The Ferris Family Archives
from the editor
Me, dad, and my little sister, Bronwyn catching fish at 90-mile beach circa 1967.
camping does. I taught you how to light fires because I’d been in the Scouts. We always had a fire and I had fire irons that I made. You were young and it was all about playing – building sandcastles – I taught you how to dribble wet sand on the castles to make little ripples … ‘In the early to mid-60s caravanning wasn’t overly popular. A lot of people hadn’t got themselves back together after the war. Caravan parks didn’t really exist. Generally, councils had a designated camping and caravan area with no or few facilities. Barwon Heads was just a sandy strip along the river. I loved it all.’ My parents are in their mid-seventies now – long since divorced, both hale and hearty. Apart from a twelve-month campervan trip around the country with my sister in 1980, mum hasn’t set foot in a tent or caravan since 1980. Dad, on the
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andrea Ferris Go Camping Australia Editor andrea@vinkpub.com
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other hand, has rarely stopped travelling: sailing around the world, and tripping about in various motorhomes since retiring thirty years ago. My younger sister and I embraced the great outdoors with gusto. She now raises deer on acreage near Bathurst (NSW) and I’ve lived gypsy-style all over the country – complete with horse! If I don’t remember to say ‘thanks’ mum and dad, I’m remiss. My life has been shaped into something resembling ‘great’ by my travels under canvas (or nylon these days). I’ve never been afraid out there – even on my own with no-one around for miles. I can light a fire, catch a fish, name the constellations, avoid poisonous plants, identify night-sounds, read a compass, and put a name to many birds. Perhaps you didn’t teach me all these things back in 1967 – I was just a little
kid – but you instilled in me a sense of adventure and a quest for knowledge and for that I’m forever grateful. Dad’s right. Self-sufficiency is the key. When you take kids camping they learn to ‘make do’ and ‘live without’. While this was clearly difficult for mums in the sixties, modern camping gear – and disposable nappies – make a sojourn in even the remotest bush relatively comfortable. However, when there’s no local shop, DVD, playstation, smartphone or computer on hand, kids have to learn to make their own fun – go dribble some wet sand on a sandcastle if you don’t believe me! In these pages Barry Lyon tells us how he took his family to the remote Bullshark Camp on the Wenlock River and observed how they unwound from the tangle of their daily existence. Cathy Finch continues the saga of how she took her partner on an epic whitewater adventure on Tasmania’s Franklin River to disconnect him from the 21st century, and Lynne Tuck shares a number of novel ways in which her youngsters amuse themselves in a tech-free camp.
another vehicle, passing a semi-trailer or coping with side winds, you have the ultimate confidence that potentially dangerous conditions will be controlled smoothly and effectively by the AL-KO ESC. If you want real stability and control for your caravan, make sure you fit AL-KO ESC. And check with your insurance company to see whether you can get a premium reduction. To see a video of this exciting new technology in action, for a list of supporting caravan manufacturers, or to book a fitment by an AL-KO Certified Installer, visit www.alkoesc.com.au
(*International Patent Pending)
G o C a m p i n G a u s16/07/13 t r a l i 3:30 a |PM7