Aussie style camping...

When We found out We were moving to Australia I was absolutely adament that We were NOT going to go camping, largely due to the not very pleasant wildlife here! So with my mind made up We decided to sell ALL our camping gear to some very good friends of ours the 'Moody's'. This included the tent, tables, cooking stove etc.

18 months later and We've been asked to go camping with some friends for a weekend to a festival, and We said yes. So during the last week we've bought a tent, a lamp, cooking stove and kettle, air mattresses, and a very cute sleeping bag for Jacob. Which He is incredibly chuffed with.

The last time We went camping Jacob was roughly 18months old and We were able to use a travel cot for him and He was still in nappies. Making camping very easy. This time We have 2 children, neither in travel cots and both toilet trained! Thankfully We still put a nappy on Ollie at night. We also had Jacob in our bedroom of the tent. However, with the 2 of them they won't fit with us. and if we had bought a bigger tent, as tempted as we were, We probably wouldn't fit on allocated pitches. Interesting!

We this all in mind We decided to do a trial run of putting the tent up.

I thought our last tent was easy to put up, but this is better!! And having the ground sheet attached and air vents in the roof makes a huge difference too.

Now since it was all set up, We really had to do a trial run of sleeping in it too!!!

When We told the boys what We were going to do they were extremely excited and We had no complaints getting ready for bed! We took them out, set them up with torches and told them We were going to have dinner, then We would go to bed too. Unfortunatley I don't have any photos, but they were very cute all tucked up, Jacob in His sleeping bag and Ollie on the ready bed.

We left them and went indoors, keeping the door and windows open so We could hear them. They chatted for about 20 minutes to half an hour and then silence. Gareth sneaked out and peeked in through the window..... fast asleep:)

We joined them later, and it was pretty comfy. We decided that we don't have the car space for duvets which is what we normally take and so thought we should try out our sleeping bags too as they join together. Too hot, until 5.30am then it started getting cold. I hardly slept all night. I had no idea how noisy our garden was at night! Ear plugs it is! Other than me not sleeping it was a huge success for the boys:) I'm just curious how next weekend will go............