5 Times We Forgot Important Things While Camping
Let’s be honest—no matter how many times you go camping, there’s always something that doesn’t make it into the car. And yet, that missing item is almost never beer or meat. Priorities, right? Over the years, I’ve learned that a truly seasoned camper isn’t the one who remembers everything, but the one who can creatively survive without the things they forget. Here are five of the most annoying, hilarious, and downright inconvenient things we've left behind on camping trips.
1. The Great Shoe Debacle – Kennet Creek, VIC
First proper Aussie camping trip with the kids. A big, exciting adventure to Kennet Creek in the Otways to spot some koalas. We’d packed everything—or so we thought. Pulled up, ready to go for a bushwalk, and realised something: both kids (then aged 6 and 8) were barefoot. No shoes. No thongs. Just pure, unfiltered feral energy.
Now, we’d put the kids in charge of packing their own stuff to teach them responsibility. Turns out, the lesson they took from it was: shoes are optional. Instead of driving all the way back to Torquay, we let them run wild for the weekend. And honestly, It was probably great for their souls. They haven’t forgotten their shoes since, but they do remind us regularly how much better it was without them.
Lesson learned: You can survive without shoes, but probably not without the jokes about it.
2. The Toilet Code Tragedy – Hastings Point Holiday Park, NSW
This one wasn’t me. It was my mate—let’s call him Leigh to protect his dignity. We were camping at Hastings Point Holiday Park when, at 3am, disaster struck. Explosive diarrhoea. The kind where you have mere seconds to find relief before things get real messy. Lee scrambled out of his swag, clenched cheeks engaged, only to discover that the campsite toilets required a code. A code he didn’t know.
Waking us up wasn’t an option (even though we found out later that all three of us were awake for our own middle-aged-man nighttime wees). Jumping the fence to find an alternative? Risky. Instead, he power-walked in desperation to where he thought a public toilet was, only to realise the next morning that he was just 30 metres short. Instead, he found a bush, sacrificed his undies, and left them in a nearby bin.
Lesson learned: Write down the toilet code before you go to sleep.
3. The Pillowless Boys’ Trip – Red Cliffs Campground, NSW
It’s a camping fact: at least one bloke will forget his pillow. This time, two blokes forgot. Anticipating this, I packed an extra. My mate Scotty also packed one—because apparently, he enjoys sleeping with a pillow between his legs (news to all of us). That gave us two spare pillows for the inevitable forgetters: Jase and Chris.
Jase was sorted. Chris, on the other hand, took the "rugged camper" approach—shoving his spare clothes into a sleeping bag case as a makeshift pillow. After a long day of surfs, Finska and just a couple margaritas, Jase forgot to grab the spare, so I texted him from my cosy pillow-laiden rooftop tent, then promptly fell asleep.
The next morning, the roasting began. We had two spare pillows, plus a dozen other soft, pillow-like substitutes, and yet two fully grown men still managed to sleep like absolute savages. The next day, they went into town and bought not just one, but two pillows each.
Lesson learned: Pack extra pillows. Your mates will definitely forget.
4. The Great Alcohol-Free Beer Deception – Freshwater Campground, QLD
This one’s a sneaky one. I was on a dry month, trying to be healthy, but I didn’t mention that minor detail to my old mate, who I hadn’t seen in years. He joined me for a night on his way back from Indo to NZ, keen for a proper catch-up with beers and campfire stories.
What he didn’t know? The beers I handed him were 0% alcohol. And after three of them, he was convinced he was getting tipsy. The placebo effect was in full force. Meanwhile, I was five deep and stone-cold sober. When we got to camp, he cracked into his bottle of wine while I stuck with my sneaky non-alcs. He couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t keen to stay up until 2am talking rubbish like we used to.
Next morning? I was fresh as a daisy, out surfing fun little two-footers, while he was struggling to function. He still doesn’t know those beers were booze-free. Until now.
Lesson learned: Shout your Kiwi mate a six-pack of non-alc beers and don’t tell him. Hilarious results guaranteed.
5. The "We'll Make Do" Survival Tactics
Sometimes, it's not just one thing you forget—it's multiple. But a good camper is an adaptable camper. Here are a few classic "forgotten items" and the Aussie ingenuity that fixes them:
Forgot cutlery? Your food is now your plate—cheese works as a great serving board, a tuna can lid becomes a spoon, and sausages are best eaten straight off a stick anyway.
Forgot tent poles? Tie it to whatever’s around—trees, cars, even someone else’s tent.
Forgot pegs? Weigh the tent down with sand, rocks, or anything heavy enough to hold it in place.
Forgot water? Drink beer. Forgot water with kids? Time to find a creek. (See #2 for potential downfall of drinking creek water)
Forgot food? Go fishing. If that fails, become friends with campers who did remember food.
Forgot towels? Paper towel works in a pinch (but prepare for judgmental looks from fellow campers).
Forgot a sleeping bag? Layer up in every single piece of clothing you packed. Works a treat.
Lesson learned: Forgetting stuff is inevitable. The real test is how well you can MacGyver your way out of it.
Final Thoughts
Camping isn’t about perfection—it’s about embracing the chaos. Sure, you’ll forget something. But with a bit of creativity (or a few sacrificial undies), you’ll come out of it with an even better story to tell. And honestly, isn’t that what camping’s all about?
Camping at Uncle Dave’s property in California
