I’m not sure what I thought couple camping would be like. As a single human camping has never much been my forte. I’m what a lot of people would call ‘kept’. I like nice things, nice food and all the creature comforts with a cherry on top. But I also do love the outdoors, the ocean is basically my second home and I adore most forms of exercise, I’ll never win medals but I completely rate the endorphins and multitude of health benefits. So when my new significant other turned out to be into the outdoors in a major way I took it as an opportunity to further grow my interests with his significantly higher knowledge on the subject, and the undeniable added bonus of sex in a new location. I needed a break from work something fierce so I took 10 days off and suggested a camping holiday, which he was adorably enthused about. He took on all the technical responsibilities, booking the site and organising equipment etc. whereas I the resident foodie of the relationship took on the immensely fun task of food prep. Researching meal plans and new cooking methods is one of my favourite activities so I was more then happy about this task allocation and set about organising meals that could make an attempt at being both gourmet and practical for outdooor cooking, a whole other gambit entirely. We did several grocery shops at our favourite location, probably not the most budget of lists but I was going for accuracy as this was a new area of cuisine and I didn’t want to entirely muff things up right off the bat. Grocery shopping is a truly fun date FYI more partners should engage in it, and you learn a whole load about a person by how and why they shop the way they do. Are they also an aisle wanderer, like myself, a subset of creatures who take great comfort in browsing down each and every aisle letting the store guide them though they may not need to go down any of the sections. Don’t get me wrong though I’m also a firm list prepper, I go with a plan of attack otherwise meal plans just turn into a shambles of leftovers and wastage. So any way we shopped, packed and repacked when it was discovered that I had brought way to many clothes, not entirely shocking as my wardrobe is about triple the size of Aiden’s. Finally we were on our way, fuelled by coffee and a sense of freedom you just don’t get with other holidays (Inbetweeners anyone?).

It kicked off fabulously, and fueled with a whole lot of work which was to be expected. Camping is certainly not the brand of relaxing where you dump a suitcase and sip mai tais by the pool. But once the tent was up and food organised the proximity to the beach had me wrapt and I was happy with my ocean and my man. For a while at least.

Now this isn’t a relationship ending tale at all, one of strengthening bonds if anything. But I will state here and now with buckets of conviction that going from a busy life of multiple jobs and a relationship and a family to,well, nothing with a side of kangaroos and drop toilets is a bit of an adjustment to say the least. I started to grow very antsy and bored, felt like we should be doing more or talking incessantly, even though I knew that was a foolish and unrealistic thought. No group of people spending so much time together should be expected to constantly converse, we need privacy and space and time to ourselves. We just don’t notice that when the rest of the world is doing all the distracting for us. But out here, zero distractions. And I struggled with it I really did. I’m still struggling to a degree, but I got to a point where I needed to find out what he was thinking too, to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong or looking at the experience in a foolish manner.

So I asked him. Do you struggle with the abrupt lack of distractions and entertainment? And his answer was a comforting and reassuring yes he did for a long time, it was part of the reason why he took some time off uni. For too long he too had so many distractions in his life that his brain couldn’t shut down and relax, he was always going going going and that’s how I felt too. Thank god. I was worried that maybe my restlessness was to do with us or him and why I was feeling the immediate bliss that some do on this type of trip. But no it wasn’t bad or wrong to feel how I did, but definitely something to work on and get through and hopefully improve my life like he’s trying to as well.

First night set up had another fun and completely self inflicted obstacle, which was a very disconcerting weed trip. I’ve tried weed off and in recreationally with Aiden, \240and it’s usually pretty fun but nothing earth shattering. Usually everything just feels a little slower, a little calmer and always funnier. I’m the worlds snackiest high person so must always have provisions on hand. But this experience was much different and not so fun. We had set everything up and I was feeling good about it all, about the cute little campfire crackling away and our cosy tent set up with pillows and blankets from home. While planning the trip we had a brilliant way to use some of the leftover weed brownies made from our last escapades, weed s’mores. Fucking genius I know. So we roasted up some marshmallows, and in my joy and revelry selected a rather big, too big, brownie and ate the whole thing with a cocky I can handle it sort of demeanour. But boy could I not. I was thinking midst this experience that I should be writing it down as it happened in case I forgot, but I needn’t have worried. I don’t remember everything but what I do is as clear and as trippy as when it was happening. I became extremely disassociated with myself, like everything going on was happening to someone else and I just had some odd little window into it. As this feeling grew, I began to remember everything that had just happened to me as if it was a dream, and not a memory. You know when you have a weirdly vivid dream, wake up and then re,aisle oh no it wasn’t real. That was my night. I’d walk to the car for snacks, stop and look back and think that me sitting in the chair 10 seconds ago was just a dream. I swear I’m not still high typing this it’s just truly the only way to describe it. So after that and probably a good half hour of just staring at the fire, he realised I needed to get the hell to bed so off we went and I was ok for quite a bit, we were I should say he was also high but definitely not on my level. We had some absolutely mind blowing sex, like every touch felt like an orgasm level amazing. But then as we were drifting off to sleep I had some not so amazing thoughts. So in general hearing sounds in the night freaks me out a bit, I’m very paranoid about having mice in the house it’s irrational but real. So take that paranoia and sprinkle some pot on it and you have me, in a tent being cradled by my boyfriend as I keep thinking that the noises outside I’m hearing are monsters or rapists, shrieking and crying into his chest. To say it scared him was understatement of the decade, he thought in a moment of panic that it might have been some sort of schizophrenic episode unearthed by the weed. But no, as he got more worried I realised that there was nothing to be worried about, it was all in my brain and the noises were just animals and birds nothing to freak out about.

So what turned out to be our final day of the trip, an unexpected final day was a seriously mixed bag but I’ll write about the amazing start first off. We got up stupid early, like 5:30, which is one of the interesting but actually lovely benefits of camping. Moving and waking with nature, you go to bed when it gets dark and wake up with the sun. This allowed us to complete one of our main camping goals without getting completely fried by the sun, a hike. We were camping in a gorgeous spot that had both the beach and huge hills and cliffs to explore, so we headed off early with a backpack full of sunscreen, water and muffins for a stunning experience. These mountain ranges had every kind of nature you can imagine, parts were bone dry with eiry burnt out trees a part of the aftermath of one of Australian summers most unfortunate features, bushfires. Other areas of the trail lead us through lush and leafy almost rainforest style patches, which a sign later informed us was a unique part of this area that this type of foliage managed to survive near the treacherous ocean. The path was captivatingly quiet and tranquil, you could hear every crunch of twigs underfoot and every scuffle of a tiny ground dweller scurrying for cover. The ocean sounded off in the background too, particularly on the first leg of the journey which took us along the cliffs right by the coast, with the salty air quelling our sweat and dampness. There were a collection of breathtaking lookouts along this trail, with unobstructed and overwhelming views of the ocean in all of its deep blues and aquas and turquoise hues. We could’ve sat and watch the waves ebb and flow for hours if it weren’t for the beating sun and resurging hunger. There were also fascinating snippets of the areas history on placades throughout the trail, accompanied by excerpts of a book written about the area and a woman called Kylie Tennet which I intend to investigate.

I couldn’t believe as we rounded the corner to the beach we were headed , on the next coastal headland called Diamond Head that we had been on the trail for almost two hours. The time had both completely flown and also ticked by in a slow and still clarity that I’m now sure I had ever quite experienced before. Nothing ever got boring on this trail, and nothing seemed the same. My boyfriend oft talked about walking mediatation, focusing on the present act, the breathing and the scenery and that’s what I think I did on this trip. I had so many other thoughts swirling around in my head, which we are told is totally normal during any meditative practice. But what I did differently was acknowledge their presence and their purpose, and actively let them pass without spiraling or letting them pull my focus. I then focused once again on the trail, the bird calls and the tiny bright purple spots of flowers that briefly appeared amidst the blacked out trees that littered majority of the path. I thought about what I could smell and hear, why it was so soothing and pulled myself back to this centre whenever I drifted or became distracted.