We’re pretty sure Charles Dickens wasn’t referring to a family camping trip when he wrote this in A Tale of Two Cities, but it still rings true, if you take the words at face value. 

Those were the days, time spent with family and friends – life-long friends as it turns out – putting up tents, hitting the beach, cooking over a gas fire – even if Mum was not all that keen, she’d put up with the sand and the cold showers. 

Ah yes, those were the days!

And it seems it’s catching on, with more and more Aussies looking to their own fascinating backyards for some time out and we mean “out” – caravanning and camping their way across this great land of ours.

What a great way to get away from it all.

Just pick up sticks, or tent pegs in this instance, and enjoy each other’s company and a little of what mother nature has to offer.

It is, of course, good news for the industry too, that more of us are holidaying at home, instead of taking our hard-earned dollars overseas.

The latest National Visitor Survey reveals that Australians are now taking a record 36.1 million domestic overnight holiday trips – that’s up 9 per cent annually.

NSW has recorded one of the strongest quarters of growth in the country for caravanning and camping.

On a broader note, domestic tourism is worth around $16 billion to the state’s economy and more than half of that was spent in regional areas, delivering a massive kick-along to local communities that are doing it tough.

It’s home-grown events like the Tamworth Country Music Festival that are helping to bring in the dollars, and have people coming back year-after-year.

But when it comes to a “back to basics” approach, it’s hard to go past a good, old-fashioned camp-out.