Camping solo

Before I came to Australia, I knew I wanted to get a campervan or a rooftop tent and go road-tripping around Oz. Before I came to Australia however, I knew I wanted to do this but didn’t think I would, as I didn’t want to do it alone. I couldn’t convince anyone to come with me to the land down under, and that’s fine, as I learnt a long time ago that if you want to do something, do it yourself. Don’t wait for anyone, because that someone might never appear. So why couldn’t I apply that to myself in this situation? Well, when you travel by yourself and stay in hostels and are social, you meet people, even make some friends along the way, shout out to literally everyone I’ve met across the globe. But camping by myself? I’ve never done that before and I would be totally alone. I thought I might make some friends here to do it with, but turns out most of my friends are Aussie and the few travellers I have made deep friendships with, just haven’t been on the same path. I will be forever grateful for the lifelong friendships I’ve made working both at Keppel and Tangalooma.

So, what happened? In March I bought a car. Not a great car by any means, but a car nonetheless that gets me to where I want to go, and it came with all the camping equipment necessary plus a tent.

Thus, here I am. I left Tangalooma a month ago now, with little to no money, to travel the East Coast, not how I imagined at first, but achieving it nevertheless.

 I’m a social person, an extrovert, will talk to anyone and everyone and am always up for doing something. (Sounds a bit like I’m writing a resume...) Meet people, go for a drink, even end up with the occasional hangover the next morning maybe. Since travelling with my car and camping solo, I’ve stayed at the occasional hostel, and every time I do, I feel like it’s so much effort to “make friends”. When I leave and set up my tent again, I feel at peace. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be with friends, and I have occasionally been along the way, but I have started to really appreciate being alone. Maybe I’m becoming an introvert, who knows. Maybe also because the majority of the people I have met at hostels are all 18-24 and I feel old now. Maybe because when I look at the grand majority of my friends, I ought to feel like I should be at a different point in life but I don’t want to be? But that’s a whole other story.

 I get stressed about money and about finding a job. Most people don’t know that from what they see, because social media just shows “the best of us”. But at the same time, I’m grateful, to no one else but myself, that I get to stress out about “the normal things in life” whilst sleeping under the stars, next to a lake, on the beach, chasing waterfalls and hiking national parks. Most social media is kind of fake, but actually, mine is pretty accurate.

Thanks for reading my little story and I encourage everyone to go camping by themselves at some point. Stayed tuned for more adventures from yours truly.