I’m back from a few days away camping, had a fantastic time. My sister and I drove out in heavy rain with thunder and lightning, and chose a camp site by the time-honoured tradition of pitching a tent at the spot we got bogged. 🙂 Well, first we spent a filthy wet hour heaving the car about 5 pointless metres through the mud, then we decided that the middle of the road looked like a great spot for a camp site after all.

The rain stopped for just long enough to find a flat spot about 100 yards from the car, pitch the tent in the dark, and haul all the camping gear from the car to the tent, and brew up hot cuppas and soup for tea.

Laying in bed we were feeling extra fortunate for the break in the wet weather when the rain started up again with enthusiasm and we discovered that our tent was no longer waterproof. First it was a drip – which might even have been attributed to an over active imagination or mild hallucination… then rivulets of water started seeping down the inside of the tent. We scrambled for plastic bags and wrapped electronic items like cameras, also shoes, a spare change of clothes, and books as best we could, then covered our beds with towels and jackets and hunkered down for a very long damp night. Fortunately the weather was warm so we didn’t chill, although it was by far the wettest night I’ve ever had. In the morning the entire tent was sodden, the floor was a lake, the bedding saturated. Somehow the tissue box was strategically placed in the one dry spot in the tent, and the plastic bags worked to keep the valuables dry.

The next day was hot and dry so we dragged all our belongings out and left them strewn about the landscape on salt bush to dry.

The car was now moored in its own private pond and listing heavily to the left. We’d stopped before we buried it up the axle, so I was optimistic that with some time and effort we’d be able to extricate it. That evening we dug a channel from the water around the car to a depression along side the road and drained most of the pool of water.

I love camping. It’s such a fantastic experience to be out in the bush, the stars on the second night were breathtaking. The bird song was incredible, the wildlife shy but plentiful. The flora is lovely in a subtle way, the hues of the saltbush and pigsface, tiny flowers and lovely black limbed twisty trees.

Kangaroo prints

Pigsface in bloom

As we weren’t sure how long we may be stuck for, we were careful with our water supply, cleaning our dishes with sand.

The evaporating rainwater left interesting patterns on the earth.

Yesterday a passing motorist kindly tugged our car out the bog, so we were saved the hard work of hauling it out ourselves. I approach camping rather the same way I approach life – be prepared – we were well stocked with food, water, first aid, etc, and don’t expect it all to go to plan. Most horrible things make great stories later on, and the experiences make the miserable times worth getting through. I love camping with someone else who does too, going out with people who are not very keen is a frustrating exercise in trying to prevent them giving up at the first glitch. Being in the bush is one of my restoratives, it calms and inspires me. Such beauty. Wish we could have stayed longer.