Day 2 - Angels in the Camp Kitchen

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At 7.30am I am wide awake waiting for the rain to subside. Those who know me well, realise that I am of no particular religious persuasion, but on this night I am basically praying for a miracle as we are going to need some breathing space to dry out the boys sleeping gear. The sign said "No Vacancies" for the cabins last night so that's not much help right now. The bottom of my air mattress is saturated as is the whole floor despite the ground sheet, so I can only assume the boys' skinny mattresses wouldn't have fared so well either. At 9am my praying worked as the weather finally eased off and we are able to regroup. I go to rouse the boys from their slumber and am horrified to see that Last Born's tent was basically in a gigantic puddle. I am amazed to learn that he managed to stay dry except for the end of his sleeping bag and it is the same story for First Born. However, the bottom of their mattresses had to be dried out if they were to stay dry tonight. We spend the next couple of hours moving tents. Last Born's tent is moved out of the puddle, First Born's to higher ground and mine closer to the extension cord coming from the mains. In the rush to get the tents up I forgot to check the distance from the power point. The boys now set about digging a trench around their tents, a little tip they learn at Army Cadets. I must've had a bit of foresight when packing for the trip as I was expecting it to be cold so I threw in a little electric blow heater at the last minute. My tent is going to be the power house where all the camera battery, tablet, phone and ipod charging is to take place, right after I gaffer taped everything up in a plastic housing so no one gets electrocuted. After I finish drying Last Born's tent with the heater, his tent is the designated drying tent. If I manage to get one mattress dry then that would be a victory as I also packed a camp bed but the weather was too awful to set it up last night. First born can sleep on the dried out mattress and Last Born on the camp bed. The bottom of my air mattress can stay wet as it was now nearly lunchtime and I still haven't eaten breakfast or had a shower. One saving grace is that it isn't cold at all. The humidity was however very high and I have worked up a bit of a sweat inside my raincoat during my battle against the elements. I barely feel like I have the energy to prepare the necessary provisions required for the ablution block but I felt disgusting.

Of course, in all the excitement of the morning I forget to bring my thongs to the shower and convince myself that I am going to be punished for this one slip up by catching tinea or some other equally nasty toe wasting fungal disease imported from a Thirld World country, that nobody has ever heard off. Now I also have a real insight into what it would be like if I was born without any toes. For a start, it is really hard to balance. If I had any chance of using both hands to shampoo and condition, I am forced to put my bum on the cold wall to keep my balance on my heels, not far from where the redbacks were perving on me in this circa 1960s ablution facility. God only knows what other poor soul has found themselves in this predicament and had to do the same thing, so I decide against it, let along attempting anything else whilst in there! Now it was time for the one footed tango while trying to put on dry pants on a wet floor.

"Mum, mum. Can we climb the tree now?" nagged the kids. I am exhausted but I promised the kids they could climb Gloucester Tree in a bid to salvage what was left of the day. As we arrived after noon at the Gloucester National Park, our National Park day pass was also valid for tomorrow as well. It annoyed me a bit as two weeks ago I was in Queensland enjoying their National Parks for free! I shouldn't really say this but if you turn up after the government workers' knock off time, then you can get in for free anyway. How refreshing to see that this is the last bastion of the State not preventing you from doing something that is fun. Sure, it's risky but if you don't take the risk you won't be rewarded. There is a big sign saying don't climb when wet, but my big 12 & 14 boys did and they came back regaling with tales of natural wonder (I would've have let them do this if they were younger). I trusted their common sense and they have good foot wear, a raincoat and tell them not to try to and pass anyone and wait until everyone has descended or ascended before doing the same. The Gloucester Tree is only 2kms from Pemberton. It was chosen as a fire lookout in 1947, one of a network of lookouts built and used throughout the Karri forests between 1937 and 1952. It is 61m tall and visitors can climb up the spiral ladder made from embedded steel posts to see spectacular views of the Karri forest. There is a big sign saying do not climb the tree when it is wet, but it didn't seem to deter any of the tourists there including my two boys. The boys still hesitated about the risk and I tried not to worry as they decide to climb it anyway.

From there we drive to The Cascades on the other side of town but still part of Gloucester National Park. It starts to rain again which was annoying as I wanted to practice my slow exposures with the water flowing over the rocks. The boys took off as they always do and I find out later that they were walking all over the railway track the Pemberton Tramway takes. They saw it and got a great photo. I on the other hand, miss the opportunity to get run over by a train and take the 40 minute circuit walk. The boys then get a taste for climbing big trees and wanted to beat their personal best of 61m at Gloucester Tree and go for 75m on the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree just 15 minutes drive from town in the Warren National Park. It starts to drizzle and the boys make it to the first platform but got worried about the weather and assessed the risk again. This time they decide not to go ahead with it which I was glad about. They asked for my opinion and I gave it, but it's also important for them to assess the risk and to make their own judgements. However, it did mean that they nagged me senseless everyday to go back there, but the weather was always too atrocious. I want to move onto to Beedelup Falls but it is getting late so we head back to Pemberton instead. Back at the campsite I rifle through the back of car to get the ingredients for tuna pasta and take it to the camp kitchen as it is raining again so I couldn't really cook it up at the tent site. While I am cooking a couple in their 60s strike up a conversation with me. "How are you fairing over there? We're just a few bays over from you" said the lady. I felt bad about not recognising who were now effectively our neighbours seeing as the other campers between us now got smart and shot through to somewhere a bit sunnier. "Well yes it's a bit miserable but were managing to stay dry and hopefully tomorrow will be better" I replied politely. "We think you are very brave with taking two teenage boys camping on your own so we figured you might need to take the edge off by sharing our bottle of wine. My name's Libby and this is my husband Allen" offered Libby. The next thing I knew we were telling each other our life's story, sharing food and playing games like we were long lost family. I never expected to find angels in the Pemberton Caravan Park camp kitchen. Before too long the camp kitchen filled to the brim. There was a wedding party with people attending from all over the country having a pre wedding BBQ and also a bunch of Africans cooking. Everyone was in a jovial and friendly mood. Everyone is enjoying a great Aussie tradition all crammed into the camp kitchen sheltering from the rain. I am tempted to stay and sleep in the camp kitchen rather than face the persistent, relentless and totally unreasonable rain again. Just several hours ago I had feelings of despair but now I went to bed in the inclement weather on a high. Even in the rain, camping can be wonderful. It brings everyone to one level and restores my faith in humanity.

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Photos

Do you think if I sit here looking really cute that anyone will actually read the sign!

Boys climb to first landing on Gloucester Tree

Rain drips off Sheoak Tree fronds at The Casacades in Gloucester National Park