I am taking 3 adults, 4 kids (3,5,7,9), and a breastfeeding mother (albeit, she is the car support) on a 10-day hiking trip.
Add to this, my husband and I, when deciding on a hiking tent upgrade, decided that, since I am pregnant again, overnight hikes are really off the agenda for another couple of years. So we opted for a cheaper car tent - a great little Coleman's pop up tent. That thing goes up in 4 seconds, and takes an entire 15seconds to pack up again.... but it is circular when packed, and about 90cm in diameter.
Not a problem except I realised that our first night is going to be an overnight hike! So that will be us on the trail, walking in with a 3year old, and a circular dome tent tied to the OUTSIDE of my pack
. I can already hear the thoughts as hikers walk past us, thinking we are attempting the entire track like that!! 
It is not as crazy as it sounds I am sure.... I hope. (For the record, we are doing the track over 10-days instead of 4-days, and spending every other night in a caravan park with car support).
