Camping on Cockatoo Island

Last night we ticked another item off our Sydney bucket list - we went camping on Cockatoo Island. Or I should say glamping. Given that we left all our gear back in Boston we chose to go with the full service option where you arrive to a tent already set up with camp beds, linens, lounge chairs and lanterns. After leading dozens of backpack trips over the years it felt odd to make this Emily and Tess's first experience sleeping outside but it was unique and wonderful in its own way.

We had a two bedroom tent with twin beds on one end and a double bed on the other and a covered area in the middle. 

We took the ferry over to Cockatoo right after school let out so we only had an hour and a half to explore before sun set. We walked around the campsite area to get our bearings and then explored the water's edge while the sun went down.

The girls grabbed their notebooks and wrote down details about their experience. While Brian and I fussed over getting a few good pictures in the fading light they stopped every few feet to keep asking me how to spell Cockatoo.

When the sun went down a few dim lights along the path came on and then the lights of Sydney and surrounding suburbs started coming on. 

We cooked our dinner over the electric grills in the communal kitchen area. We heard the campsites  get quite crowded in summer but on this warm and lovely first weekend of winter we practically had the place to ourselves. 

Brian's colleague Joel and his family came in on a 6pm ferry and joined us for dinner and the night. We enjoyed talking with them while the kids ran around with their torches and glow sticks and marveled at all the stars.

We left the glow sticks out next to the girls beds and put a lantern in the middle of the tent so they had a little bit of light. To our amazement they fell asleep around 7:30pm and slept through the entire night. 

Brian got this cool long exposure photo of the kids' setup.

Thanks to Vivid Sydney we could clearly see the lights on the Harbour Bridge. In fact they changed color ever minute or so. What a treat!

"Winter" camping in the southern hemisphere has a few distinct advantages. Given that the sites don't book up completely we were able to look at the forecast before we booked and chose a Friday night with highs in the low 70's and lows of about 60 degrees. The early sun set cut short our exploration time but ensured that the kids got to sleep at a reasonable hour. We got a full night's sleep and awoke around 6:30am in time to take in a gorgeous rosy sunrise.

We loved the quiet and the stillness of the harbor in the early morning.

Brian cooked up his traditional Saturday morning pancakes on the grill.

Tess and Emily really hit it off with Joel's three year old daughter. They loved the freedom of running and playing in all the open space.

We packed up our bags, checked out of our tents and set out to explore the island in day time.

Cockatoo Island holds a UNESCO World Heritage listing for both its early convict history and its later importance for ship building. When traveling with kids we haven't put much emphasis on convict sites. The girls are still fairly oblivious to this strange and fascinating part of Australian history. They only vaguely grasp how prisons work and at this age I'm okay with that. 

From 1839 to 1869 Cockatoo Island served as a secondary punishment area for convicts that reoffended during their time in the colonies. As such it represents some of the darker and more sinister side of the time - think Alcatraz. We walked through the old prison buildings and read the descriptions of historic overcrowding, solitary confinement, forced manual labor and a lot of other unsavory details. The kids skipped along through the area oblivious to the deeper meaning. I, for one, am glad I read all this information after we had spent the night and not before.

The island also served as one of Australia's biggest shipyards. The abandoned industrial site felt as if the workers just walked away one day. We walked through the random tunnels, peaked in the windows of the buildings and looked at the rusted out cranes that hung silently.

The area has since been re-imagined as a conference center, event location, art gallery space and now urban camping locale. During the day I found it all a little creepy but definitely uniquely Australian and not like any place I'd ever been before. I imagine in the heat of summer with the hopping Island Bar open and the sunlight and crowds it would have a very different feel. Still, I am definitely glad we went.