Camp Stories

A beautiful sunrise finally greeted us on the last morning.

Sit right back and I'll tell a tale, a tale of a fateful trip......


Just kidding.


So do you want the romanticised version or the horribly negative version?

Combination of both maybe?

We camped under Mt Maroon which the girls imagined played was an active volcano

Our kids have been asking all year when are we going camping again after absolutely loving last years trip to Elanda Point  Even though it rains ALOT at Easter and is possibly one of the worst times of the year to camp, because we did so last year the girls now think this is some sort of tradition.

It's easter. We camp at a Easter. (since when? I say)


Because the Mr is so brave - Camp we did.

and we had a wonderful time.

(except for that baby that loves to wake up at 3:55am everyday, who was sick and coughed half the night and crawled around the tent like a lost crazy person but was a different kid during the day, and the older girls who weren't the least bit helpful when it came to setting up a tent in the rain. and for the crazy amount of noise we make - sorry other campers - I don't know how many times we told the kids to BE QUIET and for the large amount of time the girls spent in the porta loos - those loos are VERY interesting ya know!  Add in the fact I forgot a can opener and a bucket to wash dishes/hands in! grrrrr and we had to eat boring food cause I didn't want to bring meat/food to be cooked and it rained and was cold)

We left with a packed overfilled car and trailer with sunny skies and hopeful dreams.

Dreams that were shattered as we madly tried to set up camp in the rain.

We must have looked comical enough with our HUGE (15mx10m) tarp falling all around us and us yelling begging for the girls to hold up their parts of the tarp that a Bikie looking guy and his wife felt the need to come over and help us. I've found many times that its the tougher/rougher looking people that are often there to lend a hand

(one time our car broke down on a hill stopping traffic. Fancy looking people didn't do a thing, but a car full of ocker aussie blokes in stubbies and thongs whipped out a huge chain out of their boot and tied it to our car and dragged us up the hill out of the way and like angels were gone seconds later)

Admist complaining and grumbling from the kids we managed to get everything set up. The girls and I put the tent up and were pretty proud that it was livable. (except when a little river of water started to head towards it, the tent was slightly down hill! But the Mr saved the day and diverted the river!)

We chose this campsite  after last years upset of camping at a place that didn't allow fires, fires had to be A MUST for this years camp. We also had to have a river/lake etc to explore.  Flanagan Reserve had several of the things we required ( bush camping - not marked places, able to get to with regular car and a trailer, toilets, fires allowed, river, not too far from home etc.)

We really enjoyed it, the only downside is that the reserve is between two lots of private property. The camp might sound large being on 12 hectares but was hemmed in by barbed wire from the farms. This severely limited how far you could follow the creek, go bushwalking etc so we felt it was a little restrictive in this manner. Next time we'll be looking for an even larger area campsite.

the perfect marshmallow stick found by G and borrowed by me.

I was surprised at how well behaved the girls were around fire. Sure they made and lit their own fires, poked at it, roasted marshmallows and made expoding experiments  (milo tin with water and fruit inside. Daddy put the milo lid on and told the girls to watch it explode. Was the funniest thing when it went POP and fruit came flying out making thudding sounds as it fell onto the ground) but they were so careful and mature about fire safety. I'd like to think its because of our practice with our fireplace at home and all the times we play with safely with candles. I hope I have taught them proper respect for such a force.

The only near burning was from this girl and her LOVE of sparklers

We achieved an animal count (always important) of kookaburra's, a (small) snake, wallabies, cows, spiders, ants, and several other birds. It was funny when we had a little spider that like to hang out on our fire pit. G exclaimed "I didn't know there were spiders in camping!!' to which we laughed. Though the place seemed to have no animals that crawl around at night scaring the crap out of you for which I was grateful. I heard no weird night time noises or animals trying to steal food.

We also even saw a rainbow.

A camping trip with the right amount of rain to make us feel tough!
But thank goodness the sun came out.
Spending the first day freezing cold in the rain was enough to almost make me cry.

On the last day to keep them busy while we packed up Daddy made a ropes course for them. They thought this was very fun. Thank goodness for someone with skills as I have none! I can't even make a good fire!



Some of the perfect camping moments that I must dwell on to avoid all the negative ones to ensure that I will one day find the energy to take the kids camping again. (It might take me atleast a few months to muster up the physical and mental requirements for camping with kids)

K looking up at all the stars in the sky exclaimed "There are just no words that can describe this"

The older girls sitting by the fire for hours chatting and poking the fire

G awake in the early housrs of the morning laying snuggled tight next to Daddy. Using her little press light to make silhoutte finger shadows on the walls of the tent.

Nice people helping us set our campsite up in the rain

Spotting wallabies jumping along in the sunrise glow

Rushing sound of the wind at night (it was high up, the tent wasn't shaking at all)

G toasting hundreds of marshmallows

Kids in bed early and The Mr and I sitting by the fire alone keeping warm on a cold night. Talking and staring at the fire. A blissful feeling.

K and her Bear Gryll's experiments. We HAVE learnt some things from that show. We were able to catch water using a method of his!

The kids making instant friends to play with

thank goodness for The Mr. Without him there would be no awesomely packed trailer. No huge tarp to protect us from the rain. No chopped firewood. No fire. No children carried on shoulders. In short there would be No camping. What a hero!

Yay for home and being clean. They spent 90% of the time this dirty. If only the river hadn't been freezing cold they might have been cleaner (they did attempt to swim brrrrrr)

I can still smell smoke. I had to wash my hair 4 times to get the smell out.

But it ws dirty fun!!

Then end xx