Welcome to CampWreck — where camping isn’t always perfect, but it’s always worth it.
Here you’ll find real stories from our adventures around Vancouver Island, mixed with tips, lessons, and the occasional mishap you can learn from (or laugh at). This first post is about how we turned a single day into a full camping experience at one of the island’s most beautiful spots.
The adventure started early in Nanaimo. By 8 a.m., the kids were in the truck, snacks were packed, and coffee was on board. Three hours later, we were at Surf Junction picking up the trailer I’d rented for the week.
Taking down camp, moving the trailer to Green Point Campground, and setting it up again with three curious kids in tow felt a little like hosting a one-person circus act — but once the stabilizers were down and the fridge was humming, we were ready for the fun part.
Some camping trips take days to plan and even longer to enjoy.
This one? We crammed it into a single, sun-soaked, sandy, saltwater-filled day — and it was perfect.
First stop: Long Beach. The kids sprinted straight into the waves, shoes forgotten somewhere in the sand. We built castles, dug moats, chased each other along the tide line, and let the cold Pacific water numb our toes until our stomachs demanded a return to camp.
Back at Green Point, the trailer became our little home base — a place to cook up dinner, change into warm clothes, and recharge for round two.
After eating, we followed the campground’s beach access path. At the end, we had a choice:
Turn left to Beachcombers Beach
Turn right to Long Beach
Instead, we stopped right in the middle — where the horizon stretched endlessly in both directions — and watched the sunset paint the sky in orange, pink, and purple. The kids went quiet (a rare thing) and just stared.
By 9 p.m., we were packing up, salty and tired but happy. We rolled back into Nanaimo at 11:45 p.m., with sand in our shoes and smiles that wouldn’t quit.
