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Published: April 27th 2009
Bush Shower
Caroline taking a shower in the bushDAY 170
It was a little before 3.00 this morning when the Possum put in an appearance, well, when I say appearance, I really mean I heard it snuffling around outside on the table. I bashed the side of the tent, it went quiet for I don’t know how long before it reappeared, this occurred several times over, I am not sure who gave up me or the Possum but I was not disturbed by it again. Andy went outside for a pee and saw a juvenile Possum sat on a log, we think he was practising his technique for when he is older and will need to scavenge food off unsuspecting tourists.
However, just after 3.00 I was woken by the sound of a vehicle, this is most unusual a place like this would not normally attract campers at this time of night, most would have stopped long before now, I heard it drive round once and then I heard it coming around again, so I looked out through the mosquito netting, not that I could see much, I was not wearing contact lens so all I saw was what looked like a light coloured pick up
Happy Camper
We need to keep it that way. (4WD) I could not even see a registration plate.
I lay awake for a while wondering if it would come round again, perhaps it was the ranger doing a spot check? No I doubt it, as much as they care about the environment I am not sure that they would be bothered at this time of morning. I heard the vehicle in the distance, listening to it drive down a road, stop and move on almost as if it was investigating the area. What would you investigate in the dark?
A little before 7.00 I heard the sound of chopping wood, Ken was obviously lighting the fire, and then there were the delicate tones of the Windows start up sound on a computer, Ken was obviously catching up on blog work or downloading photos.
The morning felt a little chilly but the sun was coming up, looks like it is going to be a lovely day again. Andy and I joined the Truman family outside, who were already looking relaxed and comfortable by the fire, Josh with the axe practising his technique.
Today we say goodbye to the Truman’s again as they head toward Perth and
Kookie
Our Kookaburra friends always visit then continue their journey North, they are going the same way as us for the moment and sounds like we will stop at the same places, however we will be several days apart, if not longer, depending on how long we stay in Perth, we have some things to do before we continue North.
The Billycan is hanging over the fire boiling water for our morning brew, once this is done we concentrate on breakfast, no time for Damper, but we manage bacon and egg TruMuffins with a side helping of fried potato. Breakfast went down exceptionally well, but Ken was busy packing up the caravan ready for them to leave.
Kahlia was busy taking photographs, I was busy having a bit of a tidy around and Andy was making a slight modification to the trailer, just to help with lighting when we are on powered sites.
Then Ken said they were ready to hit the road, we said our goodbyes, it feels sad as it always does when we meet great people on this trip, but we all must go our separate ways in order to fulfil our journeys wherever they may take us.
It
has been a great camping experience with the Trumans, they have given us some good camping tips and we will surely miss them tonight when we are sat by our campfire on our own.
Ranger Smith popped around, no doubt to collect more fees from those that had stayed last night, we call him Ranger Smith, as we cannot remember his name. He stopped by for a chat and asked if we had a quiet night. I replied that there was no loud music however told him about the pick up that was driving round at 3.00 this morning.
Ranger Smith said that there had been a problem in the night some damage had been done to a memorial sign at the park entrance and a kangaroo had also been killed, we are not certain if it had been shot, but he explained that they find a lot of crossbow bolts around and in the past they have had new toilet blocks burnt down at a cost of $100,000 per block.
We chatted for a while and found out that he had in fact been a ranger here for over 30 years, this man knows this area
and the wildlife like the back of his hand, he said that these yobbos have no where to hide as he knows all the hiding places and his staff cannot hide either!
We finish the blog for yesterday and get it ready to publish, then we pop into Bunbury to the Dolphin place, but again no Dolphins, it was the wrong time really but it was worth a shot.
The Trumans had inspired us, so we needed to pay a visit to BCF and buy a camp oven, which is a cast iron pot which you can place over an open fire and cook some amazing meals, such as Damper, stew, pizza you name it you can cook it in a camp oven.
Usually you would light a fire, dig a hole, take some of the hot coals from the fire place the camp oven on top of the coals and then put some more hot coals on top of the camp oven and then hey presto some time later you get a properly cooked dinner.
We also pick up a Billycan so that we can boil water on an open fire for tea, showers, washing
The India Ocean
Josh and Kahlia Truman standing in the Indian Ocean up etc. This will help us to save our gas and use natural means when we are free camping providing there is available wood to burn and of course as long as it is not against state law in what is deemed as the fire season.
Over to Bunnings and then onto Woolworths for a few groceries to complement our camp oven such as carrots, sweet potatoes, purple onion, leg of lamb etc.
Back at the camp, we get the fire going, the billy can is on heating up water for a shower. I wander off to take some photographs, the cormorants are inspiring in this landscape. I see two rows of cormorants basking in the sun on some old timber that used to be a pontoon. The sun was just right. I come pack and pick up the Patrol to drive down a little bit further, however when I get there the cormorants have all gone, the corrugated road is like Piccadilly Circus so I think the sudden levels of traffic have scared them off.
I find Andy back at the camp pointing at the Billycan, the water is ready for an early evening shower. It
Our Quite Pitch
Lovely Leschenault Peninsula conservation Park is still fairly light, the sun is going down but the breeze has dropped, it is just right for shower outside with no breeze it does not feel so cold, but more refreshing to have a hot shower and feel clean again.
If you look around most sites like this you will often see makeshift showers, some people have 12v pumps to operate showers, some have the “ensuite” Oz Tent so their shower is enclosed. The people on the site next to us have one of these and they are also showering, I think they have been fishing all day.
Dinner tonight is being done in the new camp oven, however it is left over chilli from the other night, with the addition of stock and vegetables to give it a bit of life again. It bubbles away over the campfire and smells delicious.
We tuck into our chilli, which is hot, and wholesome it tastes great especially with the sweet potato and fascinated on how well it was done on an open fire and how tasty it seemed to make it.
While we eat a couple of cars turn up at the pitch next to
That Round thing
For all our British Friends is th sun, we know you don't see it that often ours, they seem to be quite young and as soon as they get out of the cars they are noisy and they leave their music on loud. I despair, I love music and have no objection to people partying and enjoying themselves, lets face it I have done plenty of that myself however I just hope that these guys respect the fact that others around them will need their sleep.
The fire is burning low in the grate, the wind is whipping itself up again, it is a clear night and there are plenty of stars in the sky to enjoy. We sit and enjoy the not so peaceful atmosphere.
We are whacked from such a full day and Andy is sitting in front of the fire and his eyes are wilting, so we decided to go to bed, the lads up the way are still in full swing so we will see what kind of night we are going to get.
Finally we have left a couple of Carrot tops out on the log by the fire just to see if any wildlife find them.
And so to bed bloggers !!
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Mum and Dad
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"If my friends could see me now!"
Hiya. We do envy you both......The photos are great and the shower really cool..... Sophisticated Caroline in the "almost all together" in the Australian bush....we like it! Look after yourselves......stay away from the swine flu if you can. Love and kisses