Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/103334
regionalstopover Confession: I hadn't been camping for about five years, and the last time I did, I had a pretty crappy tent, a campground floor that might as well have been concrete, and no stretcher. This time around, I'm not saying I 'glamped', but I certainly didn't rough it either. And in the space of three days my life took a turn. I saw whales frolicking, gigantic worms wrestled, and winds rivalling those in The Wizard of Oz, and I experienced surfing wipeouts that left me feeling dizzy yet proud. I turned over a new leaf, returned to my roots and became a lover of camping. Whales at play My affinity with camping was ignited when a group of us arrived at Sundowner Tiona holiday park in the charming hamlet of Pacific Palms, about one hour's drive from Taree. You drive in and are immediately surrounded by pure Aussie paradise: Seven Mile Beach stretching out in all of its vivid blue-and-white sandy beauty on one side, and Lake Wallis, an enormous lake where you can walk out a few hundred metres and still only be thigh-deep in water, on the other. Wallis is an astounding 25 kilometres long and nine kilometres wide, and on a still day it's like one gigantic mirror reflecting the nearby hills and bushland. There's a single rusty old chair on the sand a few metres out, just begging, 'Sit here, take a deep breath and relax.' We set up camp in half an hour, thanks to our amazing tents that can be put up in three smooth moves and in less than 30 seconds. We whipped them up, unfolded a stretcher and a camping chair each, popped our beds into our tents and our chairs outside and – voila! – camp site sorted. It was an incredibly still day, so I pitched my tent right on the edge of the lake with a waterside view that would cost a mint in the city. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I sucked in the fresh air and slipped into my swimmers for lunch on the beach. We wandered through the rainforest that separates Wallis Lake from Seven Mile Beach and within 10 minutes we were stepping out onto the renowned stunning white sands – it's so white and clean, it hurts the naked eye and puts a sandy squeak in your step. On an outdoor setting, courtesy of Tiona, we sat down to a feast of DIY barbecued burgers and cracked open XXIII