Camping with babies or children

We are about to embark on our first camping holiday with our two little girls. We are very excited as this is something DH and I really loved to do before becoming parents but we are a bit nervous too. Has anyone else been camping with littlies and have any advice for us?

Also - any thoughts on necessary things we should pack? We seem to have enough stuff to fill two cars - even though we are only going for 1 night and only 1 hour out of Adelaide.(just in case it all gets too much and we decide to head home in the middle of the night)

Would love to hear anyone elses camping stories....
Thanks!

Ohh goodluck Alison. We used to be very big campers pre kids as well and haven't done it ourselves since the kids have been born and would really like to get back into it as we used to go away every long weekend. Now that Lachlan is starting to come off formula and go onto cows milk it will make life a bit easier to go.

Good idea on only going and hour out of Adelaide too. When we camp we head for the flinders LOL.

Love

Kathryn, our dream is to head up to the Flinders! We are quite new to SA so have never been there and everyone tells us how fantastic it is. If all goes well, we hope to go up in the next few months.

We are off to Port Elliot this weekend so will let you know how we go (even though rain is forecast for tomorrow)

Yep the Flinders is really pretty and we prefer going during the cooler months cause most places wont let you have a campfire during the summer. We stayed in Melrose once and the carvan/camping park had a pet Kangaroo which we didn't know about and I could hear something eating our stuff during the night. Andrew opened the tent door to see a huge bloody Kangaroo tail sitting there. Scared the crap out of us at the time then realised it was a pet cause it had a collar on etc. Bloody thing ate all our marshmellows hahaha

Love

hello. I took Ashlea camping in QLD when she was 3 months old. It was brilliant. We took a little bassinet for her to sleep in, we were in a tent with me, ash, and two friends. We took the pram for her to lay in cause obviously the ground wasnt a great place to put her! I was breast feeding and formual feeding so we sterilised bottles in the billy, boiled her water for drunking in the billy then left it to cool. There was a shower block so i'd shower with her then give her to Kimmy while i finished showering. We took her swimming in the lake with us, took the harness for our bush walks and had a brilliant time! It was a hundred times easier than i ever imagined! We all had a ball. It was a faily out in the middle of no where place with the shower blocks being the only real luxury.
Then when she was 2 me and mum stayed at a caravan park in QLD for 2 weeks with her which she also adored and next weekend Ashlea, my cousin and i are going camping again!
I dont really take much extra for her than i would if we were going anywhere else. She's pretty adaptable and loves the adventure!!
I say go for it!

Hi Ali & everyone,
We first took our son camping at 4 months old. We too took a bassinette for him to sleep in as well as his pram for basically sitting in and watching everything going on. We boiled all his bottles etc and made up a thermos and made his feeds as we needed them. I think because we were camped near the beach all the sea air must have made him sleep alot better than at home. We are about to take our 51/2 month old daughter camping for her first time and will do exactly the same, except for a bigger mosquito net for her. My son has loved camping as much as we do and we go about every month and a half, yep, we LOVE camping. He has always occupied himself whilst camping and definately does not miss the TV and all the other bits you have at home. Last year we went for 5 weeks and my husband and I discussed that you really don't need half of what you have at home, I told him I could live in a tent and be quite happy!!! Anyway let me know how you get on. The key is to relax. :D

Camping was a big success! We had a great weekend, lots of playing on the beach and long bushwalks. We had sausages on our portable BBQ, and even heated bottles for formula in our little billy.

Lily- I agree with you about not missing things from home. It was great to get the girls away from the TV for a few days. We did take a few toys with us, but they didn't even go near them. There was so much to keep them occupied.
The main things I discovered was to dress your kids in their oldest and darkest clothes (I had my 3yo in a white top which was very silly!) and also to pack lots of extra clothes. Chloe went through all her clothes on day 1 after playing in the mud, having a TT disaster and then falling in the sea fully clothed.

All 4 of us ended up squashed into a 2 man sleeping bag, and although DH and I didn't sleep all that well, it was still nice to all snuggle up together.
It was great fun and we are already planning our next camping holiday.

Oooooh Al........sounds like you had a LOVELY time........I am very envious!

Ali,
So glad to hear you all had a great time camping. Yes, I forgot to mention all the extra clothes you need, it cracks me up sometimes when i see people dressed up like they are going to a ball or something when they are camping, you soon learn to take the oldest, daggiest clothes you have, very attractive! Hope you go again soon.