Hi everyone. My name is Teagan Hill, owner of Kickback Camping and I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and this new business. I was born and raised in Queensland, and grew up with an undeniable love for this great Sunshine State. I have been camping from South East Queensland to the tropical Far North since before I could say ‘drop bear’!
Growing up in Brisbane, I was surprised by how many of my friends and work colleagues wanted to travel overseas but hadn’t even explored a few hours out of the city yet. This would honestly shock me. I can’t tell you the amount of times people told me they wanted to go to Thailand for ‘the beautiful beaches’.
Ummm hello?!? Have you seen what’s in your own backyards?
Have you seen our award winning beaches?!?
I’d tell them about my camping trips and show them footage of all the different landscapes there are to explore, but it never persuaded them. Yes they loved the landscapes, and yes they wanted to see it for themselves, but ‘camping’ was the main deterrent.
“I don’t want to set up a campsite”,
“I don’t have any equipment”,
“I don’t know where to go”.
Camping was basically one big ‘too-hard-basket’. This is why I started Kickback Camping. I wanted a means to make camping more inclusive for anyone wanting to experience it. A service that thought about what stops people from experiencing Australia’s great landscapes, and fixes the issues.
I started Kickback Camping at the end of 2020 – of course through the middle of a global pandemic *sigh* – because like many of us, COVID-19 flipped my whole world upside down. Living in Brisbane at the time of the first lockdown, my work shut down for the unseeable future and like many others, I went into a bit of a panic followed by a very strong sense of “what do I do now”?!?
Within a week, I had made contact with close family living in the Burdekin and I packed my bags and left the city. What started out as a 1 to 2 week breather, instead became a life changing moment for me. I had no idea how long this pandemic was going to last. Watching all the uncertainty continuing to grow in the big cities, I felt like I needed to focus on me and find some positivity amongst all the chaos.
Side note, even though I lived in a big city for most of my life, my heart always belonged to the outdoors. Every bit of time off or holiday I got, would be spent getting out of the city and getting in touch with the outdoors again. You could say the love of country life runs in the family.
For those seasoned campers out there, you’ll relate to this when I say, going camping and being outdoors gives you a sense of calmness, a clear head and a breath of fresh air. You can’t get this feeling in the city and you definitely can’t get it in a hotel room.
For me the Australian outdoors is the most amazing place to be and with all this uncertainty going on, I wanted to focus on what makes me happy. Camping and sharing my experiences with others genuinely makes me happy. The big move to North Queensland provided me with the opportunity to continue exploring, camping and making the most of my life again..
Now I’ve been a worker my whole life, and as much as I was enjoying this break up in the Burdekin, my mind unfortunately could not sit still and needed to work again. I needed to accomplish something, start a project or just keep busy. Long story short, I dived into the old “dream jobs” vault where I once dreamed of opening a camping/ tourism business. I wanted to offer a service that allowed people the opportunity to experience camping in the same way that made me love it for all these years. I also wanted to provide a way to make camping holidays achievable for those unable to do so; whether that be due to the physical labour, not having the transport and equipment or just not knowing where to start.
Fast forward 6 months and a slight move further north to Cairns, I got the ball rolling on my business dream. Kickback Camping was born.
My mission with Kickback Camping, is to provide a service for Australians and international visitors; that allows them to experience a genuine camping holiday, completely stress free. I create customised campsite packages, deliver the equipment (within our serviceable area), and set up your campsite for you. Then when you are finished camping, I come and dismantle the campsite and pack it all up for you. Welcome to camping made easy!
Ok yes, I’m very aware that there are a few people out there saying “setting up and packing down the campsite is all part of the experience!” Don’t worry. I hear you guys loud and clear. Unfortunately the physical labour of setting up a campsite isn’t doable for everyone and is a huge factor that turns people away from camping. I want Kickback Camping to close that gap and make camping stress-free and achievable for everyone.
I also want to make very clear, that although I respect everything Glamping, Kickback Camping does not fall under this category. Unfortunately there are no teepees, fairy lights and fluffy cushions with our campsite setups. What we do offer is a very authentic camping experience, with genuine camping equipment that is available in any good camping store… Andddd if you do book a holiday with Kickback Camping and want to experience a bit of glamping, I definitely encourage you to bring your own fairy lights and comfy pillows… we all need our creature comforts after all!
Anyway, enough from me for now. I look forward to sharing more with you all and hosting many of your camping holidays and events in the future!
Happy Camping .🌴
Teagz
