Why I love camping - 2

I have just got back into the office after spending a week camping throughout Victoria with the newest Camper Trailer Touring Journo, Dan. The week started off well, I was meant to pick him up from Melbourne Airport and then we were heading off. Biggest problem was that neither of us checked which Melbourne Airport and we both went to different ones. No worries, there is only 60km or so of peak hour Melbourne traffic between them.

Poor organisational skills aside, we had a blast camping and 4WDing around Vic. He was there reviewing camper trailers, I was tagging along because it was another excuse to spend a week camping in some places I hadn't been to before (and the Big Boss was paying - again).

The one thing about camping in Victoria though, is that it is like camping in a dam stereotype. Cold, almost to the point of freezing, wet - it rained almost consistently for the whole week and windy - one night the area we stayed in copped 100km/h winds.

Despite all this I was reminded of another thing I love about camping. You see, Dan and I hadn't really met before. I try and stay away from the office as much as contractually possible, so had only noted in passing that there was a new bloke and he drove a Shorty Patrol. When I finally picked him up from the airport it didn't take long to realise we didn’t have a lot in common. He was from the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, I am from the Shire. He has a background in plumbing and building, I have been a pen pusher my entire working career. He isn’t a big fan of energy drinks, I almost live on them. Yet despite these key personal differences, we had one big thing in common - the love of camping. As you chow down on a camp over stew sitting around a campfire, it doesn’t matter where you come from, what music you like or what you have done for a living. At the time we were the luckiest blokes alive, because we were outside living it up. Even if it was cold, wet, windy and we missed the State of Origin (who won by the way), we both came out of it with a new friendship and countless great memories. If that isn't a great reason to love camping, I have no idea what is.

Brendan Batty
Editor
Camping with your 4WD
batty@4wdaction.com.au