Fathers Weekend at The Pines

On the 21st of October we headed up to The Pines camping area again for what was to be a Fathers and kids camping trip.
The weather forecast was not great, understandably the other Fathers going were not keen on the idea of setting their tents up in the rain or if it was going to rain. The Father's trip turn into the Father Trip.
The girls and I got to the campsite while it was still light so we got fire started and kicked back straight into relaxation mode.
That night it did rain so the other guys made the right call. It was actually quiet pleasant listening to the rain on Vinnies roof. Looking out the window in the morning I saw streams of water running down the hill. I looked at the tents that were pitched in the camp ground and thought they must of had water running through the floor of the tent.
We had our breakfast and by the time we had finished the rain had reduced to drizzle. We went and explored the same places we visited last time we were here the river had much more water than last time because of the rain. There also seemed to be a lot more leeches.



 By lunchtime the rain had pretty much stopped. I brought out the heap of fire wood I had stowed away in vinnies underseat storage. We started the fire to get ready to slow cook a stew all afternoon for dinner.
As we sat around the fire a guy from a near by camp wandered over, he was unable to start his fire due to his fire wood been soaked by the nights rain. I happily made him a cup of tea and he pulled up a chair for the afternoon by our fire.
The guys name was Casey, he told us that he was homeless and currently living at the campsite until he could find a place to move into. He seemed like I nice enough guy but I don't think he let the truth get in the way of the amazing and unfortunate things that had happened in his life. Casey was only a young guy in his early 20s he kept saying his dad was going to come and give him some supplies but did not show up while we were there. I couldn't help feel sorry for him, I gladly share our stew with him and some chicken kebabs that we had for dinner. He was very grateful, we sat around the fire till it got dark, Casey even taught the girls a slight of hand magic that kept them amused for ages.

On the sunday we woke to a beautiful day although we were headed home to a party my wife had been preparing for to say goodbye to our neighbours who were moving. I realized I had enough fire wood in vinnie to last me a week because we were heading home I decided to leave it all with Casey. When driving out we pulled up at Casey's tent I asked if he wanted me to top up his drinking water he accepted the offer he pulled out a 10L container with about a litre of murky river water left in it. We also left him all the food we had left he was very thankful.

Glenbawn Dam

October long weekend we turned up on the Friday night at about 10pm it was closer to 11pm by the time we got in, I never read the confirmation email for our booking so I was unaware of the access code I needed for entry.
Once in the Glenbawn Dam  campground it seemed to cover an large area and we had no idea where we were going .We got vague directions of where our friends who arrive earlier in the day were camping and managed to jag it by crossing paths with them as they decided to go for a stroll to the toilet at 11pm.
Waking up in the morning and gazing out vinnies window from our spot high on a hillside looking down on the dam we had another moment of appreciating the beautiful outlook surrounding us. Then we gorged on pancakes.

I was quick to realize this was a popular location for ski boats and fishing boats. We did have our little inflatable raft.
 There was grassy hillsides to camp on but finding a level patch would be a challenge. The rule of thumb was camp anywhere you want as long as you weren't blocking other peoples access. Other friends of our were camped on the other side of the valley to us, good thing we had that separation though they appeared to be plagued with sickness.
It cost a couple a hundred dollars to stay there for 3 nights. But how good are warm showers right?
We went for a walk around to the other side of the dam from where we were staying, it was a big enough walk for the young ones, I carried Eliza back on my shoulders, she managed to fall sound asleep slumped over my head snoring in my ear all the way back to the camp ground.
There was enough open area to kick a ball around and throw a frisbee, the girls had there bikes but lost interest quickly due to the sloppiness of the area.
No designated fire areas, people would just place rocks in a circle and start their open fire anywhere.

For Dinner was another stew as we cook up each weekend we go away, this time we shared our dinners with our friends who had made a lighter oriental type dish that complemented the stew well. We watched the sunset behind the mountains from our hillside location and managed to get a good night sleep regardless of the thundering bass from campers who were probably 100m away playing all the bogan classics such as ACDC and Cold Chisel through their sound system to all hours of the morning. 

The next day we tried our luck at fishing in the dam but was unsuccessful the more serious fishermen were catching fish in the area, there was a building not to far from where we were camping that accommodated a fishing club.

Mostly we were just happy to swan around in our inflatable raft. Miette my 7YO even mustered up the courage to jump out of the dingy and have a swim in the deep cool water of the dam.

It was a great place to visit but I don't think we'd be heading back in a hurry, there are may other areas we are interested in checking out.

  

The Pines

On the 17th of September we took off on the friday afternoon to a campsite that was fairly isolated from civilization and only one and a half hours from home. The campsite we stayed at this time was called 'The Pines' located in the Olney State forest. We turned up in darkness the girls sound asleep, I managed to get a park on fairly level ground not far from a pit toilet.
Waking up the next day we could see the beauty of the spot, we were nestled amongst towering pine trees and tranquil bush land. I'd bought the bikes for the girls but due to the slope of the campsite they kept riding down the hill and expected me to carry the bikes back up.
Looking around the camping area there seem to be a lot of little areas you could set up your campsite in, some in the bush away from the main camping area. Unlike the National parks you were allowed to burn firewood found in the bush, only problem with this was there seemed to be a 1km radius around the campsite free of any usable firewood, so I was left regretting the fact I packed my chainsaw instead of firewood.  


Bushwalking tracks shot off from the campground in all different directions. One of the paths was edged with a row of bushrock, there were a series of bridges and areas with handrailing and makeshift steps. There is a nice little river running not far from the campsite. A couple of little water falls are also not far away.
We went for a walk through the bush and strolled across other camp sites near by there wasn't abundance of wild life but we saw the odd wallaby and plenty of bird life.


.

After Lunch we took our little blow up raft down to a small man made damn near the campsite the girls had a great time floating around in the afternoon sun.  

The people had taken their dogs to the campsite and some of the people staying there were there to ride their trail bikes, the noise of the motorbikes did disturb the peaceful atmosphere but it wasn't for to long.

We also went walking down the river bed climbing over rocks and jumping over the running water, the girls found hanging vines to swing on and had fun exploring. 

The trip was cut short on Sunday as Miette woke up unwell, Although we headed home early the time we spent at the pines was very enjoyable I'd recommend camping there.

Camping at Copeland was gold!

I had the day of work on Friday the 26th of August, The girls and I hoped in Vinnie on the Thursday night and headed up North we originally planned on staying at Tattersalls camping ground on the Karuah river. Due to the rain earlier in the week the road into Tattersalls was unsuitable for Vinnie I discovered this after getting almost to the camp site. I battled our way through mud holes to get out but unknowingly broke a piece of Vinnie's fibre glass body in the process. *Sniff Sniff*.

A work mate of mine was also joining us on this trip with his 2 young girls. After our failed attempt to get to Tattersalls we made the decision to head up to Barrington unsure where but we decided to figure that out when we got there.

We drove through Stroud, Gloucester and then past Barrington we went over the old bridge past thunderbolts way and eventually pulled into what initially looked like a paddock, as the lights from our vehicles shone around this paddock we noticed a fireplace, a covered picnic table, bins and a tin shack that contained a pit toilet. This suited us perfectly as we were to tired to go any further. 

 In the morning we realized what a great spot this was to stumbleupon.   There were large flat grassy areas for the girls to run around and play on and we were close to a creek the girls had a great time playing in. We had the campground to ourselves, there were no camp fees for staying here.

On Friday Morning I got up the girls had breakfast and I had my morning coffee in my trusty old plunger. When I was washing the plunger after breakfast I noticed coffee caught between the casing and the glass of the plunger, I thought the glass must push out of the casing for cleaning but I was wrong. I pushed my thumb up through the base of the plunger the glass shattering and I cut my thumb up pretty bad on the shards. Luckily there was a medical centre in Gloucester that had me stitched up in a jiffy.
We lazed about all day friday not doing to much at all, just exploring the place a little bit. In the afternoon started a fire and got cracking on the kangaroo stew I had planned.

Roo Stew

Ingredients
500g of Kangaroo Fillets chopped up
2 Cloves of garlic chopped
a brown onion chopped
500g tin of crushed tomatoes
a vegetable soup pack (swede, celery, 2 carrots, potato)Chopped
 Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method
Saute garlic and onions in some butter in the camp oven hanging over the edge of the camp fire. Throw in the meat to brown, then chuck in the other stuff, cover with water and simmer until the meat falls apart Approx 4 hours. There are things to take into consideration when cooking a stew over an open fire you want to experiment to get the right heat level you do this be moving the oven closer or further away from the fire. Stoking the fire or letting it die down is the alternative method of temp control. The main thing you have to look out for is that the stew doesn't boil dry or stick to the bottom.


On the Saturday we took a trip up to visit the old gold mine at Copeland. The national parks run guided tours and host school excursions there. We went for a stroll on the Hidden Treasure walk, it was in rainforest terrain but had suitable walking tracks for the girls to walk on. The girls had a swing on a low hanging vine and played in the icy cold mountain streams. It was an interesting place to visit

Mountain water consumed at the source

 

More friends came to visit on the Saturday, My wife brought an inflatable boat and the kids had a great time paddling around in the creek near the camping area. We had great weather it was a good weekend spent with good people to chill out with. I'd recommend staying at Copeland. 

Gloucester River Camping area

11- 13th of June
We headed up to Gloucester after some domestic chores and shopping on Saturday. We left to arrive on dusk but turned up in complete darkness due to my poor orienteering skills.
There were a few scattered campers spread amongst the campground but I wouldn't say it was crowded. Everyone there was pretty chilled there no loud music or roarkus behavior. We went to sleep after a few sauso sandwiches and a wander around spooking some wallabies.
It wasn't a good night sleep though Vinnie played up on us his battery system malfunctioned and alarms started going off in the middle of the night, If that wasn't bad enough power was not working in the morning which meant no coffee, without coffee I lacked the ability to resolve the issues I was facing with the battery system, so I went for a walk with the girls along the mountain stream beside our new home.

We watched some bikers readying themselves to head out on a day trip and we readied ourselves to swoop on their spot as soon as they left. It was A good setup level ground and a sweet BBQ setup with a swiveling hot plate and swivel arm to hang the Billy and camp oven, with just a short walk to the toilets and Gloucester River. So I cranked the fire and soon had my mug of coffee and managed to overcome any prior issues realizing I left 2 cables disconnected to Vinnies Battery system the last time I altered the batteries.

Moments before Disaster 

We checked out the main section of river that was not far from our camp site I decided to take a couple of photos of the girls by the river hoping onto a rock to get to a good vantage point for the picture I managed to slip and fall into the river in the most uncoordinated way I did this in full view of some young boys that were walking up the river bank and I was shocked they didn't even laugh if I saw some doofus fall into the river while trying to take a photo I would of been rolling around on the ground in hysterics.


While down by the river the girls took their gumboots and socks off and dipped their feet in the chilly mountain stream. They skimmed rocks across the water and soaked in the tranquil ambiance of the place, there were lyrebirds running through the scrub and little Finches (I say Finches due to my complete lack of Avian Knowledge )  that would surround you as you sat in your camp chair.
We made Damper in the camp oven our first attempt the recipe went....

Damper
Ingredients
900g of Plain Flour
2 cups of Milk
1 Tablespoon of Baking Powder
and a reasonable pinch of salt

Method
Mix Ingredients together kneed for a bit, put in camp oven until cooked.



The damper turned out ok I had to cut a burnt crust off the bottom but the dough was nice and dense we spread a bit of Margarine and honey on it and even the girls gave it a go. I will try this again but maybe experiment with different recipes. Also on the menu for lunch was some pork spare ribs with a spice rub.

Spicy Pork Ribs
Ingredients
A rack of pork spare ribs
Chilli Powder
Crushed Coriander
Cumin
Paprika
Honey

Method
Mix a couple of teaspoons of each of the spices with a tablespoon of honey and coat the Ribs sit by the open fire till it looks cooked enough to consume.

Lunch is served 

There was some nice bushland around where vinnie was parked. We went for a walk and checked out all the little camping areas that could be utilized while staying here. We walked to the end of the camping areas where there was a clearing beside the river signs that were posted there suggested it was platipus territory. We didn't see any platypus, but Eliza's doll did find it a good place to wind down.    

For dinner we tried another stew in the camp oven, While we prepared the stew the girl wandered in the bush near our camping area and found a vine swing to push each other on, they found places to climb and hide and best of all there was no LCD screen involved. They kept amused for a while dinner was bubbling away.

Gloucester Camp Stew
Ingredients 
2 Lamb Shanks
2 cloves of garlic
2 Onions
2 Carrots
2 Potatos
1 cup of Risoni
Salt & Pepper
Method
Brown Meat, put aside, saute garlic and onion then add chopped up veggies cover with water, season.
boil down stew till meat falls of the bone should take 3-4 hours in the last 15min add risoni. Enjoy


The Stew was a success unlike my last attempt. We spent the night roasting marshmallows on the fire and spot lighting bandicoots.
We woke up fairly early and journeyed on the windy bumpy gloucester tops rd to Gloucester falls where we went on bush walk to see the falls. We enjoyed the walk as a way to end the trip, I promised the girls a cup of soft drink each at the end of the walk if they completed it without me needing to carry them. I was amazed at how successful this incentive was.


                                                                                       

Mungo Brush National Park

27th-29th of May
After a couple of weekends of Birthday parties, My Daughter turning 7 and me turning thirty something, we managed to get away before May was over, this time Mungo Brush just over an hour from home.
We headed up after work on a Friday afternoon pulling up at Dee's Corner at about 8pm in pitch black darkness, there were lot's of people in the campground, but it wasn't overcrowded. There was a variety of people staying there including Retirees, Beach fisherman, families and Partying teens. 
When waking in the morning I pulled back the blind and looked out on the picturesque Bombah Broadwater, it was a bit of a surprise, we couldn't see much on arrival. 

A nice outlook to wake up to!

The girls were excited, I went on a early morning walk with them over to the beach which was only a 10 min walk away. They played in the sand writing their names while I took a few photos and checked out the surf and diving conditions. The walking path over to the beach crossed a 4WD track that goes straight across the dunes onto the beach from the camp area which would make the camp area ideal for beach fisherman. So it was no surprise there were a few around. 

Beach across from campsite

In the morning the park Rangers came around collecting camp Fees. A little unprepared I had no cash on me, luckily they get around these days with a eftpos machine, I was able to buy an Annual pass that enabled us to visit most National Parks. I have the feeling we may get to visit a few with Vinnie at our disposal. The Ranger warned us about the Dingos that live in the area, we were warned to store our food cautiously which wasn't a problem for us, vinnie had that covered. Just a couple of hours later we watched as Dingo's tried making off with a fellow campers Esky.
There was a good little flat area for the girls to play by the water and plenty of great little trees to climb that were hanging out over the water. 

Photo Bombed by Vinnie

Bombah Broadwater

There were bush walking tracks leading from the campsite, The ranger said the ruins of an old farm is on one of the walks but we didn't locate it, we did see an old water pump windmill that looked pretty old. It was nice bush to go for a trek through and wasn't to difficult terrain to take the kids on, it was known as the Mungo Rainforest walk, we walked out to a point where it was quiet windy, we were thankful it wasn't as windy at the campground as it was on the point, we kept on following the track along for a bit, eventually we would of made it to the Mungo brush camp ground.After climbing a bit of a hill Eliza my youngest daughter decided to put on her "my legs are tired" performance on where slumps down on the ground dragging herself along in a zombie like manner, me saying "c'mon Eliza get up" does nothing in these circumstances, Pretending to walk away like we are leaving her doesn't work either. So Eliza gets a fun trip back to camp riding on my shoulders.

That night we prepared a stew in the camp oven. When we have been on camping trips in the past preparing a stew has been a common occurrence, Our history of camp stews has had mixed results, this time we were going to keep it simple. 

Buckingham Camp Stew
Ingredients 
2 cloves garlic minced
2 brown onions
4 sliced carrots
6 medium sized potatoes diced
4 large lamb chops
Salt and Pepper for seasoning

Method
set up camp oven over open fire that has been reduced to glowing red logs with minimal flame. Brown the chops each side and put aside. Saute the garlic, onion and carrots. Add potatoes and return chops to the camp oven. Cover with beef stock and put the lid on. Sit back in your camp chair with a few beers for 3-4 hours stirring occasionally make sure it doesn't boil dry and burn, it will be ready when the meat falls off the bones.


One of the conditions of this camp area was that all fires were to be kept on the meter x meter concrete slabs that were provided for each camp site. I had my camp oven tripod set up on this slab over the fire we'd made. All was in the pot and things were going well I was half way to having a flavoursome camp stew, I took the lid off to give it a bit of a stir as I did the metal legs of the tripod slipped the pot turned over and a wave of camp stew splashed all over my feet. I was only wearing pluggers (thongs) so it was a double edge sword, ruined dinner and scolded feet. We salvaged enough for dinner but after topping it up with water it ended up fairly bland.
Retreating to Vinnie that night I left my stew covered pluggers sitting on Vinnie's back step, that night a dingo stole my plugger, chewing on it rendering them useless.
On the Sunday we cooked up a bacon & egg breakfast in the van before exploring the other campsites and picnic areas on Mungo Road. A lot of the camp areas are closed in winter for Rejuvenation, from what I could see they all looked like pretty good places to stay. We had a look at the cable ferry that takes cars across the river for $6 if you plan to head to Buladelah. We headed back to Dark Point a significant Aboriginals site. It was pretty windy so I was able to kick a ball to myself as I walked across the dunes. 

We had lunch in Tea gardens and an unsuccessful line fish off the jetties along the waterfront there before heading home. Another enjoyable weekend away. 

The Watagans National Park

Gap Creek Camping area

23rd-25th of April 2016

On our first journey we went to Gap Creek a campsite at the Watagans.

The weather was not ideal while heading up on Saturday Morning but nothing was going to deter the 2 excited little girls that were expecting to go on their first camping trip in our new camper. We drove past Bangalow camp ground first, it looked like a great place to stay it had Electric BBQ, Pit toilets, little fireplaces and plenty of flat camping area to utilize. We only traveled another 100m to get to the Gap Creek camping area there was only one caravan that was occupying the camp area and a steep bumpy dirt track to get up to another part of the camping area but there was no way I was taking Vinnie up there. I talked to the people with the caravan they were a older couple from Adelaide. I pulled into a suitable little nook near the entrance to the camping area. 

    

We set up our shelter in our chosen location that was close to the pit toilets the rubbish bin and the BBQ. Once we were set up we decided to go for a little bush walk we wandered through beautiful rainforest with the whip birds making their unique call. The girls did well they trudged along in there gum boots along a winding hilly track for a good half an hour before we decided to turn back I took a couple of photos on our walk.

We followed a bush turkey along the track on our way back, it scurried along on the path in front of us. Other wildlife we encountered on our trip to the Watagans were the Brushtail possums that would come hunting for food at night. When I drove past the Bangalow camp area I noticed a joey had become game enough to enter into the camping area for an easy feed. 

That night a lot more campers arrived. A guy turned up in a van with his nephew who were just camping the night we had a chat as we sat around the campfire I'd made. I bought all my firewood from home, as they are the rules outlined on the national parks website.

 I had plenty of room under the seats of the camper to store firewood, and have been slowly getting rid of the tree that fell down in my backyard over a year ago.

Other people that turned up that night were a couple from Sydney, guy on a motorbike with a swag and a few 4WDs that camped up on the higher camp ground, early in the morning a group of young people arrived that had been at the groove in the moo festival in Maitland. So I think it was a busy weekend for the Watagans even still it didn't feel crowded.

I'd been walking around in thongs the whole day and managed to pick up a few slimy blood sucking friends. If you are freaked out by leeches you best stay away from this campsite. When one of the
girls got a leech on them they did freak out for a moment but when she calmed down I just covered it in salt and the leech soon dropped off .

On the Sunday we had some friends turn up so we decided to go on the walk down to the waterfall.

The friends that joined us had three young girls so with 5 girls they were giggling and playing through the remainder of the weekend. We started heading along the track that had a sign that read 400m to the waterfall, it felt like a kilometer. The last section of the track was pretty sketchy so if you do decide to take on the trek be prepared to climb down some slippery rocks and steep embankments but the atmosphere at the bottom is quite spectacular.

the waterfall was not very active at the time we were there but I could imagine it would be even more impressive with a big flow of water. 
Pippa the youngest girl on the trip was fascinated by the the leeches she was quite proud to announce that the leeches liked her and she liked the leeches.
A lot of people seemed to turn up in the Gap creek car park just to hike down to the water fall, I'd imagine it would make a good day trip for those not keen on camping.
That night I cooked a big stew in my cast iron Camp oven a good 5 hours cook time hanging over the edge of the fire meant the chuck steak I'd thrown in was tender as could be. The girls had a great time roasting Marshmallows and playing in the Campervan. 
On the Sunday morning we hiked from the campsite up to Monkey Face a popular cliff face for climbing and Abseiling, I'd been there before on training days with NHVSS the caving club I'm a member of. It was sad to see a dead echidna at the base of the cliff. After the Monkey face hike we ducked down into a riverbed near the Gap creek car park many years ago I remember going there with the caving club into some small boulder caves that had the ceiling covered in glow worms. We didn't enter the cave I think I previously visited instead found a smaller one that only contained 1 single glow worm. The girls seemed to be more fascinated by a huge pile a human faeces we found.  

The good thing about camping here was how close it was to home, less time travelling meant more time enjoying tranquil laid back atmosphere.
Overall I was very happy with our first camping trip and would recommend this spot to others.     

We bought a Campervan

My Wife and I out of the blue decided to buy a Campervan.
I grew up loving the outdoors. I'd always get away on camping trips whenever the opportunity arose, being a member of our local caving club NHVSS I'd sometimes travel to isolated locations where I'd roll out my swag and rough it by a campfire for a couple of nights, I'd also go on camping trips with my spear fishing buddies to great spear fishing locations or just make arrangements to camp with whatever friends were keen for no particular reason. My wife is less on an outdoor type than me however she does go well as a camper, but would still prefer a few basic creature comforts.
We have two girls that are 4&6 years old. My wife and I would like to get away and create some happy memories with the girls before they grow up and decide we are to daggy to go away with. We didn't get away much for the last couple of years as my time was consumed by doing major renovations to our house which I blogged about @ Building Beneath Our renovations are not finished but I feel we all need a break from it and the house is functional as is.
We got the Van a week and a half ago and last weekend we took it on it's maiden voyage It was a long weekend and we headed up to the Watagans a National Park about 40mins from our home.