For years Charlie has been going to Flowerdale near Melbourne where his grandfather put up a tent beside the King Parrot Creek just after World War II.  Sydneysiders by the score head for the South Coast and the Melbourne mob make their way to Rosebud with the select Melburnians who push on to Portsea.

For the campers, getting away from it all means putting your foot on your spot as you leave so you're all set up for the following year. The best possie is not too far from the toilet block and not too close either.  But it's great to be slap bang up against neighbours you have been crossing guy ropes with for the past 30 years. It says something about us all. We like each other and we feel our best when we are relaxed and close together.

But it can cost a bob or two these days.   Last year we spent $1.53 billion on campsites, a healthy growth of 6 per cent a year. Our per-capita spending on campsites is the highest in the world.  And it's good to know that Gen Y – that's the young folk born 1980 to 2000 – are starting to get into it as well, although not quite like their parents and grandparents who were happy to sling a tarp from the FJ to a sturdy ironbark.

You can now pay $1200 for a tent and $300 for a hot-water service that runs off the car, but at least the crab cookers are on sale now for just $179.

Charlie reckons we've lost our way. He grew up camping with his family by sharing a one-man tent with his brother while mum and dad rolled out a mattress in the ute. These were the days when breakfast was sausages on white bread before a morning session of beach cricket then back to camp for a lunch of sausages on white bread, then more cricket and a bit of snorkelling before dinner, or tea as we used to call it, sitting around the campfire, with sausages on a plate and white bread on the side. Maybe a can of beans if visitors turned up.

During the years, many families have steadily moved up from tent and to caravan, causing van registrations to increase five-fold between 1995 and 2005. In the past few years there has been a swing back to vintage caravans, even the old teardrop versions that Louise remembers so well.  But the long-range nomads are now going for RVs – a sort of house with an engine in it that can cost more than a house-land package in the western suburbs.

Whichever way we decide to go bush, we are part of a tradition that is followed by all sections of society, including our leaders. Who can forget National Party leader Doug Anthony standing in as prime minister and running the country during summer from a caravan in northern New South Wales. John Howard, of course, is well known for taking his family to Hawks Nest every year but perhaps the most curious holiday choice is former Victorian premier Steve Bracks' annual break at Kennett River.

Yet going bush isn't for everyone.  Sir Robert Menzies' Christmas break was always a seat in the members at the Boxing Day Test.  To him, camping would have been a seat in the outer.

Whatever your holiday choice, camping or not, getting away from it all really means sticking together with those we love most. It's what we most want and need in the best of times and the worst of times – as the events in Martin Place showed us this week so clearly.

So let's all enjoy the break ahead by staying close together in the time-honoured summer holiday spirit that makes us happy to be Australian. The line that rings out this week sums it up best: "I'll ride with you."