Leaving home rather late at 0830, we aren’t concerned
of time due to not having to go far. We
head up the highway to the north side of the Brisbane River
We find our way very easily and are onsite by
0930. Once inside the entry, we find
ourselves on what appears to be a landing strip … it’s long and narrow with
coastal ti-tree wet land on either side.
Mozzies? Probably. We travel along this for about a kilometre
before turning west for another kilometre and then south into the office area.
Check in is a longer process than we are used to as
there are many things we need to know about the site – being first timers. We have to sign “the rules” which we are told
are just common sense really and lots of details about ourselves are
taken. Guess they want to make sure we
aren’t the wrong type of person.
The site is large as we note the map and our host
makes many marks all over it. I’m not
sure we’ll remember what they all mean, but as she’s going over things it
starts to pour outside the office.
Car Windows!
Glenn heads out to close them and comes back in drowned.
About 30 minutes after we enter the office, we put our
names on the board, and then we are getting back in the car. We head straight down to the camps sites our
host has mentioned and do a lap of the area for a look. It’s much easier than walking currently as
it’s still raining in earnest. I think
we’ve had an inch already.
Glenn pulls over and in a slight lull in the rain –
although it’s still raining – we get out and grab the umbrella’s. We’ll do the final search on foot. I’ve seen one site further off the road that
did appear to be higher ground and I want to check it a little closer. Glenn also wants to check out a site further
away from the main site.
Umbrella’s in hand, we abandon the car and set out on
foot. I have to say the rain is
torrential and we’ve attracted some locals.
Mosquito’s in their hundreds head straight for us – presumably to seek
cover from the rain but also to eat us as best they can. And they are hungry! As we wander around I sometimes drop the
brolly and let the rain wash as many away as I can. We are walking very fast and I’m finding it
hard to concentrate on the sites due to the interference.
We see the occasional other person, but I suspect all
guests are inside behind closed screens for obvious reasons. I am rather jealous of them at the moment.
The suggestion of just heading home is discussed. I advise that tomorrow is meant to be fine
and we discuss this for awhile. In the
end, we find the perfect site and uncertain about our situation, we set up, the
whole time asking ourselves if we should be doing this … or heading home. Too late now I guess … the canvas is soaked
as are we. It’s lunchtime too. One of our closest camps and such a late
setup.
Once the awning is up, the first thing we do is lather
ourselves in anything to deter our extremely friendly locals. This site is clothing optional, but I’m finding
myself wearing long pants and sleeves and lathering up anything that might be
showing with any toxic brew I can find.
Once settled in, we find that the rain is falling away
from our campsite on all four sides – how perfect is that? It certainly assists in making our current
circumstance that bit nicer than it could be.
We are not going to be able to have a fire this
trip. Not because there is a rule
against it, but because of the rain … it’s just not feasible. So we are happy that we have the 4 burner
stove with grill to fall back on. It’ll
be worth every cent this trip. Glenn
grabs out the grill plate though as we’ll be doing rissoles for lunch or
dinner. So glad we didn’t decide on a
roast this time! That would be very
interesting to do on the 4 burner – we may have had to do it under the grill …
grilled roast and veg?
We spent most of the day under the awning swatting as
many locals as we are able to. I pity
the pups here, but it seems their longer hair could be working better than our
clothes. I spray the toxic chemicals on
my clothes. I’m not sure it’s working at
all.
Glenn decides to retire inside for a snooze. I’m going to take the dogs for a wander
around and let them stretch their legs.
I note that a lot of the sites have tables, chairs and
a fire place. The landscaping is
wonderful with small gardens dotted everywhere.
On approach I notice plaques dotted everywhere. All of them have sayings that on a nicer day
might very well be appropriate.
I visit the amenities and they are spotlessly clean
and very well appointed. I also note
they are ‘pay for hot water’ showers. It
does state the cost but not how long that might be for. Guess we’ll find out should we decide to use
them – I think it’s probable though.
Just past the amenities is a large open hall like
building with tables, chairs and a kitchenette.
It also contains a stage and photos of events of the past.
There is a tennis court which is a little overgrown
and just off those are a few of what appear to be exercise machines which I’m
not sure the use of. I head back to the
road and follow it away from the camp grounds for awhile. There are smaller little camps down this way
but all of them are sodden, with little rivers heading through. Occasionally there are slabs for caravans or
motor homes in these areas. Heading
further away from them, I’m basically in a tidal bush area. Mosquitoes are relentless here and I head
back to camp – occasionally trying to scare them away by removing the umbrella
from overhead. It doesn’t work terribly
well.
Back at camp, I decide to relax and enjoy the sound of
rain on canvas as best I can in the current circumstances. Often I renew the toxic chemical mix on my
exposed parts and clothing. It hasn’t
stopped raining and I wonder how much has fallen since we arrived. The forecast was for rain today and sunshine
with the occasional shower tomorrow.
Let’s hope they’ve got it right for once.
We are right beside a creek here and I find myself
often checking the depth. Right in front
of us is a rather large drop directly into the drink. The water is swirling and brown with debris
being carried out in an easterly direction.
There is a tree or two that lost its battle with the water on some day
in the past sitting not far out into the water, although some roots are still
in the bank. Camp is far enough back
from here that a very large chunk of land would have to go before we’d be in
any danger, so I don’t even worry about it.
Glenn has bought out the mince for dinner and has it
defrosting, so I set about preparing the rissoles and give the mince a help to
defrost by chopping it into smaller sections.
Once I start working the ingredients together, then mince can do nothing
else but thaw quickly.
There will be no camp cake this weekend either. Glenn is a bit upset by this, but what can we
do?
We are pretty sure we won’t be out of bed much longer
than after dinner. So we set about
making our rissole and onion sandwiches, while the rain continues to fall. After dinner we clean up a bit, have our
showers (that $1 gets you 5 minutes or so of hot water) and retire behind bug
screens.
As we ready ourselves for bed, all we can hear is the
constant whine of those little locals and Glenn sets about killing those that
have made their way inside. Surprisingly
it takes him nearly 30 minutes to eradicate them all, but it’s hilarious to see
him swatting them. Once they’ve all been
slaughtered, we retire in comfort. And
the rain continues to fall.
Through the night, we are both woken by what sounded
like thunder, but in the morning, turns out to be more trees falling in the
creek.
No AH
03.03.13
Next morning it’s not raining! Let me here you cheer “YAY”! We are very happy about that. The mosquitoes on the other hand, we’ll
aren’t happy to find that they are still in residence and hungry.
We stay in bed with coffee for as long as we dare
before we need to move.
Glenn suggests we wait til the canvas is dry and we
get the flock outta there. I quickly
agree. And so starts the pack up
process. Cleaning up the kitchen,
packing up the table and chairs doesn’t take long. Then we start drying as much of the outside
as we can. I always pack extra old
towels for just this purpose. They make
it easy to remove any moisture sitting on the outside of the canvas and the
miles of Velcro on the outside. This
done all we can do is wait for whatever moisture remains to evaporate. Ideally, with the canvas will still be quite
wet, this drying process should take a good day or two, but we don’t have that
privilege today. We have a matter of
hours hopefully, unless another shower comes over.
Glenn got to use his new Swag tools ...
Thankfully we get those few hours. It’s really not enough, but when another
shower appears on the horizon, the camper lid gets flipped faster than you can
say “Gee the mozzies are bad”. We are
hitched up and heading out around lunchtime.
We stop at the office to remove our names from the board and we are on
the road.
As we head out to the main road, we notice fellas with
4WD’s and motorbikes on the side of the road.
I guess these are the bikes we could hear yesterday hooting north and
south, now obviously through the state forest.
Once home, we need to get the camper back out to dry,
but that won’t happen today as it’s still drizzling a bit. I crack open a Hippo to soak up as much
moisture as it can. The following
Saturday, we open up the camper and dry it out really well as it’s a gorgeously
sunny and breezy day. Giving it a few
hours to dry and then closing it back up until we go camping again. Thankfully we don’t find any mould.
No AH
Trip Kilometres:
178
Trip Duration: 48 hours
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