Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Holiday Scenes





We had so much fun on our camping trip!  We went to Wivenhoe Dam which I definately recommend as a camp site if you are like me and enjoy having hot showers and flushing toilets available to make your "roughing it" experience not so rough!  I don't recommend unpacking to discover you've forgotten the cutlery and plates though.  Good thing the little country town of  Esk wasn't too far away!

The road ahead on the way up...


and behind...


 The view outside out camper-trailer-tent flap...


Hubby and Miss Five go canoeing!  Miss Five couldn't wait and it was all we heard about on the trip up.  She had her life jacket on the moment we got out of the car and helped us set up quite impatiently! I am generally not a get-up-close-to-water-that-you-can't-see-the-bottom-of-and-just-may-fall-into type of girl, but even I braved the canoe and went for three white knuckled lovely paddles over the time we were there!  So courageous, I am.  Hot showers and all.


Miss Five made friends with a beetle during our stay - she kept it in some spare tupperware (note to self, bring bug catcher next time) and said beetle got to listen to three days of endless chatter and even go for a canoe ride on Miss Five's shirt.  It was so well mannered, it didn't even fly away!  And I have to say that though I don't know what sort of beetle it is, it definately had the jauntiest antenae I have witnessed on a beetle, ever.


See? Jaunty!!  Also, check out my child's grubby camp-hands!  (Note to self, don't forget the wet-wipes next time either.)

Here's our billy on the boil for a well earned cuppa  (Note to self, it's great that you actually remembered the sugar but next time BRING MORE)...


And also, since I am a keen birder, the thing I love the very most about this particular camp site is this...











Did you see that cute fluffy Plover chick?  And also, a Little Eagle!  We even saw that guy catch a fish.

So hope you enjoyed a few of our camp-scenes.  We had a really great time!  Though I have now decided to make up a master list of the things I need to bring next time we go camping so I can pack without having to think and be completely assured that I won't forget a thing!  Do you go camping too?  What essentials (and extras!) can you not do without?

8 comments:

  1. We did so much camping as kids. Dad was always taking us off somewhere or other. He was part of an angling club (do they still exist?), and we went along for the ride. Most of our camping was on the Coorong in SA, so I have fond memories of middens, sand dunes and bonfires at night. Shell collecting, chasing eaqch other with seaweed, and riding on the running boards of our old VW beetle. Now? Not so much. I like my creature comforts way too much. I need a decent coffee first thing in the morning, as opposed to one that is squeezed out of a tube, premixed with condensed milk....

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  2. We started camping with our two boys (4 and 6) two years ago and they love it -- a whole week of being dirty. I enjoy it because we have no obligations when we are camping except to eat and to play. Even mundane chores become fun because we have to walk to get the water. This year I bought a set of colour coordinated plates, bowls and cups for camping. So pretty! I enjoy canoeing but it does freak me out a bit when I look into the water and think about how deep it is, what is under there and such things. Great bird pictures. Lucky you!

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  3. Wow, great bird photos! And I also love the jaunty-antennaed beetle, and that your daughter adopted it.

    We camped a lot when i was a kid, usually at the beach. I loved it, but we haven't taken the plunge with my own little family. I really don't like the queuing for showers in the toilet block!

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  4. We are going camping in a few weeks to THunderbird Park. Its not too far from where but its up the mountain which is nice. We love camping! This is the third trip we have done with our friends. I'll have to pitch wivenhoe for the next trip. Is there much to do there? How long does it take to get there?

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  5. I miss living in QLD after seeing your lovely photos. OK, maybe not the humidity, and the pythons all over the house, and the treefrog in the toilet....but all the other good things.

    I used to camp as a kid in New England, around Glen Innes, We had the weekly treat of a bath in the creek, full of leeches. Quick baths I can tell you!

    Billy tea with condensed milk from a tube, toast on a wire over an open fire, a million stars at night so bright they kept you awake - ahhh, bliss!

    Cheers,

    Cindy

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  6. Thank you for such lovely camping stories, everyone!

    I don't do the condensed milk thing - we are lucky enough to have one of those you-beaut eskies that keeps ice frozen for a week so we bring along fresh everything. Though I'm not sure I'd be able to help you with real coffee, hausfrau! Tara, I shall definately have to get some colour coordinated crockery and cutlery to take next time and Sarah, Wivenhoe is pretty good - even at full camp ground capacity I have never had to queue at the showers. (Thank goodness!)

    Kat, it's a very family oriented place - it has a big grassed oval in the centre with a cricket pitch so you can play a variety of ball games or frisbee or kite flying and you would need to bring your own water craft (no engines allowed) to go boating. You can also swim if you don't mind reedy dam bottoms. And there's fishing or crab-potting if you pay for a permit from the ranger's office. (Our camp neighbours caught a huge batch of red-claw yabbies!) And there is bird watching or you can go walking to explore the nearby surrounds if you like. So there is a bit to do or you can just relax with a good book, a campfire and a cuppa if you like!

    And Artoholic...leeches! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

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  7. Wow, look at that Little Eagle, I have always loved eagles, they are so amazing to watch. If you love camping you should have a look at www.truecamping.com.au. It is a site my hubby set up to help real campers find old style camp sites. By the way, he gets absolutely giddy when he sees another person has stopped by :)

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  8. Oh, thanks so much Aussie, I have bookmarked the site and we'll be sure to use it when exploring further afield! Good on your hubby for setting up such a great service!!

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