The great camping adventure
I really should start off by saying happy New Year to you, shouldn't I? So, um, happy New Year. That was a bit forced, wasn't it? Probably because we're nearly a whole week into 2010, and really you can only go around saying "happy New Year" for so long, right?
The sentiment is true, of course. I hope that 2010 is a great year for you. From comments that have piled up on entries over the last few months, I gather that 2009 had been a not-so-great one for many of you, so I'm hoping that this year well and truly delivers the goods. I'm definitely curious to see how it all unfolds...
Anyway, the reason I'm so tardy with the New Year wishes is because I have been away, braving the wilderness, camping in the treacherous forests of Aotearoa. Well, actually at a campground next to a forest in the Coromandel, but same same.
You might recall I was a bit nervous about the whole idea of camping, mostly because I really like to use actual flushing toilets. However, it is not the 1970s so many campgrounds these days are equipped with such facilities. As it turned out, the campground we wanted to go to was fully booked, but the bloke next door had some farmland he was opening up for campers over the holiday season and he'd gone to the trouble of hiring a couple of port-a-loos and port-a-showers. Greeeeeat.
Just think, the blistering sun pouring heat on to those port-a-loos all day. Then by night, clambering into the small space, one hand clutching your own roll of toilet paper (because of course the stuff that's provided is now wet) the other holding on to a wee torch - no lighting in these facilities! Delightful.
Thanks to a practice run before we left, putting up the tent was no problem and upon unpacking everything else we were pleased to discover that between us we had remembered to bring everything our small group could possibly need on our adventure.
Then I put my back out.
In amongst all the action of setting up camp I pinged something in my back, which had me muttering like an old lady every time I went to bend over or sit down. Early the next morning I paid a visit to the port-a-loo and as I was using the foot pump to activate water flow into the hand-basin my back seized up completely and I was left hunched over in total agony and unable to move. May I remind you, I was still inside the port-a-loo.
After a few minutes of deep breathing I managed to shuffle my way out of the toilet and sit on a ledge outside the loos, hoping a handsome prince might come to my rescue. Five minutes later I remembered it was seven in the morning and most of the campground, including all the princes, were still asleep.
Still hunched over and crying like a three-year-old, I hobbled back to the tent, where I discovered I had caught some of the tent fabric in the zipper, and there was no way I had the motor skills to sort that out, what with my dicky back and all. So I did what any self-respecting thirty-year-old woman would do in the same situation - I really started crying, like seriously sobbing - which I am now very embarrassed about.
Sidenote: This is the first back injury I have ever experienced, and can I just say - holy crap, now I understand why people with bad backs struggle so much. Yeee-ouch.
That day I went to the nearest town, where a physio told me I had either slipped a disc or popped out a joint, but because all my muscles on one side of my lower back had seized up so much around the cause of the problem, she couldn't tell which it was. Neat! Still flummoxed by the end of the session, she scratched her head, suggested I get some Voltaren, and then sent me on my merry way so that she could head off with her friends who were waiting outside the clinic for her to finish work.
At first I came out of the physio in more pain than when I went in, but by the next morning my back was a lot better and it continued to improve - which is great, because if a foot pump in a port-a-loo had ruined my holiday I would've been a very unhappy camper indeed.
I've still got more to tell you about tell you about my adventures in the wilderness, but I figured I might as well get this first instalment online and you can just wait in mild anticipation for part two...
In the meantime, tell me how your New Year break turned out, okay? Or perhaps you too have an exciting back-injury story to share? Love those.
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Ten minutes of deep breathing in a portaloo would kill the average person, so you did well to even survive that.
Strange that both you and Anne bloggers did your back in over the holiday season.
Ouch dude gutted to hear about your back.. my mum slipped a disk a few years ago and had it fused and bolted back together later that year!. Im totally gutted to be back at work no one even turned up here except me :( The holidays were amazing but waaaaay to short... Te Horo in a great big holiday home with freinds and a field to pick stawberrys was my new years. Fun times!
Hope your back gets better on its own...
Oh Jane, I'm sorry for your pain but your story is quite funny. I hope it hasn't put you off camping though! Most places have normal toilets and showers so next time you can do it in a bit more comfort (but I recommend booking). And I agree with you that back injuries are the absolute worst.
My break has been pretty good - cruisy, fairly uneventful, mostly just pottering round the house. The days just morph into one, which is what I like the best. Happy 2010! (You can officially say it until the end of the month.)
Happy NY to you too Jane!
Glad that camping was ok for you. Sucks about your back though. Welcome to the world of backache. Scrap the Physio and go to an Osteo is my advice there.
I love camping but would prefer a hole in the ground of my own rather than a portaloo - those things are awful!
Years ago as a scout at a jamboree I saw one guy get locked in one (they had locks on the outside) and then a few guys all pushed the portaloo around. Poor kid got covered in ah, all sorts and was not a happy camper. The fear of being locked in one still scares me to this day!
Happy New Year to you. Sorry but I was laughing on the inside at your story! Who knew that Port-a-loo foot pumps could be so dangerous?? Ouch though - I haven't hurt my back that badly before but I can imagine it would suck! Hope the rest of your camping went down well.
My holiday break was nowhere near as painful - just lots of sunshine, beach time, family & friends.
Aww Jane, I hope you're feeling much better after a night in your own bed. My camping adventure was fabulous. I went swimming, watched the sun rise and set, gone for walks along the beach, read 2 books, had a few naps and my tan is looking pretty good. Very much looking forward to Anniversary weekend when we can do it all over again!
I hate port a loos :P:P:P My boyf introduced me to real camping, in the middle of no where, with a long drop, sand and a thunder seat as our whare paku, complete with a pretty track up to it and a fantastic view as you sit there and contemplate life. We're heading up there at the end of Jan and I cannot wait!!!
Sux to hear that your back was such an ordeal :( I definitely know what it feels like to be a grown up and sobbing like a baby. Especially when you're by yourself and would kill for another caring body.
Cant wait to hear all about the rest of your hol. Hopefully some cute little anecdotes to tell :) We spent NY wknd being very sociable, took friends out on the boat for NYE, had two other sets of friends visit and stay over. And I have to voice how fantastic it is to rediscover friends you havent really had much to do with in a couple of years. Old friends are generally the best. We love you guys!
Sooo.... Last summer I was camping in Taupo and the much younger cousins of mine were showing off their sweet back-flips on the tramp. Deciding that now was the perfect time to learn how to do a backflip, I proceeded to fall on my face a few times. The first "successfully" back flip was one in which I landed on the top of my feet (what is that area called?) and, with the body still in a flippin rotation, bent my back well back. CRACK x 24 (or however many Vertebrae there are)... Cousins laughing as I roll off the tramp (or LAIROTT for you cool cats into interweb acronyms) in the most pain experienced. I then slowly hobbled my was back to the camp site for a lie down when my wife arrived. Keen to show off my new skill, I then slowly hobbled back to the tramp with her for a bounce. Again, I landed on the top of my feet and, again, with the body still in a flippin rotation, bent my back well back. CRACK x 24 )... This time however, my back crack straight back into place! Cousins laughing again as I walked jump down off the tramp with a fixed back. Some call it lucky, I call it dumb.
Nothing like something going wrong *after* 30 to make you feel old eh.
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The idea of a "practice run" for camping says a lot Jane. It's very cute though.
Back injuries suck. Remember the muscles locking up are to hold everything still in the injured area and prevent you doing anything stupid that could cause further injury - like moving.