story we have from our trip was on our Phi Phi Island day trip. Part of the allocated time was for snorkeling. It was indeed not just off the shores of a beach but out in the middle of the ocean. That’s where the best fish are of course. Neither Mr Vick or I wanted to miss the opportunity to catch a peek at the marine life so we both geared up ready. Again we found a rather oversized life jacket that would do for Little Vick without a second thought. The tour guide I guess didn’t understand we’ve been throwing Little Vick in the water since he was six weeks old and is quite a competent swimmer as he more than once asked us if we were “sure” about taking our toddler? We just smiled and noddled and launched ourselves into the cool depths of the surrounding waters. We wouldn’t be Aussies if we wern’t dawning our “she’ll be right mate attitude” now would we? 

Small fish quickly surrounded us and welcomed us to their home. So friendly. The bread that the tour guides insisted on throwing in front of our faces probably had something to do with them wanting to get up close and personal. They were amazing colours! Bright blues and yellows. Superb. Little Vick I’m sure didn’t comprehend what they were or how magnificent the experience was but we sure loved it together as a family.

I guess we are hardly boring people. Never have been, so we’re hardly going to become boring parents. Parenting can easilly become a real fearfest and you could easily shelter your children from the world because of the many ’what if’s’ but by doing that you’re also shielding them from many of life’s gifts and learning opportunities. So, we’ve decided to not be one of those parents, no matter where we are in the world. Whilst our actions might appear a little irrational, we actually do consider very carefully the damage we could do to our Little Vick and avoid being too reckless. But what’s life without a little bit of risk? Each little risk is a little living, a little learning, a little memory to keep forever and you think about it, your best memories are often those where you took a little bit of risk aren’t they? It’s the height of living. By living this way we are only enriched as individuals which can only make us better parents, we also learn how to parent better in a wide variety of circumstances and we share such thrills all with our beautiful little boy who only grows greater for it all too.

I wont pretend that we are the best parents. Who am I kidding? Most of the time we have no idea what we’re doing, but we will continue to parent by ‘our gut’, cos that’s what feels right.

What adventurous parenting stories do you have where you’ve followed your gut?

Playing Russian Roulette with A Thai Elephant!

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 I wanted to ride an elephant. Can a girl be blamed? When one is in Thailand, it seems like it should be a natural occurrence. It’s hard to resist a little time with such huge, graceful creatures of the jungle which have long been apart of Asian history.

It was destined to be one of my most memorable travelling stories of all time. I had it set in my mind already. What a beautiful moment it would be, not just for myself but to share it with Little Vick who is joyous at the sight of a mere mangy dog. He was going to be owe struck and delighted, and I would be right beside him in that.

We had been in Thailand for 3 days before we decided it was time to go find and meet “our” elephant. Seems he was situated in someones big jungle backyard which was at the back of a neighbourhood consisting of a few tin sheds at God know’s where. We’d asked our taxi driver to deliver us to “our” elephant and this is where we ended up (we later found out taxi drivers get commissioned for taking tourists to certain businesses). We were a little surprised to see we were the only one’s there. Arn’t the elephants the rage here? Where are the rest of the tourists wanting their share of elephant heaven? I’d been complaining about the constant flow of tourists so perhaps this was a good thing. Our taxi driver had taken us to the best elephant in town for a more personal experience obviously.

One very happy monkey friend greeted us the instant we stepped out of the taxi, coaxing us over to play with him. He was as good as the locals along the street. He sold himself well although it wouldn’t take much to convince Little Vick. Monkeys were his best friend before he even had actually met one (his monkey sound is perhaps the cutest thing ever).  We had been longing for Little Vick to meet one in the flesh. He was fun, and funny, although there was also something a little psychotic about him too so we were glad he was chained up (and I don’t say that very often about animals). There’s something very unpredictable about monkey’s isn’t there? I eyed him off half expecting him to jump on our backs and scratch our skin and hair out.

            This was Little Vicks favorite trick. The show your bum act!

There were 2 elephants grazing on a bit of dirt waiting to play. I was happy to rescue them. We paid our 800 baht (approx. $28 each) for a half an hour trek. I pondered if this was long enough to live out my romantic cultural dream but it would have to do since we had the taxi driver waiting for us to move onto our next destination (Patong Beach).

The saddle, which they assembled in front of us, looked like it was at least 100 years old. The blankets were tatty, probably full of fleas and the bars of the seat were looking suspiciously rusty and brittle. Nice and authentic, I guess. When it was time we climbed a ladder of a makeshift tower where we hitched our leg up and over (I’m making it sound much easier than it really was) onto our elephant. I’m not sure how tall he was but it felt like we were sitting up on top of a skyscraper. Looooonnnnng way to fall down. Wouldn’t get out of the fall without at least a broken arm, collarbone or leg (or neck – but I don’t want to risk sounding dramatic!)

I was surprised when the elephant started waddling. Lets face it it isn’t actually that graceful when you’re up there. The motion is so jerky. Your hips get thrust forward and it takes a moment before the rest of your body flicks back into alignment.

It wasn’t long before I noticed how much the elephant, despite having some the largest set of ears I’ve ever seen, was playing deaf to his master. There was a clear track that the elephant was supposed to follow but instead he would spontaneously just veer off the path and head straight to the most delicious looking tree in sight and ferociously pull it down and eat it up, happy at Larry (whoever he is?). He couldn’t be moved until he was satisfied that’d he’d finished off the tree. He clearly had a no wastage rule, which you do have to admire. At first this was a bit funny. Worth a bit of a giggle….. poor elephant, musn’t of had a feed for the morning yet.. ha ha. How cute. But after a while when the elephant continuously lead off the trail and stubbornly disobeyed it’s master the funny in it started to disappear. The master would flare his voice at the elephant but little effect did it have. His assistant started picking whole branches of green foliage to try and coax the elephant to behave. Where they trying to bribe our elephant? This isn’t how it went in my head.

We eventually managed to cover some distance and for some God knows reason we ended up on the side of a cliff on this elephant. I saw it coming and I asked the heavens to pleeeaaassseee not allow it but alas, it seems we were fully out of control of this whole experience and it was to be. Now let’s get this straight, sitting on an elephant is awkward enough not to mention sitting on an elephant on the slant of steep hill. I tried to lay along the line of the elephant so I didn’t lose control of my upper body and topple off the back but I wasn’t really sure where to hold onto or where to look (I get vertigo sitting in the dress circle at the theatre). The elephant obviously didn’t share such fears as he casually thumped his way over to the very edge of the cliff to nip at a bush that sat just out of his reach over the edge….how is it that that bush looks the most attractive? I looked over the edge, briefly. Long enough. Eeeekkkk!!!!! A little squeal wanted to escape from my throat. Very. Long. Way. Down. Gulp. It would only take one step from this elephant and we would meet our death, and really, their big feet are pretty clumsy, so it felt like it was only a matter of time. My chest ragged as my heart clearly wanted to leap out and get back to the taxi before I could even yell “help“. Obviously my inner adventure junkie must have been hybernating that day.

There’s only one thing you can do to make such a situation far worse for yourself and that is to start questioning the safety of equipment which is imperative to your survival (bloody stupid imagination).I don’t know about these brittle looking ropes they used to strap the saddle on. Do you think they could just snap?  You couldn’t blame me - they looked about as old as the dinosaurs and were they creaking with the pressure of our weight (and that was already a few holiday kilo’s heavier) on the slant? I looked at Mr Vick who was clinging onto Little Vick with dear life. We were stuck. Couldn’t just hop down and skip back to the taxi. No one to rescue us and we wern’t even game enough to admit that this was indeed one of the most terrifying things we had ever voulanteered ourselves for.

I musn’t have been imagining the danger because the boss and his assistant barked at the elephant with growing intensity, and at each other when the elephant was adamant about still playing Russian roulette with us. Seems nothing was working for them. Their urgency in their voice only made us more anxious. Did they too think it was a possibility for this elephant to commit manslaughter?

This brought about the arrival of the pick. A nasty, sharp looking thing which they waved about threatening the elephant with and jabbed into it’s side. This made the elephant a bit cranky, but still he held his ground. It made me very nervous. It felt like there might be a showdown and that I should negotiate between the two to bring back some calm in the situation before there was a big elephant tantrum.

It didn’t help that we had just finished watching the movie “Water for Elephants” prior to departing for Thailand.  It’s a lovely period drama which tells about an elephant sensing cruelty in his owner and flaring up and running away when a pick came near him…. it kinda seems understandable, so I was waiting for our elephant to go on some mad stampede with us helpless lot stuck on top with a toddler, who seemed rather non perplexed by it all. So everyday for him. This little boy had no fear, completely trusting us and our judgement, and yet here we were starting to question why we had ever thought this was going to be a great idea?!?!!

Whilst the elephant and his master had a word with one another my attention began to shift to the saddle. For a few moments I carefully considered. Is it ? isn’t it? Surely not? But yes indeedy, the saddle was slipping!!!! Panic rose up through my body. It wanted to spew out of my mouth all over this whole situation but instead I managed to keep my cool on. Under my breath I alerted Mr Vick to the pending disaster. It seems he had already noted the situation and hushed me with “don’t panic, just don’t panic” in a very quiet but none the less panicked tone. I could tell he wan’t enjoying himself and felt just as helpless and regretful as I did. But what could we do? I could just see the headlines already. “Elephant disaster. Negligent Aussie Parents stupidly risked sons life”.

For whatever reason, the elephant started to negotiate a little more with his master and actually decided moving away from the edge and down the cliff wasn’t a bad idea. Hooray!Probably had just finished eating the days picking and was ready to move on for something more fresh, but either way, we were getting out of the neck of the woods. We were by now completely rattled and would have been happy to get off and just run back to the taxi but instead pretending we were completely calm and happy with the experience we endured the remainder of the ride. We didn’t want to look like wusses after all. 

THANK GOD we did not opt for the one hour trek (which probably would have went further up that cliff) after all.

We arrived back. Huge sigh of relief. Never been happier to climb down off an elephant! I looked around at the conditions of the elephants environment. How deplorable. Why did I not notice this before hand and why was it that I thought this wild animal was actually going to be domesticated? Like a pet dog who has been trained to walk on a leash and heel when commanded to? I was now angry with myself for buying into this. I began to empathise with the suicidal elephant who obviously wanted to play Russian roulette with us to make a point. Point taken.  

What amazes me is that we got home and everyone is all stories about their crazy elephant experiences that was more scary than romantic and not once did anyone caution us prior to leaving and say, hey, it’s actually a bit risky and scary. Not once. It was all nods and that’ll be great. No care about the toddler we were potentially putting at risk!!! But hey, we survived to tell the story and one could say we sure got our moneys worth!

I giggled to myself when we were comfortably back in our taxi when I had this realisation. Despite the elephant being 27 years old, elephants are just big toddlers! Always hungrey, always sporting selective hearing, not doing as they’re told and always pushing you to your limits!

So as it turns out there was nothing graceful about that experience, definitely nothing romantic but it sure will be one of my all time memorable travelling experiences I will ever have!