Originally posted to Posterous on 18 February 2012
Until recently, I would have said that I wasn't the camping type. Sure I'd gone camping with my family as a kid, and on school camping trips, but that was all behind me. My partner was of a different mind, and tried hard for sometime to persuade me of the joys of camping. Our first camping trip was a rainy, cold and windy long weekend in a caravan park at Clare (http://www.clarecaravanpark.com.au/sa/clare_valley/clare). We froze and spent most of the night waiting for (1) a tree branch to fall through the roof of our tent, or (2) the tent to be washed away by rain, and (3) the party animals in the camp kitchen next to our tent to stop drinking and go to bed.
I wasn't a convert immediately. Indeed, I wasn't a convert until we camped at Robe in a caravan park (http://www.robeseavu.com) that has beach frontage, and we woke up to the sound of waves breaking on the beach below. It was so calming and relaxing. being able to take our dog with us was an extra bonus, and he loves camping. We have since had numerous weekends away - Robe remains a favourite for the excellent camping facilities and great eating opportunities in town - as well as two camping trips to Tasmania, the most recent of which was in December 2011.
So how do we make camping accessible for a wheelchair user? 'Accessible' in this context means manageable for a reasonably active wheelchair user with an able-bodied companion.
- Camping sites with wheelchair accessible toilet and shower facilities. Lots of caravan parks and national parks have accessible toilet and shower facilities, and because these are common facilities, you don't need to make a special booking to make sue that you can access these.
- A tent that can be put up by one person on his/her own. For us, this meant a Black Wolf Turbo Lite FS 300 tent (http://www.blackwolf.com.au). This tent has the frames and poles built into the fabric, and can be put up by one person easily. Its footprint is 3 metres by 3 metres, so there's plenty of living room inside. The only drawback is that the tent is relatively bulky and heavy. Other options for tents that can be put up by one person are offered by Oz Tent (http://au.oztent.com).
- Folding beds. Folding camp beds avoid the need to transfer out of my chair onto the ground and back again. Our folding camp beds are not quite normal bed height, but are certainly a manageable transfer. Having folding camp beds also gives you storage space underneath the beds in the tent for bags and other stuff that accumulate in a tent when camping. We use a cheap boogie board across the corner of the bed to provide a nice, solid, stable platform for transferring from the bed back into my chair.
- 99c plastic bucket. OK ... I'll admit it. I like camping, but I don't like wandering about in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. A plastic bucket under the bed (the cheaper, the better) solves a lot of problems.
What else make camping work? A good sense of humour, ability to live with dirt and some extra cash to buy take-aways or go out to eat, when you need a break from cooking.