The campers life.

So, we went camping last week - hurrah, hurrah! We headed south to Northern NSW, convoying with friends from Sydney, the boys in the van and the chicks following close behind in the commodore, until we descended upon Brokenhead for a week of gloriousness and pleasure.

Now, in truth, I am not a camper. But, 2010 is a year of change, experimentation, new frontiers and new experiences, so I sucked it up and took the challenge - because in reality, a week of camping is easy galore compared to the year we are planning to embark on in the van together.

I must admit I started to fade towards the end of the week. Currently our van is not converted to camper-styling, instead it is an empty vessel which we filled with mattresses and bags, and outside we had a tarp providing the living space filled with pots, pans, food, chairs, and just camping-arama generally. So by late in the week the mess and fuss of all the crap that camping involved was starting to bother me. Sandy sheets, dirty clothes, and damp towels, hmmm, wasn't loving it!

But, I didn't relent, I kept my cheerful face on (except for a small whinge) and accepted the camping life. Because, I realised something about camping, for all my hatred of dirt and mess, of poor light and grotty shower blocks, camping is an opportunity to step away from normal life and the blood sucking routine and responsibility of it. There is no Simpsons at 6pm each night to distract you from the workday, eating a meal prepared in a camp kitchen is MUCH more satisfying than packet pasta and sauce, and talking by torchlight for hours feels somewhat romantic compared to talking between the ad breaks.

Most crucially though you spend time with people - we really caught up with our friends, got to know them again, recognising the reasons behind the friendship. We also read books (like entire books) and talked to one another about plans, aspirations and hopes rather than what's on TV and what we need to get done that night before trudging to work again the next day.

I have always had this secret fear of the trip around Australia in the van. I have always been afraid that I won't know myself when I was away from my life - from the freneticism of it, from the things I should be doing, from the timetable and the responsibilities - these are burdens, but they are also the things I know about myself, I know myself in that place with all these goings-on around me.

I realised, that even on this short trip, I got to know myself better when I was away from the distractions and responsiblities that I fill my life with. Thinking about this makes me incredibly excited about the trip, because if one week away from 'normal' life makes me see such potential, imagine a year of this.............