We spent last week in the beautiful Flinders Ranges camping.  It was a week of cold and rain and wind - but it was a truly enriching week.

There was no mobile phone coverage, no laptops and no TV screens.

There were no showers, no formal shelter and no appointments to keep.

We survived with tents, a canopy-clad kitchen, and a campfire.

We kept warm and dry in rain coats, gum boots, and thermal underwear.

We spent our time, walking, reading and chatting - and eating.

And the kids played amongst the creeks, rocks and trees.

We got away from it all - and we got back to nature, ourselves and each other.

Our holiday cost us only 2 tanks of petrol - but was worth so much more.

And we returned to civilisation with a renewed perspective on what’s important - and what isn’t.

Here are three important lessons I learnt from camping with the kids:

1. When kids have the freedom to roam and explore amongst nature, they rarely get bored.

2. You don’t need 24/7 email, phone, text contact with others to live a good life.

3. Taking a week out of life leads to a better life.

Camping is good for the soul.

By Jodie Benveniste, director of Parent Wellbeing.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 6:46 am and is filed under Wellbeing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.