I was just leaving town to join the others at Kai Iwi Beach when I passed daughter H coming the other way. Actually I thought it was her hubby coming home to collect something vital but a few moments later my cell phone rang ... H and the birthday boy were taking some time out and the advice was "to turn around." As the weather was pretty wet and cold, I didn't need to be persuaded.
The birthday party had been cancelled and as I had the cake in my car, H didnt want it going out to camp when Mr 2 wasn't even going to be there to enjoy it.
Camping in bad weather is not much fun with a 2 year old. Whereas older children can amuse themselves reasonably well when there are lots of them, the littlies are not so good at it and I think the mum was beginning to go stir crazy amusing the wee chap.
The plan was to stay at home until after his sleep and then head out to camp again and hopefully into warmer dryer conditions. Forecast isn't that promising however so there may be a few sleeping at home tonight. I was told it was extremely windy there last night and not a lot of sleeping was happening. Ahhhh - those are the days :)
As H was re-telling the story of tents and wind, I was reminded of another occasion when the elements caused chaos at the beach.
My Dad's family has a reunion at Easter every two years at Opunake beach which is where he and his 11 brothers and sisters grew up. (Many have now returned there to live). We arrived on the Thursday afternoon and set up our foldaway caravan and awning. We had four children aged 18 months through to 8 years with another one well on the way. The littlest (Miss H) was sleeping in a cot in the awning along with her brother and sisters. She was put to bed after tea and we all gathered together in the hall just a few seconds walk away. Someone checked on her constantly but not every 5 mins (things were different back then). The wind and the rain started and it blew and it blew and it blew. Imagine our surprise when we next checked the baby - she was still in her cot thank goodness but the awning had collapsed all around her. What to do? My parents were staying with one of Dad's sisters in the town so I dismantled the cot, packed up the baby's bits and pieces and delivered her to her grandparents for safekeeping overnight. The other children were left in their dad's care at the beach while I was away.
The wind had increased while I was away and returning to the campsite was like entering a war zone. It was almost unrecognisable. Our caravan was unusable - tattered and torn. The canvas covering torn to shreds in the wind. Children were huddled in various cars, frightened and cold. Hubby nowhere to be seen - found later snoring on a bench in the hall.
One brother had a "proper caravan" so he graciously invited us to share with him and his wife. Just to get this in perspective - it was a four berth caravan and between us there were four adults and three children. Sleeping arrangements were a bit difficult but I crawled into the double bed with brother and his wife, we put the "sleeping" hubby on the top bunk and the three smaller children shared the bottom bunk. I swear it was only our combined weights that kept that caravan on the ground that night. I don't think the three adults in the one bed got a lot of sleep - not only was it cramped and uncomfortable, but at times we thought we were about to fly.
The next day, there were remants of tents around the camp site and most of us packed up and returned to our warm dry homes.
I have come to the conclusion that camping is fun provided the weather conditions are perfect, but the first hint of rain and wind will have me heading to the nearest motel.
