Believe it or not, I went roughing it out in the woods, leaving all necessities behind except for a tent, some sneakers, and a flashlight. I caught fish and cooked my own food by campfire which I started myself by rubbing two sticks together. I became one with nature, just (wo)man and the wilderness....
Alright, I may have also brought my makeup, a book, a few outfit changes (you never know what occasion may arise), iPod, my Little Mermaid towel, flip flops, pillows, a car....I think you get the gist: I’m high maintenance and my idea of “roughing it” is only being able to bring an over-packed duffle bag to a camping ground that has on-site kitchen and bathroom facilities.
The camping trip idea has been something I’ve been dying to do, much to Sam’s dismay. After living with me for the last 4 years, I think she realized I may be in over my head. But I was determined and when her friend Jenna from back home came to visit it seemed like the push we needed to finally go ahead and do it. We also invited two other girls Becks, a German exchange student who we met through a mutual friend, and Elyse, another American who we also met through a mutual friend.
Of course, true to form, we didn’t book ANYTHING before the trip. Monday morning (the day we were leaving) Sam called a car company and they had a car for us, we picked up a tent from our friend Kasey (luckily her flatmate had one or I don’t know what we would have been sleeping in), and we got a map and were on our way. You may have noticed that we didn’t know exactly where we were going or where we were staying yet. Minor details.
Luckily Sam drove and we found our way there pretty easily for the most part (also making a pit-stop at a winery and having a glass each...) Right when we got to Mount Maunganui, we got a little confused about how to get to the campsite and it took all five of us studying a map to figure it out.
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| Everyone at the winery |
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| Team effort of trying to figure out the map |
When we showed up to the campsite, the lady informed us that someone had just cancelled their beachfront lot so we got a spot right on the beach! It was so beautiful. We set up our tents and set out to find food (at the supermarket.) We got some dips and bread and ate on the beach until it got dark.
We went to bed pretty early because we planned on getting up at 5AM to climb the mountain and watch the sunrise. I obviously did not come up with this idea and was a little worried I would be cranky in the morning since we all know I am not, nor ever will be, a morning person. But getting up early was no problem (probably because I never actually slept due to the ground being so uncomfortable) and we were on our way! The hike up wasn’t bad at all and once we got to the top, we just relaxed and waited for the sun to come up. It was probably the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen in my life.
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| Mount Maunganui at 5AM |
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After coming down from the mountain, I think I was delirious from lack of sleep and still in an active mode for some reason so I decided to tag along with Becks who was going down to the beach to “work out a little.” What I didn’t know that Becks is actually a legit fitness instructor and after running on the beach for about five minutes, she had me doing all these crazy exercises like sprints, frog jumps, push-ups, sit-ups, I think one was even called the Spiderman! There was even a stop watch involved...I couldn’t move my legs for the next week after that.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxing – we went to the beach and laid out (I got a little bit sunburned unfortunately) so when we got back I stayed inside and read “I Know This Much Is True” – good book!
We decided to stay over one more night since we enjoyed it so much and I got less sleep this night than I did the night before if possible (mainly because someone was hogging all the covers...Sam). Unfortunately, I had class the next night so I left early with Elyse to go back to Auckland. But I finally got the camping trip out of my system and I’m glad I did it! I’m also glad to be sleeping on a mattress once again...
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