Friday, April 29, 2016

Camping Comrades

With whom have I set out on this adventure, who is the 'we' to which I keep referring? There are five of us on this adventure, or three, depending on how you count it. I'll outline us all here leave the final tally up to you.

Well firstly there is me, chief organiser and resident control freak. I'm taking a break from my studies (study break in fact) for this little excursion. This semester I am once again at two unis and unfortunately only one of them is on break this week, however due to Anzac day I'm only missing 2 hours of class from the other, which hopefully I'll be able to make up with some diligent revision and some rote learning (it's Italian).

Then we have Lochie, Captain in Chief. He's a building designer and draftsman, also the landrover owner. He's been hankering for a bit of a break from work and hardly needs much encouragement to head out on an off-roading trip. Since his vehicle of choice sports a 'made in England' sicker we're often at my dad's workshop having a bit of a tinker and fixing anything that's got broke.

Last human on our trip is Chief Navigator Haydn. He's just graduated as an electrical engineer, hasn't done much camping before but is always keen for a Leroy adventure. He only has a manual license so isn't going any of our road driving but is competent enough to drive Leroy in the event of Lochie being stung twice by bees and me breaking a leg.

Next up is Jace, Adventure Mascot. She has taken a break from her warm room and comfortable bed to journey with us into the wilderness. She hasn't camped before but is well versed in adventures.

Then there's Leroy, 'reliable, dependable, never holds back, provider of transport and warmth'. He's 7 years old, a little go getter, like a British bulldog but also he's a car. 2009 landrover Defender 130, um double cab chassis, 2.4l 4 cylinder turbo diesel engine, with 300nm of torque and 90 brake horse power. Some (Kim Cramer) may say that's not enough but Leroy's massive gear box will get us through anything. (cut to scene Leroy rising majestically over green hillside covered in mud) and that you may have guessed was dictation from proud Papa Lochie.

So there you have it, our little convoy. Final numbers to be determined by you.
Images to follow soon if not already uploaded.

Ravensthorpe to Fitzgerald River national park (also Hyden)

When I was telling my dad about our plan to swap drivers at Hyden on the way down he eagerly pulled up photos of the last time I'd been there. It was 2000 and toward the end (?) of a 3 month family camping/caravan trip, and directed pigtailed me (an also sometimes my sister) at wave rock. So after we'd had pies at the Hyden bake house I pushed for us to stop by on our way out of town to recreate the photo. In the end I couldn't find my hair lackies (it's a currently /just/ long enough to tie up) so there were no pig tails but we did take a photo to send to my dad next time we got reception. (I'll try an upload it when I get a copy/reception)

While we were there we commented on how much of a nanny state we live in, to have erected a wall across the top of such a beautiful natural land mark, so that people wouldn't fall off. It turns out however the wall was built to increase the catchment area of Hyden dam, when it was extended in 1951, which is actually pretty reasonable. We did the shortest of short walking trials up to the top of the rock and then down again which afforded us an awesome view of the surroundings.

After the brief interlude I took the wheel and we tottered on down to Ravensthorpe where we topped up Leroy's air bag suspension a touch (Leroy is the car we're in) and did our produce shop. The boys were weirded out by the fact the iga had a carpeted floor, but I was somewhat more distracted by the fact that they had camping/hardware supplies, and no sliced bread. We picked up a couple of gems, like discount (expired) 'regular spread (margarine) and a loaf of unsliced artisinal bread (of which half still remains with us and we're nearly at Albany). It was then just an hour further to our first vaguely planned camp-site (for which I relinquished vehicular control).

That night we camped at Stoke's inlet where there was a lovely volunteer camp ground manager couple, Bob and Pat (apparently Bob only had one had but the validity of that statement cannot be confirmed by and additional party), a well established and sheltered camping area, a barbecue and a toilet block. It made for a nice soft entry to camping. We arrived in time to figure out our swag arrangements, and get started on dinner before it got dark. I'd spent much of the car trip babysitting my not-quite-dead-yet bunch of flowers which made a nice addition to our table spread.


The following day (Saturday) we headed into Esperance for sliced bread, gluten free bread, an extra day's worth of meat (having revised our journey somewhat) and a tarp (there is alot of forecast rain). For lunch we stopped into Top End Takeaway at the recommendation of a friend who grew up in Albany, and their Mick's burger was just the delicious monstrosity she'd outlined. The boys' faces lit up at the mention of double patties. We got them to go and headed straight for the ocean, eating on a picnic table overlooking the Scout's yatch club.


Onwards we went to our second camp ground: Mason Bay. This was a beautiful little place right on the coast and it had a fire pit. It was still incredibly clear so we gave the tarp a miss. Woolies Esperance had provided us with the lovely gem of a discount butterflied lamb shoulder that we enjoyed with fire roasted veggies. Determined to beat the previous night's 7.30 bed time we stayed up watching the fire and listening to the surf (also warming our feet on the edge of the concrete fire enclosure). Whilst enjoying the fire we also sacrificed most of the forlorn looking roses to the rain gods in hopes of continued fair weather. The moon was incredibly full that night and despite my complaints about it being too bright this is probably my favourite camp ground so far; after getting into my swag I lay and watched the stars for a while listening to the waves crashing.


Flower Sacrifice to the Rain Gods
in hopes of continued fair weather

After a good 11 or so hours of sleep and Lochie's pre breakfast swim we pottered around for a bit before packing up and heading off towards Fitzgerald River national park. And while we're on the topic of sleep I must say, we sure are getting a lot, after getting to camp early to mid afternoon we set up, occasionally have a brief chill then start getting dinner ready around 5 as it begins to get dimmer. We're generally eating by torch light and not long after yawning ourselves into our swags only to rouse again at 7 or 8 the following day. That's what you're supposed to do on holiday, right? Sleep a lot?

Friday, April 22, 2016

We're off on an adventure

Only thing is, it's not overseas.

Currently I'm sitting in the back of a friend's Land Rover Defender as we muddle our way towards Brookton hwy; the main arterial of the day's journey to Esperance. After acquiring perishables from Ravensthorpe and camping somewhere between the two we spend the next 9 days off roading home up the coast. It'll be the longest holiday I've taken since going to Italy for Christmas in 2013.

It was just before Christmas when we started throwing around the idea of escaping the daily work/uni grind in favour of an adventure. Initially we had almost 10 people interested in going but conflicting uni breaks gave us the opportunity to scale it back to something more manageable and, from my point of view, enjoyable (ever tired catering for 10 people for a multiple of days, not the most relaxing tasks). We chose dates; long weekend, study week, least possible school holidays and left it there until about a month ago when we realised we had actually better get our acts together!

A couple of planning meetings later and Lady weekend we found ourselves up at my parents' farm on a supply run and trial camp. The vast majority of people I've talked to chuckled at the notion of practising our camping, but to be honest, if I'm going to have problems sleeping in a swag, I'd rather know about it sooner rather than later when I have the time and resources to deal with it. And as it turns out, tapered sleeping bags and swags aren't all that fun, something I've now accounted for.

The past few days have been rather hectic, trying to fit last bits of planning, staples shopping and packing in around labs, a 12hour day at work, and finishing off an assignment (handed in at 8am this morning, our first stop of the day). But now we are on our way and the things we don't have we don't have and that's that. We'll never be more than a few hours away from a decent sized town so we'll be able to pick up what we're missing on the next produce shop.