Simple Pleasures

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Wheelers Creek

We woke early to a very cold morning nestled in the bush at Wheelers Creek, we hadn’t seen anyone since Wendy and Graham relinquished their camping spot to us, 24 hours before, not a single car, truck or nudist along the logging road, ah what bliss.

Gypsy was snug inside last night, with the aid of our hot water bottles, we cosied up under the quilts and teddy rug and slept soundly, though we were hoping to have had the local possum tap dancing on the roof, but sadly he or she hadn’t made an appearance, we want possums, we were promised possums!!

Last night was black, no moon, only the stars in the night sky to keep us company, our fire and the babbling of the creek some 50 feet away, I have to say Caroline is amazing, she takes on all these situations without any problems, the average mortal would be freaked, so far from civilization, alone, with just each other, it can let your imagination run away with you if you let it.

I descended out of Gypsy in the fresh morning air, like Neil Armstrong climbing down from the Lunar module, the morning was cold, amplified by the fact that the sun had a good climb over the mountains before it adorned our camping spot, we looked at our thermometer and it was 4 degree’s.

I was under strict instruction from the boss that she wanted the kettle on, as morning time was Chai Latte time, no if’s or buts.

Before anything was done, the fire needed bringing back to life, and with a little of my boy scouts skills, I soon got the fire going nicely so Caroline could sit and get warm.

We were soon both enjoying the early morning, and looking at the way the day was shaping up it looked as if the weather was going to be kind to us, Autumn is so beautiful, hot days, but cool nights and early mornings.

We boiled the billy on the fire, and washed our faces with the hot water and as soon as that was done it was time for breakfast, the last of the bacon needed eating up, and keeping the bacon company, today would be couple of eggs.

Again we boiled water in the billy for washing up, it seems so simple to us to use these resources yet it saves so much gas and water, (as we wash up with river water), that’s one of the things I like about Australia, even though fire does not go hand in hand with this country, it is expected you have a camp fire, back in the old Country, camping, it was you can’t do this, you can’t do that or go there. Phooey!! Just imagine camping in the new forest and you had a camp fire, the authorities would have you hanging by your nuts, in Romsey, telling you that you had broken the law !!!

The sun had started to climb and the morning was truly waking up, so we sat around the fire, looking at our next move on the Ipad and checking to see if anyone had sent us any text messages on the satellite phone, thanks Helen.

Caroline suggested that a suitable route out from Wheelers Hut would be via the Beloka Logging trail and it might be good idea to drive some of it to see it was at all possible to get towards Omeo, which was about 100k’saway, otherwise it was back the 17 K’s and on to the Benambra Corryong road, and when we say road we mean dirt track.

We adjusted the fire to leave it in a safe condition and started the truck and headed out, you can tell we are on an old logging trail as there is wood everywhere, and being aware that we were going to spend another night a Wheelers Creek, I thought it would be stupid to pass up the chance of picking up some decent timber for tonight’s camp fire.

We are in the Victorian High country and the scenery from the top of the ridgeline was awesome, Caroline looked for a bearing on her I-pad and it told her that we were 1400 Mtrs above sea level, no wonder we had a good view.

It was about 20 K’s that we drove just checking to see if it was possible to get Gypsy this way and we think it could be done, the track was in quite good condition, (so we will see if we make it tomorrow when we leave) fingers crossed, still the worse that can happen is we turn around and retrace our steps.

We got back to camp at about 11.40 and on a route were deciding what we wanted to have for lunch, I asked Caroline if we had any mayonnaise and she said that we didn’t, as I just fancied, a baked potatoe with Tuna and Mayo.

Caroline said we didn’t have any Mayonnaise as it would not get eaten, I obviously corrected her saying it would have been eaten today, if we had had some.

On our return the fire was got going again and two potatoes’ were wrapped in foil and placed in to the fire, Caroline said that they would take an hour to do and she was spot on, when the hour had passed we got them out of the hot coals and they were done to a turn.

We had the billy boiling most of the afternoon with copious amounts of tea on demand, we sat around the fire, though the temperature had risen to 22 degrees and the sun was strong and the sky was Blue.

Caroline was reading her book and I was reading mine, the quiet of the afternoon was just awesome with only birdsong and the odd rustling of the odd bush to break the silence.

Caroline asked me one of those Kick ass questions, she comes up with “Do snakes Hibernate)?”

We discussed the possible answer and we will have to look up the official answer when we get some internet access, but this is how we reconciled our answer.

Snakes re cold blooded creatures and they need the sun to “Get them going”

We are in Autumn and though it is sunny it can be cold so would a snake risk being outside, and risk the chance of getting cold, and dying when it could be curled up, in a hole warmish-ish waiting for the nice weather to appear.

Whilst finishing off this blog in Omeo, (Victorian High Country) I looked the answer up as attached, thanks Wikipedia, which seems apt as it refers to the Alpine region of Australia, which is where we are at the moment.

The Official Wikipedia Answer.

As with any snakes, Australian snakes may or may not hibernate, according to the weather. Snakes are cold-blooded, and rely on the heat of the sun to raise their body temperature enough for them to become active.

Snakes shelter in rock crevices and logs during cold weather and come out on warm days to sunbake. While they are less active in the cooler months throughout Queensland, the Northern Territory, northern South Australia, Western Australian (except the far southern region) and New South Wales (except for the Alpine areas and High Country), they do not hibernate in these areas. In Tasmania, southern Victoria, the Alpine regions of Victoria and the southern coast of South Australia, snakes do hibernate.

The day started to disappear, which is a time that we need to make sure our camp is all tickety boo, before we settled for the night, the Axe needed putting away, so does the kitchen as it contains knives etc etc, the fire needs logging up so it will burn down ready for morning, without any drama’s, our hot water bottles need preparing and putting in bed, all these simple things to keep us safe and sound.

It is getting dark at 7.20, by this time it’s too dark to read, it is simple pleasure to sit by the camp fire, talk and watch the stars, until we were feeling the cold and wanted to get warm, we headed inside Gypsy, Caroline said why don’t we watch a film through the laptop and PVR as she interfaces it through the sound system.

What a great idea, Caroline set it up and climbed in to bed and watch the film roll, it was “Definitely maybe” and quite a good film.

We have been recording lots of films like this without watching them for moments like these and have quite a few on the PVR.

The end of the film arrived and it was a nice time to shut everything down rollover and go to sleep, the temperature was down, but we were warm and cosy.

Tomorrow it is our intention to leave Wheelers Hut and move on, to somewhere else.

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Photos

Constant Fire
We kept the fire going constantly,to boil thebilly for washing up an the kettle for tea, we did endure the challange of trying to drown ourselves in tea.

Gypsy's Woodland Hideaway
Wheelers Hut is a fantastic site, that is not even marked on the map, how awesome. 9So forget you even read about it )

Our camp set up
Boy the mornings and evenings were cold but the days were beautiful

Wood collection
Just a few twigs we picked up

Putting the fire out
When we left

Wheelers Creek
Th Fresh water creek that ran behind our camp, it was a constant source of shower and washing up water