Camping - refugee-style

Breakfast time - unhealthy cereal compulsory!

Toasting marshmallows

Note the smokey haze in the background

For Easter I found us a campsite in the Barrington Tops which appeared to tick all the boxes - by a river, fires allowed, dogs allowed (the Mennies were with us), hot and cold showers, 150 hectares of land to choose from and lots of bush walks nearby.  We had an inkling of what we were in for when we stopped at a small petrol station on the way to stock up on ice for the esky and a newspaper first to read and then to help with fire lighting.  I told the proprietor we were heading to Ferndale and he replied "You and the rest of the world".  We arrived to find a queue of cars checking in.  After paying our fees we drove round the campsite and found almost every patch of flat ground already taken.  After much deliberation we settled on a tiny patch of grass in front of a steep slope down to the river which we hoped made it impossible for people to camp in front of us.  We pitched our tents to form a L-shape and used the cars to create a barrier between us and the track.  I was very pleased with my recent purchase, a gazebo, which we set up in between the tents to form a cozy little area.  You can see in the photos that we did manage to create a vague illusion of remoteness which was only ruined by one neighbours very loud country music, the other neighbours house music, a chainsaw which was frequently used (even at 9 pm!) presumably to cut down firewood which was strictly forbidden and the feeling that we finally understood the smog problems experienced in Beijing thanks to all the camp fires burning.  Of course the children didn't notice any of this.  All they focused on was that they could ride their bikes quite safely for miles (the walkie talkies were put to good use), there was a river with rapids for them to swim in, there were thousands of other children to make friends with and it was Easter and therefore they were allowed to eat vast quantities of chocolate for breakfast on Easter Sunday.  

Bush walkers

We ventured into Dungog one day to stock up on supplies and then found a lovely bush walk.  The children left one walkie talkie with us and raced ahead with the other one.  For reasons that are not entirely clear to us Tess decided it would be amusing to leave their walkie talkie in the middle of the track for us to find as we walked along.  Not surprisingly we missed the walkie talkie and got to the end of the track (we'd deliberately walked the downhill part) only to send Jules and Tess back up it to try and find the lost walkie talkie.  All's well that ends well but there were a few tears on the way!  

Whilst I was doing the shopping for our camping trip I walked past the Pot Noodle section and saw that they were on special.  Can you think of a better camping food?  On Easter Sunday we headed off on another bush walk together with the pot noodles, gas stove and lots of water and we were able to cook up a feast which we followed with an Easter Egg Hunt.  What a treat!  

This is actually supposed to be a photo of a waterfall - above my left shoulder!

The Mennies have a serious amount of camping gear together with 3 children and a dog and we're always amazed at what they manage to cram into their car.  For the first time ever Floyd got a seat with a view although we think his weight may be responsible for the camping table and chairs being a little the worse for wear.  

We are getting more frequent glimpses of what Tess' teenage years might be like.  When asked if she would like to put her jumper on she replied "No thanks, I'm hot in 2 ways!"

Tom is still focused on becoming a professional surfer and the minute we got back to Sydney he begged Jules to take him surfing.  Tess went for a cross country training session with one of her friends whose mum is a personal trainer and I was left to start putting through the 7 loads of washing which unfortunately are an inevitable by-product of camping.  I may sound a little negative about the camping trip but we all had a brilliant time as always.  

I loved this card that Tess made for Tom - long may the feelings last!