While we were away on the East Coast for
Noah's anniversary, I got an excited message from our friend Alison. She had taken
wedding photos at Sandridge Estate at Boat Harbour earlier in the year. The owners of Sandridge Estate have since set up some beautiful tents on the property and have had it all landscaped and have built a toilet and shower block and a camp kitchen and fire pit, and were just about ready to start bookings at
'Glamp Sandridge' . They asked Alison to come and take promotional photos for them to use, and in exchange she was able to take 8 families there for a night of 'glamping'.
We aren't campers at all and have only been camping once as a family last Easter, but I knew that this type of camping was something that I could handle (even though we ended up loving
camping last year, except for the thousands of wasps!).
When Alison told me about it, I thought it sounded fun but then as it got closer and I thought about it more, I wasn't sure if my mental health was up to spending a weekend with people that I didn't know very well. Alison has lots of lovely friends and we know some of them a little bit, but no one really very well.
I'm a very outgoing person, but since Aaron passed away I find that I go between wanting to be very social and I love being around people, to wanting to just hide away and be alone. As the date got closer I started to stress as I wasn't really feeling on top of things mentally at the time. But I knew it was a great opportunity and I knew that everyone that would be going would be really lovely, so I decided to just go and enjoy it.
Harri and Kobe were so excited about it, but Jalen wasn't at all keen to come (he also finds it hard being around people he doesn't know well, especially when he's not feeling great emotionally). I convinced him that it would be okay and told him he could just hide out in the tent if he wanted/needed to. According to him, he didn't have a choice (he did...but it was either we all go or we all stay home or he could stay with my Mum) but I was so glad that he came, as I knew I just wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if we had gone without him.
We were so excited when we saw the tents in the distance.
This was our tent for the night.
Each tent had a lovely queen sized bed all set up with beautiful linen. They also had carpet and lovely rugs, bean bags, cutlery and crockery and towels. I had the bed to myself and we took along blow up mattresses for the boys to use. Each tent had power which was run by a generator. It was lovely to have a light in each tent and the boys were happy that they could charge their phone and iPads!
We know Alison's friends Katie and Adam and their kids a little bit, and because they were the largest family there, they got to have the 'penthouse' of the tents. Theirs had a deck out the back with a little table and chairs, and had a wood heater inside!
There is a very cool fire pit up near the toilet and shower block and camp kitchen, and we spent lots of time there toasting marshmallows and chatting. Thanks Jess and Kyle for sharing the most amazing marshmallows ever!
The boys have never been to Boat Harbour, but I have great memories of going there a lot as a kid with Mum and Dad. I always remember the beach because the water is so aqua and the sand is so white.
Even though the weather wasn't great, a few of us decided to go down to the beach for a little bit, and it was just a five minute drive away. Jay and Harri went exploring on the rocks and Harri cracked us up when he started squealing because he stood on a dead rat!
Kobe doesn't feel the cold and decided he was going for a swim! The water was freezing, but that didn't stop him!
Kobe and Addison used to play together a little bit when they were a lot younger and got along really well, so it was lovely to see them get along together again. They had a lovely time playing together the whole time we were there.
This is Kobe acting too cool to get a proper photo with Addison!
One of the owners of Sandridge spent lots of time with us and told us about how they decided to set up the glamping as people were wanting a place to stay after weddings, and it was a lot of work to set up a few tents each time. She was lovely and let us use their wedding shed at night to hang out in. It was SO beautiful with all the lights! It was nice to sit around the fire inside as well.
I knew that Jay would appreciate how lovely the shed was, and he came over and took lots of cool shots which he has posted on his Instagram.
Kobe and Addison had lots of fun creating games together.
The kids had lots of fun with sparklers before bedtime.
It wasn't cold at all at night, and it was so nice having such a beautiful bed to sleep in and having power. It was very windy and rainy all night, but we were very comfy in our tent.
It rained all morning, so we packed up pretty early and headed home, but we had a lovely night away and were glad that we went along. Thanks so much Alison for inviting us! The only photo I took of you had your eyes closed, and I didn't think you would appreciate me posting it! Thanks Sandridge Estate for the lovely night! We loved it and felt very spoilt. I don't know if we can go back to regular camping now!
Jay was happy to sit in the sun :) 
