The gear to escape with
This is my favourite time of the year to have a holiday. You don’t have the crowds of January, and the weather is still great. Jo and I use this time to escape on our own. This year we’re off on a camping holiday in Northland. Thanks to the abundance of outdoor adventures stores at the Albany Mega Centre we’re kitted out, ready for the best holiday ever.
I love my summer holidays but I’ve always hated fighting the tourists, the kids and the hordes of day trippers. When Jo and I first started going out we’d always work through January and take our holiday in February. Once we had kids of our own that became harder to do, needing to fit in with their school terms. But now that the kids are grown up and have left home, we have the freedom to take our holidays whenever we want to.
My brother-in-law, Mark, lent us his campervan for two weeks so Jo and I are planning to drive up one side of Northland, all the way to the top and come back down the other side. We’ll stop anywhere where we feel like along the way. I can’t wait. There are places there I’ve never been to before and others that are the location for some of my favourite childhood memories.
The problem is that we aren’t campers so know little about what’s involved or what we’ll need. The campervan has little more than a kitchen bench, a couple of chairs that fold out into a double bed and a small unit for storage and food prep.
A trip to Albany Mega Centre, for camping essentials and expert advice, is desperately needed.
The first stop is at Bivouac looking for cooking stuff. We talked to the salesperson about the pros and cons of camping stoves and the options to use them in the campervan or outside. We found one that looked like it would do the trick. We also found a few outdoor pots, pans and kitchen utensils. These, plus some older plates, cups and cutlery I have at home, should be enough to get us through the holiday.
The next priority is bedding. Mark recommended that we take sleeping bags given that it can get cold at night and that there are often mosquitos, especially after it rains. The sales assistant at Macpac, wasn’t sure about our cold weather and mosquito advice but he did recommend a couple of lightweight sleeping bags that would work well whatever the weather. He also advised us about water storage and the value of a solar-heated shower. We took his advice.
Jo’s been talking about doing some long walks, both coastal and through the bush. We talked about it with the sales assistant at Mountain Warehouse, who seemed to know a lot about it. She advised a good pair of walking shoes, a day pack, drink bottles, hats, sunscreen and mosquito repellent. Fortunately, we had some of this stuff at home already, as Jo and I are keen walkers. While we were there, we saw a couple of folding outdoor chairs and I convinced Jo we needed them. Long walks sounded great but I also needed some sitting around reading and relaxing time.
The final stop was at Kathmandu. Here we each bought a t-shirt, a lightweight outer top ideal for sitting outside in the evening, a light rain jacket and a couple of pairs of high-quality socks that help reduce blistering. Jo also found some lined swimming shorts and I bought a merino t-shirt.
Without the right gear, our idealist camping dreams had the potential to become a nightmare. At Bivouac, MacPac, Mountain Warehouse and Kathmandu we found everything we needed and more, including great advice about what to take, what to do and where to go.
Now fully stocked with everything we need from Albany Mega Centres, we’re escaping on our big outdoor adventure next weekend. I couldn’t be any more excited.