Our school holidays adventure this year is a camping stay at Ingenia Holidays Lake Macquarie. We’ve stayed in this resort before, but in proper cabins, so staying now in actual tents is a new experience.
We’ve had this booked months before, and in fact I’ve already gone on a buying spree - a tent big enough for the family, with an extra toom in case Nanay decides to join, stretcher beds, etc.
I have to admit, I was dreading it because I’m too attached to the comfort of having proper beds, toilets, and living spaces. But having done this now, I have to agree that it was fun. I guess our tent played a big part to it. You see, the tent I got is a 3-room, 12-person tent called Wanderer Manor 12. It was so big and spacious, it made camping feel not to different to staying in cabins. We had a room for a kids to play boardgames in, a laptop room for the smaller kids, and plenty of space even if we have beds and electric fans in. It was roomy enough to stay in even during the hot summer afternoons.
Here’s how a days went by:
Dec 24, Saturday
- we left Carlingford around 3pm after performing our church duties, doing groceries, and packing up our clothes
- after some food stops, we arrived at Lake Macquarie around 5:30pm
- spent the early evening setting up tents and beds
- we also set up a kitchen/dining area in front off our tent
- relaxing BBQ dinner and laughs throughout the night
- we retreated to our tents past 12midnight,
Dec 25, Sunday
- most of us didn’t get good sleep because of the uncomfortable beds and noisy surroundings.
- I woke up 6am to the sound of noisy neighbours. They were chatting and laughing for about an hour, and when everyone was already awake, they stopped and stayed quiet for the rest of the morning.
- prepared breakfast at 7am and relaxed a bit til lunch
- at 12pm, the boys drive back to Carlingford to attend the Buklod Special Gathering at church. We arrived back in camp past 9pm
- the kids went swimming and played boardgames
- the wives swam as well and relaxed throughout the day
- dinner was sumptuous care of takeaways from the Buklod gathering
Dec 26, Monday
- up at 7:30am to get the kitchen ready for breakfast.
- relaxed day playing guitar and singing
- went kite flying with the kids
- some adults and kids went back to Sydney to attend the Binhi Treetop activity. They left at 11am and came back 6pm
- just before dark, we went for a stroll and did our cuatomary photoshoots
- after dinner, we stayed up really late playing various card games
Dec 27, Tuesday
- woke up early again for breakfast
- at around 9am, we started packing up and dismantling the tents
- left the campgrounds past 11am
- drove to The Entrance to enjoy the scenery but parking was scarce, so we ended up going for McDo and Carls Jr drive through and went straight home. The Madulis and Luzons stayed for a bit at the Entrance.
It was a very relaxing holiday. No work or duty calls whatsoever. I loved our tent, it made the experience much better than it should have been.
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