I didn’t go overseas until I was in my 20s. I was never the kid that went to The Gold Coast or overseas for their family holidays.
My dad’s idea of a holiday would be to go camping or to stay in the same caravan park year after year.
My dad bought a caravan with an annex and it was his pride and joy. His close friends also bought caravans in the same park and we would holiday there most school holidays and long weekends.
I would be jealous when I went back to school and my friends would tell me which theme parks they went to or how they stayed at home and got to watch TV all holidays.
It was nice seeing my friends at the caravan park but I just don’t get why you’d want to go on a holiday to the same boring place multiple times per year. There was nothing to do there and the money my dad spent owning a caravan probably could have gone into a yearly overseas holiday.
But that wasn’t his thing. My dad is a bogan and once he bought his own caravan he had felt like he made it. He could host parties in his super cool annex and listen to 80s rock while frying up processed meat on the BBQ. This was the pinnacle of his life.
Here are some things only kids who holidayed in caravan parks understand:
You would spend most of your school holidays running around a caravan park while your friends went to The Gold Coast
And you never forgave your parents for depriving you of going to all the cool places that other kids went to.
You made friends with all the other kids in the caravan park.
The bond you had with them was one of the strongest friendships you had ever had.
You might have even had a rival caravan park gang that you and your caravan park friends didn’t like
They were usually the new kids who weren’t regulars. You didn’t like outsiders coming into your caravan park community.
You probably had a crush on one of the other caravan park kids
You were never brave enough to make a move but you always made creepy hints and asked to play spin the bottle in the hope of kissing them.
The parents would get drunk and sing along to 80s rock while they had no idea where their kids were
This was the perfect time to get up to some mischief with your caravan park buds.
If you were lucky you got to go to the local pub for dinner instead of having a BBQ for dinner AGAIN
A bowl of hot chips and a lemon lime bitters was a great break from eating sausages for every meal.
If you needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night you’d take a friend with you to the communal toilet block
True story. One time my sister and I went to the toilet in the middle of the night but 2 giant kangaroos were blocking the entrance so we had to walk to another toilet block. Also these things were always full of mosquitos and bugs at night.
There was one inground trampoline and waiting for your turn was hell
The kid that was on it would take their time and they were an asshole
Most importantly you had fun and made loads of memories etc etc
Did you holiday in caravan parks as a kid or were you one of those kids that went to hotels on their holidays.
Let us know.
