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Published: August 6th 2007
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Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Queen Elizabeth, happy birthday to you. This is not the sort of love for the monarchy that I normally show, but seeing as she honours Australia with a public holiday for her official birthday I am prepared to sing her that little ditty. She should do the same in the UK, it would do heaps for her popularity.
So to mark this occasion properly we took the opportunity of a long weekend to check out a bit more of Oz, a good thing too as the weather in Sydney was still dreadful. The plan: to meet Kat & Di in Brisbane and take a drive down to Byron Bay for a weekend of camping. This was all pretty exciting for us, as after 3 months in Oz we had witnessed the effort that goes into an Australian camping trip . My personal favourite was an advert for a large camper van, which was so big it had room for your small car to drive up a ramp into the back of it, just like Kit in Knight Rider. We were not disappointed by what we saw. People had laid out
Do you think we have enough stuff?
Kat attempts to make some emergency arrangements as we realise we might have over packed! multi room canvas houses with all manner of fridges, freezers, lamps and bbqs. One group of guys had even remembered the kitchen sink, and a draining board too.
In the end it was just Kat, Dave and the two of us that hit the road for a camping adventure. We were also camping in a luxury far from the normal festival style we are used to: A table, chairs, pillows, a gas hob (no blue Calor gas container here - a portable hob) and plenty of Esky space. Best of all - no mud! I guess you have more room for these things when your bags aren't filled with waterproofs and rum.
Byron was delightful. It was also great to catch up with Kat after all these years and to meet her mate Dave and sample his splendid campsite cooking. The weather was very good to us, rather lucky as we were spending 3 days outdoors. We walked to Australia's most easterly point for sunset, pottered around one of the coolest markets we've been to in a long time and were even able to spend a few hours in the sea. We've not exactly been over exerting ourselves
Would you camp with this man?
Moments after pitching tents, Dave shows his true colours on this trip, but this weekend had to be some of the most relaxing few days yet.
This Weeks Likes
After complaining to Kat that we hadn't heard any decent Australian music yet, she obliged with a whole load of mp3s for us. The Cat Empire anyone?
A great Chinese meal - Kat promised the best and delivered. It also game us the chance to catch up with Di and Sam.
Amazing sunsets. Byron is one of those places that everyone stops what they're doing at sunset and takes in the views. With sunsets this good, its not all that surprising.
This Weeks Dislikes
Di not being able to join us down in Byron
Marissa's inability to remain awake in a moving car, meaning she missed all the beautiful scenery on the way to Byron (and the Gold Coast theme parks)
All the fancy equipment in the world doesn't prevent the horrible middle of the night walk to the toilets
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Charlie J
non-member comment
Nice nice nice
I must admit that sounds like a damn fine camping trip - Byron Bay, proper cooking stuff and the Cat Empire - nice, nice, nice!