The existence of COVID has seen an increase in campers, and recently my Dear Husband (DH) and I decided to join the ranks of ‘regular campers’. Afterall, our Dear Daughter (DD) is all grown up now and able to housesit, so why not take a moment each month to get closer to nature, reduce our stress levels and enjoy some quality time as empty nesters.
I am more of a 5-star hotel person; however, DH promised that I would have my essential home comforts (without glamping). He delivered what I must say was one of the most enjoyable camping setups that I have experienced to date.
We like our privacy, enjoying the peace and quiet of nature, so we opt to camp during the week as much as possible. Like every other camping trip, our most recent one saw us setting up camp in record time and then relaxing with morning tea as we watched our neighbours roll in and set up camp.
We say hello, but at the end of the day, we go camping to unplug and enjoy the simplicity of nature… and this is where I come unstuck. I simply do not understand why people need to play their music for the whole campsite to hear in today’s world of Bluetooth headphone technology. If you want to listen to your music, great! Put your headphones on so no one else has to. Why? Well, let me explain what your music does for other campers who are there to get away from noise….
First, the Boss Lady (that’s me) gets very grumpy and starts making life a misery for the rest of her camp because if she wanted to listen to music – let alone conflicting music from multiple campers – she would have stayed home with her teenager.
Next, none of our camp can sleep because you play your loud music until the early morning and whilst you are getting drunk and partying, other campers are annoyed at you and retaliate by playing their music even louder which doesn’t fix anything because you are too inconsiderate to care about other people around you.
Finally, you go home – hopefully with a colossal hangover – and we have a day or two to get over the sleepless aggravation in our camp before we must pack up more tired, stressed and unrested as when we started.
I don’t know when camping became the place for people to herd together like cattle, hook up all the electrical devices to their solar panels or batteries and annoy the crap out of everyone else around them. If you are one of these people that need your music or TV without headphones and at top volume, why on earth are you camping? Over the last few months, I have seen not just music and TVs but also karaoke machines and movie projectors! I guess the days of Aussie campers having a sense of belonging and pride in their camp as they take time to talk to each other and bond over campfire stories are becoming obsolete.
Yet remember, there is always a least one ‘traditional’ camper who will report to you the rangers who will then fine you for breaking the law or, better still, ban you from booking a campsite in any National Park.
Use your headphones, and everyone will all be happy!