Our street is just so fabulous, I can't even begin to describe. Each year we have a Christmas party, we have a street chat group, if anyone needs a cup of sugar (or, to be honest, the whole cake), it's only a few houses away. In summer we are so lucky to have open invites to people's pools. The kids run around together, especially when it's raining and they can play in the puddles. If you have leftovers that need eating, just let the street know to come round and suddenly it's a party.
I honestly can not describe how full it makes my heart to live in such a beautiful place with such caring and available people who continually open their lives to us. Yes, we are part of that, but it's honestly a community that has been such a blessing over the years. It's possible (actually very, very probably) that I will never be able to leave this street.
We've tossed around the idea of going away together before. I know lots of school families who regularly do this, mostly by camping together somewhere. While I know we aren't the camping kind, we'd still be up for it in the name of Street Community. Others on our street were less keen however, so at the start of this year, one of our neighbours started to really look into what other options were out there.
It needed to be not tents, affordable, have enough space for us all to get together, but also enough sleeping spaces for people to have their own area. There was a preference for not more than a two hour drive, nature and water, but not the end of the world if not. We ended up finding a campsite at Lake Perseverance which was set up for school groups. It had all the usual things you would expect at a school camp - bunk beds in dorms with shared bathrooms and also a smaller room and ensuite (designed for the teachers). As well as big kitchen and dining areas, lots of outside and a lake to kayak in.
The price was reasonable so we all put it in our calendars and booked it. Or so we thought. Unfortunately, the Hungarian Club of Brisbane had enquired and booked at the same time as us, and when it came down to who won the double booking, it was the Members of the Hungarian Club of Brisbane who came away victorious.
The Seven Street Camp Families panicked for a moment and then held an emergency meeting at the bowls club on Friday night to solve our problems. There was no way we could find and book a similar place with the short time turn around (originally we had booked in February for our September holiday camp, and now it was August), so we looked on AirBnB for something that could work.
There were some beautiful big houses available, but the hardest thing was finding one with enough outdoor spaces for us to not be living right on top of one another. I mean, we love being on the street together, but that's possibly because we can all go back to our own houses at the end of the day. This was the first time that we were planning this and none of us wanted it to be the end of the amazing community we had.
After we shortlisted a bunch of places, we ended up booking a place about four hours away on a property out west. Calamity struck again though when the owners contacted us and said they had mistakenly not blocked out that availability. What were we going to do? Back to the short list and the next winning place was slightly out of our price range, so Kim contacted them directly to explain our situation and ask for a discount. They said yes and Street Camp 2024 was officially saved.
Our new camp was a huge house on top of a mountain about 20mins outside of Gympie. Not on acreage by any means, but the yard was certainly enough for a group of kids to run around and kick a ball, and big enough for the grown ups to have several late nights by the fire. We decided to have each family fend for themselves for breakfasts and lunches. We all bought more than enough snacks to share and we just divided up the dinners between the families.
I was looking forward to Street Camp so much. With seven families, we had 28 people coming - an even split of 14 adults and 14 kids. The kids naturally sorted themselves into roughly two groups - a teens and then a younger bunch. The house was pretty stocked with a massive kitchen (two actually) as well as decks and living areas. It had 21 beds, so there were actually enough for all of us (that 21 includes at least 10 double/queen types).
The way the beds were organised in the rooms though did make things a little tricky, since the kids all wanted to be together (in their various groups and configurations) and aside from one family, most of the grown ups were preferring to be adults only. In the end, one of the dads set up his swag outside, and Sophie and Hadley decided to tent (the first night) and then camp in the living room the second two. Everyone else was comfortable in a bed, even James (our youngest kid) who I'm fairly sure slept in a different room each night - including the last night where he climbed in with Rachel.
From the moment we got there, the relaxing began. I don't think I've ever been so switched off for a few days away. There were almost no plans. The weather was perfect. Everyone just got along.
Our first full day, some of the dads decided to take the kids to the "Historic" Saw Mill in Gympie, and the two families with teens went off looking for a country bakery and waterholes to swim in. I was blissfully left at the house with two other ladies and we all enjoyed our time by ourselves. I read a book (Goose Girl by Shannon Hale), lay around, unstacked the dishwasher and basked in the serenity.
We had bought board games, which were played by various people at different times. The kids got into making dragon puppets together. There were soccer games outside and sing-a-longs inside. One of the dads had bought a projector thinking the kids might want to watch a movie, but they ended up setting it up for a sports ball game (AFL?) that was apparently important to watch. Steve took the job of going for the opposing team so that everyone could enjoy a good bit of heckling while the watched. We had a fire every night.
Mornings were slow; people got up in dribs and drabs. Ben had packed his coffee machine and made sure everyone got their caffeine fix as they came out to the back deck to sit under blankets and watch the sun climb higher into the sky. I cut fabric squares for a quilt I'll make one day. I sewed tedama out of kimono scrap fabrics while people chatted.
Sophie and Hadley made a lemon tart for everyone. The kids spent lots of time in and out of the hot tub (even though some of the settings changed/broke and it was progressively colder as the days went by). There were cows across the road and a mulberry tree in the yard. Everyone else stayed up late, I got up early and made the kids pancakes for breakfast.
We did "Paint and Sip", which was more just "paint what you want" with the subtext of "finish in time for the next sports ball game". We were on dinner with our lovely vegan neighbours and made some of the best burrito bowls ever. Healthy perfection. We watched the sunset every day. Steve and Daryl tasted and ranked all of the fancy fancy beers they bought. I tried most of them too, though I didn't like nearly as many as they did.
There were lots of conversations; about kids, life, birth stories (:P), faith, and what cheese to eat next. Silly times like when Tom read the French kids book we found on the shelf about the ant who wouldn't share. Music times playing the Street Camp Playlist off Spotify, or asking the kids to choose the next song. Steve teaching the younger boys to use the cajon while we were jamming before dinner.
Then suddenly, it was Sunday and we were packing up to go home again. It had honestly been the most beautiful time away and I couldn't have been more thankful to know these people and live with them. Even packing and leaving was fun - lots of "See you in three hours!" comments as we all loaded in and drove away. There are currently no plans for a Street Camp next year - everyone is busy and we know there will be other priorities, but I can see it being a semi regular event. I hope it will be.
Until then, we are looking forward to the Street Christmas Party. Yes, we've already locked in the date.
