The Journey Starts from Home

"The journey starts from home." – this is how I would describe our recent experience from our home in Hamilton to Mighty River Domain, Lake Karāpiro.

Sam and I had been talking about "bike-packing" with our cargo bikes for a little while now. The idea of loading up our bikes and adventuring from home was appealing to both of us. After a little bit of research we decided to take advantage of Easter sales. We were careful not to over invest with our gear just in-case we hated it. The premise of taking Mr 1 and Miss 3 camping might sound crazy to some, but we are confident that our children could give it a go.

Preparation

Our adventure preparation starts a week earlier. We weren't actually sure if we would do the trip at this point, however, the in-laws gracefully lend their camping equipment for us to become familiar with it, and size up the job ahead of us. We decided that for this to be enjoyable and achievable, we needed to take the weight/size profile of our equipment seriously. The night before we managed to short list to the following specced equipment and picked it up the next day:

• 2x sleeping bags. 1.4 kg. Packed size 23cm x 36cm @ $69.99 ea (via Mountain Warehouse)
• 2x child sleeping bags. ? kg. Packed size 17cm x 36cm @ $22 ea (via Kmart)
• 1x tent. 6.3 kg. Packed size 61 x 19 x 19 cm. 5-person dome tent (via Torpedo7)
• 2x king single air mattress @ $39 ea (via Kmart)

That same night we also booked a powered campsite at $50 the same night so we were becoming more committed to the adventure.

The Journey

12:45 pm, The Departure

The next day, after purchasing the equipment, we packaged everything onto the bikes. We packed the aforementioned equipment above, some snacks, water, bike repair equipment and other essentials and then headed off. The amount of food we packed was pretty minimal, we did not plan to cook as their are plenty of eateries on the way and in Cambridge. The campsite itself also has a cafe (Podium Cafe) on-site to simplify the journey. In short: this was a perfect entry-level family camping experience.

1:30 - 2:30 pm, Tamahere Shops

We arrive in Tamahere at approx. 1:30 pm. We take this as a perfect location to let the kids out to play, and for everyone to have some snacks.

At this point Mr 1 has been sleeping in the bike for an estimated 15 minutes (maybe more). We hope to leave him sleeping, but our plans were quickly foiled due some unintentional disruptions in our stop.

While the kids have a snack and a play, I walk on over to the Forever Bound Cafe and grab us some cool drinks (Mum and Dad's are caffeinated of course.)

3:00pm, Lookout Towards Kaipaki

We arrive at a lookout with some seating. We opt to take another small break (approx. 5 minutes), as we are unsure of how much longer it will take us to reach Cambridge. It is a long journey for the kids and the sun is quite warm.

The beauty of this trip is we are not necessarily in a rush, the main constraint is our ability to erect a tent after sundown. We have plenty of time, there is a lot for everyone to see. Remembering that the riding is all part of the experience.

Our stop here is approximately mid-way between Hamilton and Cambridge. We are riding next to the river again after cycling through a corn-field.

3:45 pm - 5 pm, Dinner at Good Union

We arrive at the edge of Cambridge town just after 3:30 pm. We ride past the Gaslight Theatre and up the gruelling Alpha St hill. The e-assist on the bike is noted as nothing short of a blessing at this point of the trip. The weight of everything and the slop of the hill give no mercy. My calf-muscles decide to pretend they are more jelly-like, than muscle-like and I'm mentally prepared for food.

We stop at Good Union due to the relative ease of access by bike. We considered other options, but they were a bit more "off the beaten path" with respect to road safety. Good Union also had some solid, bike racks visible from parts of the restaurant. We felt reasonably secure leaving our gear, locked to our bikes within earshot and ordered an early dinner and some drinks. A Good George Stout + Fish and Chips went down a treat, Sam treated herself to the same drink but with salad and the kids got a bento box with chicken and chips. Everyone's belly was fed before the final leg of the ride.

5:20 pm, Arriving at Mighty River Domain

We arrive at Mighty River Domain in the late afternoon. The intensity of the sun has lowered significantly, we ride to the office to find out more about our booking but it appears to be closed for the day. We ride to a powered campsite, and begin to set-up camp.

The camp set-up took us approximately an hour. It was the first time erecting our tent with little people wanting to jump all over it, unpacking our stuff, pumping our air mattress, and getting our bikes safely set-up on the chargers.

We were all very happy with our journey, and the kids were having a lot of fun. After doing some exploration of the camp-ground, and treating ourselves to some Easter chocolate we headed off to bed for an early nights sleep. We were expecting several wakings from the children due to the unfamiliar environment.

Before we went to sleep, I removed the batteries from the bike, computer attachments, and unplugged all chargers for safety. I expected that there would be moisture in the air, and did not want to risk shorting of live electric circuits.

7:30 pm - 6:30 am (approx.), The Sleep

Sleeping did not go well at all. The night was a bit of an unexpected cold snap, especially when evaluated with respect to the glorious day.

The kids struggled to sleep, but to our surprise they did eventually sleep, albeit a very broken sleep. Sam and I drifted on and off, but also managed to sleep for what is estimated to be 1 hour. Maybe 2 hours maximum.

Some of the specific struggles we encountered with respect to sleep are:

• Unexpected cold-snap. Poor little Miss 3 who normally sleeps hot was expressing her coldness– fortunately, a snuggle was able to warm her.
• Deflated air bed. Miss 3 and myself slept on an air bed which deflated and was unable to be pumped.
• Shared bouncy air bed. Almost every movement I made on the air bed disrupted Miss 3 and woke her.
• Mr 1 rolled off the air bed. He is used to a cot and an active sleeper. We managed to tuck him somewhere where he didn't roll but it was yet another factor restricting movement from ourselves.
• Small sleeping bag. It was specced for our height, but ultimately it only came up to shoulder height

We decided to get up when the children woke, the sun was peeking and bladders were ready to pop. We headed to the on-site facilities, and Sam grabbed some hot water from the kitchen to take back to the tent. We had instant coffee and more hot cross buns.

By the time we'd finished our snack, there was enough light tear down the tent. We did that ASAP so that we could get back on the bike for a proper breakfast. Miss 3 was not super happy after a bad sleep, so we set-up the front of the front-loading so that the kids could watch an episode of Bluey. We loaded them into the bike so that Sam and I could pack everything down, distraction free.

9 am, Podium Cafe and Playground

Before we officially left the the Might River Domain, we all needed a proper breakfast in our stomachs. We headed to the Podium Cafe, ordered some eggs on toast, a proper coffee for each adult, and 3 x fluffy drinks. Yes... 3 of them, because Miss 3 had an unfortunate accident with hers. She was not having a good morning, but the positive impact of good food was starting to brighten her up.

After eating, the kids played for a little bit on the playground immediately outside. There is a nice big slide that the kids had fun on, but the playground is largely for older children so we didn't hang around for too long. We had pedals to crank, and the warmth of home calling to us.

11:30 am, Mixture Cafe

As we approached the eastern side of Hamilton, or just outside Tamahere. We sighted a cafe we had never been to before: Mixture. It was a delight there, we ordered some delicious cabinet food and the kids played in the play area. The play area was great, it featured an elevated play house which was safe, fun, and parents could easily keep an eye on their children while sipping on a hot drink.

1:00 pm, Home and Reflections

We arrived to the warmth of home just after noon. We had a great time and really love that our bike, and the associated Te Awa River Ride enables us to explore our immediate region better. We hope there are more options in the future to cycle safely between Waikato villages and towns.

To those who camp regularly, it may be somewhat expected that our equipment would let us down. Fortunately, we were able to return one of the air-beds (due to the specific missing part), and both sleeping bags for cash refunds. Both Kmart and Mountain Warehouse were understanding of the issues we suffered and refunded without contest.

We have now invested in higher quality sleeping pads that focus on the comfort of a single person (rather than sharing.) The sleeping pads are warmer, lighter, (700g sleeping pad vs. 2.4 kg air mattress), and pack far smaller. We have also invested in sleeping bags that fit us, are warmer, lighter (1.19 kg new bag vs. 1.4 kg old bag), and pack into a smaller package. We found some second-hand "Ready Beds" for the kids.

We are excited to give it another go!