Gorilla Camping

Behold a gorilla campsite:

Mitch the rental car and our white tent and yellow rain fly in the background. The paddock to behind the fence was the source for the cattle-like smell.

For those not yet introduced to the concept, gorilla camping entails driving to a secluded spot in any country in the world, setting up camp, and staying the night. Now the car you see pictured here is most certainly not Adi, because she was out of commission for the weekend, and Lance the mechanic, was benevolent enough to provide us with a rental car, for no extra charge, no extra papers to sign, essentially no questions asked, and off we went to continue on our holiday! It was truly amazing! However after an amazing first couple of days with a wonderful Couchsurfing host named Debbie in a place called Titirangi, outside Auckland, we at this point had no place to stay.

“Where should we go?” seemed to be the question on everyone’s lips. Though dinner was taken care of, as we had eaten in the car, and after we passed some potential spots at a golf course, and some other just off the motorway 5 star destinations, we settled on heading toward signs for a motorbike course and a national forest. Finding nothing, we turned on to a spot with a small A-frame shed with no door, and an unenclosed triangle of land on the edge of a farming paddock, which seemed to be a place for cattle, as the smell prevailed in the night air. Undaunted, we pulled out the tent and Mike and I laid down in it, and then Dan and Carrie prepared to sleep sitting up in our rental car, lovingly nicknamed “Mitch.” It did not take long and we were out. The morning however brought many surprises.

Mike breaks camp, and Carrie’s waking leg in the foreground

The morning sun in New Zealand is quite strong, and easily permeates and warms the fabric of our tent. Thus the morning dew led to a damp and yet humid awakening to the sounds of heavy construction equipment and men’s cries. Somewhat puzzled, I rolled over a few times to catch the last bit of sleep before I would allow the morning to begin in earnest. When I finally did decide to leave the tent, I was a bit surprised to find what I saw….

We were in fact across the road from the edge of a massive stone quarry, wherein multiple workers were making their way in massive dump trucks, and backhoes could be heard working at the earth below. On our side of the road, we found that the fence indeed enclosed a paddock, but we never saw the cows for which an odor gave ample evidence.

Road on which we camped: quarry to the left, our camp and cattle paddock to the right.

As I emerged from the tent, I heard one of the workers yell down,
“Put a shirt on,” and from that point I was certain that one of them would eventually make their way down to “evict” us from our gorilla campsite. However, no one ever came, and so I woke the others. We made tea, literally on the side of the road, prepared peanut butter and banana sandwiches (I have happily found that everyone enjoys this combination), and broke camp.

Morning and camp have broken

Throughout our morning duties, two workers did make their way down toward and past us, and both times offered a friendly wave. Stunned, I realized that we had just camped for free in a place we had none of us ever been before, in a country to which we were newly arrived, and we were now receiving friendly greetings from the people that worked in that area. Absolutely amazing, and the rest of the trip has only proven to further and amplify this compliment.