We loved our old tent. It was one of the last of its kind, in beautifully faded tones of yellow and green, carefully maintained since its first summer in 1984. It’s been repaired and re-waterproofed; nicks and tears mended where need be; mosquito netting patched.

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I was sad to see it go, but last summer we had some fairly heavy rainfall, and the tent started to leak. Water pooled underneath, then pushed up through the floor. We had to pull everything out and dry it one day, and then it happened again.

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We have spent many happy hours wandering around campgrounds looking at other people’s tents and wondering if we would ever replace ours. But modern tents, in the main, are quite bogan-looking, which is one reason we never have. They have names like Defenderator and they come in army tones of grey and black and green.

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Last summer, as we realised this was the very last for our tent, a particularly nice one caught our eye: the Dwights Homestead Deluxe. Homestead Deluxe!  

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The Homestead Deluxe has three main rooms – bedrooms either side, and a common area in the middle – plus a verandah out the front. You can buy an extra room for the back and an enclosure for the verandah (the “Royal Package”). It has entry doors on two sides. It’s made from attractive navy canvas with beige touches. It has many extra vents and canopies to shield you from the sun.

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We looked it up online. We pored over the supplied plans and eagerly watched the YouTube videos. We measured our kit, and wondered if things would fit.  

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We nearly pushed go many times. We searched for it on Trade Me, and then in winter the perfect one popped up. We watched the price drop, and eventually pounced. It had all the parts, including both the front room and the back room (the “Royal Package”), and had been used only a handful of times. I drove out to Helensville to pick it up and the bloke showed me how he’d packed it down. It was immaculate. I worried it would never go back in like that, and took photos of it for reference.

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Before we head north, we’ll get it out and put it up in our backyard, just to test it. (We probably should have done this earlier, but anyway.) This will no doubt take the better part of a day. It may involve swearing, but it will start to ease us into the holidays – the endless cheerful nothingness of managing a tent.

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We’ll get up there, put up our tent, start to relax. By day two, something will wear out, or I’ll think of a better way to do it. And then the cycle will start again.

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