Human Behaviour

Macho and caravans - the 2 words don't go together Bill- at least not until I get a seniors card.

Give'em all there own swags I say !

Hahahaha

"macho bull bleep " - exactly that. I'll join the line of "right bastards" with you :)

Regards

Hello Bill,

Most fellas want to be the king and be independent and culturally, Australian males in general want to be in control. She'll be right mate.

I enjoy the assistance especially if the camper is not quite in the right spot and needs a push or the annexe is flapping in the breeze or the ground is quite hard as it gives me a chance to offer a beer and a chair along the way to completion.

In any event, one never knows who one will meet in such situations.

Cheers,

Seanny

Yep, Im affraid a fit into the bastard catagorie too. Job no one.....get Dad a beer! Then they all know the routine.........Once the chairs are set up under the anex and the sink is clipped onto the kitchen they can take off and do what they like. LOL

Haha, screw that! I drove there- I say the kids can put the damn annexe out.....ok, ok- I might help seeing as the "kids" only consist of 1 midget 7yr old!

When the kids traveled with us they were given small jobs to do mainly so that we knew where they were.
Now it's just the good lady wife and myself and we usually both put up the annex and general set up. Maybe I am just lucky but the missus is no "princess" and works just as hard as I do.

Cheers
Pop

I had another experience to this at Christmas.

Did the family Xmas deal, 2 daughters, 2 sons in law, 4 grandkids for a week in the Xmas-New Year period.

My wife and I have a Black Wolf Turbo Tent....small but up in a few minutes.....then the stretchers, self inflating mattress, sheets, pillow and we are right to go...10 mins max.

My two son in laws have two different tents, one a massive heavy canvas deal (once up an amazing set up), and the other one of those complicated ,multi room deals that take ages to put up.

My wife and I set mine up and the one with the big tent started getting their stuff ready (the other son in law arrived 2 hours later) and when I was finished mine went over to help.

Now this tent is a real struggle, it's big, heavy and needs probably four or more people to get it up.....now opposite us were a large family group, with stacks of people that "could" of helped....NOT ONE offered and in fact watched us busting a gut to try and get t up.

I have camped for years and certainly in the "old days" offers of help were common...seems not anymore

Heard the story of a couple who arrived in a cvp, Dad, Mum, and a couple of kids, out of the car the tent was set up in no time at all, bbq out, chairs around it, the person who told me the story couldn't believe his eyes, so went over to congratulate the family on a job well done.
The Dad said thanks, but no one is allowed to go to the toilet till the camp is set up.
Cheers

I might be the female version of doing it all myself. we have an oztent and hubby has no patience even for putting it up so I find I can have us all set up
(beds, awning, clothes etc) on my own ready for a drink in 20 min. I get help from hubby if its windy or on very hard ground & I have to play the girly card!! However I have no problems excepting help from others, & return the favour if can.
In fairness to hubby he does everything else for the rest of the trip until its packing up time then I'm up again.
Things may change this winter camp season however as I will be 6-8 months pregnant......

When we had the camper it was all hands on deck. Now with the van there isnt much to do, we have more time to get further so they are in the car more. Glad for the kids to find something else to do. Quiet me time.

Well the other half and I are a team. We set up and pack up togehter. We both know all that needs to be done and just get it all done as we complete each task. The only thing I do like to do myself is all the hitching up to the Cruiser. I just feel more comfortable with it that way, and its nothing to do with `Macho' or testostorone LOL.

As for offering a helping hand, that to has stood us in good stead. Once in Karijini we I popped over to help a lone guy park his van in a very restricted bay and we are still in touch and I'd say good friends. A second instance was helping a couple put up the awning on their new van at Coral Bay. That led to drinks and chats into the stay. Their daughter and son-in-law were also with them, unbeknown to us and we got introduced. They all live down in Manji, and we've all become firm friends. We have since done several camps with them and its been great. We have also been introduced to some of their regular companions that camp and its been a real bonus. I reckon it has to be the best `free 15 mins' I've ever given.

It just goes to show that you can never tell who you are going to meet. Thats why I just love camping.

So that's where I went wrong! I always helped & more often did the set up while he was off taking photos.

Well it did me in good stead as I'm now fine setting up by myself, not that a bit of help would be unwelcome.
:)
Vicki

Our set-up/pull down is always a team affair, and I cant envisage it being any other way. Our (functional, maybe not very glamorous) rig has been "refined" over time and use so that there is not much in the set-up that is hard to do, certainly nothing that requires us to "bust a gut". Years ago when we started to get serious about setting up for camping one of our "design criteria" was that it all had to be capable of being managed by one person if need be - pretty essential given the number of times we bush camp on our own. We have had plenty of comments over the years along the lines of "you've done that before". Did a rough calculation last trip and reckoned that our old tent that goes off the back of Troopy has been up and down about 3-400 times.

Cheers,

Val

I'm with the original poster and others, it is team efffort, when the kids were little they all had their allotted tasks.
But yes we've seen the ones where everyone makes themselves scarce while the bloke erects the camp all by himself.
Best one was years ago at a caravan park in Tassie, car and weird looking box trailer pulls in just after midday, mum and two kids all pile out, kids disappear to playground, Mum gets a chair out of the boot and a book and sits about 50 feet away under tree and reads.
The bloke proceeds to unhook trailer and put legs down then it was like Tardis, all timber frame and plywood sheeting, he took ALL afternoon to erect it by himself, was really fiddly to erect and obviously of his own design. When finished he had a boxy structure on the box trailer with two beds and that seemed to be all. Kids came back and put up a small dome tent.
Bugger me next morning he spent another 3 1/2 hours pulling it all down and left, couldn't have gone far as they would have had to camp by midday again so he could re erect it!

BBuz
No simpathy for the people concerned ,
if the kids had some dissiplin at home probably be very different .
In my day there were jobs to be done first an they were not negotiable ,
mechpete

My husband and I always argued while setting up. This apparently was due to me asking too many times if I could help and it made him feel rushed. When I was growing up the only way to avoid the wrath of the dictator was to be there on the spot ready and waiting for the next order to be barked.

Hubby and I started off with a tent top - lots of work (and arguments), didn't last long and he said it must go.

Next came the wind up camper with bagged awning - only just less work (and arguments), lasted a little long and then he said it must go.

About this time last year we took delivery of a pop top Expanda with roll out awning - much less work, but still arguments - have decided he is just moody.

This is a crucial part of establishing your territory.

The male of the species must stamp his mark on the area to be inhabited.

The female and offspring spread out and establish the wider territory while the bull stamps his ground. Not going to go into the s#@t aspect.