Gunther and the Gang go camping!

Our trip was supposed to begin the morning I got back from Becky’s. We went to various camping shops to by all our gear, and then everyone had something they wanted to do before we left, so by the time we were ready it was late in the day. We made it across the Harbour Bridge to Manly, which was where I’d just come back from! Realising we weren’t going to make it any further before dark, we crammed the lot of us into an apartment room for the night, and finally hit the road the following morning.

We jumped in the cars (ours was named Gunther, I’m not quite sure why) and made our way to our first stop, picking out a camp site randomly from a map. We ended up in Munmorah National Park, in the middle of nowhere! We had no phone signal and no electricity. The campsite was nearly empty, and we had to drive through miles of windy tree lined roads to get there, but it was great! There were cooking facilities, plus we had our own gas stoves etc, and were fully prepared with lots of food and beer in our cool boxes! We let the boys set up the tent, and enjoyed an afternoon of glorious sunshine and peace and quiet! We were about a 5 minute walk from a secluded beach, and a short drive to other beaches and viewpoints around the national park. At night time we sat around our camp, not quite singing camp songs, but having a laugh just the 6 of us with no one around, no noise, no traffic, no lights, nothing!

We stayed here for a few days. The boys would spend the days playing football, fishing, surfing (which I’m determined to learn to do), or any other ‘boy activities’ while Keeley and I chilled out on the beach. Every night we would have a BBQ and a few drinks. Life could not have been better or more relaxed.

Next stop was a place called Myall Lakes, another national park. This one was my favourite of all the places we stopped. In fact, one of my favourite places i’ve been to in Australia. Again, we were in the middle of no where, about a thirty minute drive to the nearest town. As before, we were fully stocked up so that once we had set up camp, we didn’t need to leave. This campsite was completely basic, we were at one with nature! There were no showers, no running water, and the toilets were long drops! We were right on the edge of a giant lake, (hence the name)! It was so big you couldn’t see where it ended, and way way in the distance were mountains and forests. The lake water was warm and shallow, so we used to grab some beers and sit in there for hours, watching the sun set in the distance over the mountains (i do love a sunset)! It was beautiful. Aside from this, the lake was also the only place we could wash, brush our teeth, do our washing up, everything!

At night, breaking the silence, was the howling of packs of dingos. If you were unfortunate enough to need the loo in the middle of the night you were bound to come face to face with one, which I did many a time!

There were also possums getting to our food and rubbish, and giant lizards climbing, and falling out of, trees. When I say giant lizards, I mean huge, like small dinosaurs! The rangers came round and told us all the wildlife was pretty harmless as long as we kept our distance, which was worrying as the lizards always wandered around our tents while we were sitting there! After a while, you get used to the weird and wonderful wildlife in these national parks.

One day we drove down to yet another secluded beach, and went off-roading in one of the boys’ 4 wheel drives. This beach was amazing, it went on for miles with not a soul in sight.

The next week or so was pretty much the same. We stopped wherever we wanted and enjoyed doing next to nothing in beautiful surroundings, only having contact with civilisation when we stopped for supplies – beer and tinned food! I loved everything about the outdoors lifestyle, even when we had no running water to shower in or when we had to cook with no light after the sun had set. I was lucky to be with such a fantastic group and never got bored.

After a while we decided to move on up the coast to where there were other people and a bit of normality, so we headed for the famous Byron Bay. Byron is a small, hippy town right on the beach, and is completely full of backpackers and surf dudes. It’s a real chilled out and relaxed lifestyle. We still camped, but this time in a livelier area, walking distance from loads of cool restaurants and bars, and of course the beach! It was a nice change from being far from everything for a couple of weeks.

In terms of what we were doing, nothing really changed! We still lazed on the beach all day and barbecued at night, treating ourselves occasionally to a meal at a nice restaurant. Amazingly, one afternoon, sitting having a beer in the Northern hotel, I bumped into my friend Sarah from Queensland, who I worked with in Portugal in the summer of ’07. That wasn’t the first time I’d bumped into someone I know on my travels. It’s scary what a small world it is!

Byron was everything I expected, a real backpackers paradise. Although I imagine after too long you’d get bored. Without eating and drinking out all the time, which no backpacker could afford to do anyway, you’re left sitting on the beach everyday (not the worst way to spend your days but you can’t do it forever)!

On a few occasions, we drove round the surrounding areas, like Lennox Head and Ballina, taking in the sights of scenic drives to yet more beaches!

For the 4/5 days we were there we didn’t have much luck with the weather. In fact, after day one, it pretty much rained on and off the whole time, which is not much fun when you’re camping! Not wanting to drink away our money all day, and with the beach not an option, there wasn’t a great deal else to do. So….time to move on!

Of the 6 of us, 2 wanted to stay as they were having so much fun at the place they were staying. So the rest of us, me, Keeley, Tom and Paddy, decided to treat ourselves to an apartment in Surfers Paradise for 10 days. We left one car behind, and all our camping gear, and crammed into Tom’s 4x4, surf boards and all, and headed an hour or so further up the coast to Surfers, just north of the New South Wales/ Queensland border.

The last few weeks I had such a great time, being out in the open and away from everything.

It’s difficult to write about, as we didn’t do a great deal, but I can’t emphasise enough how much I enjoyed it and what an experience it was.

Maybe it was the freedom of being away from the normal tourist trail, with no other backpackers or tour guides. Or maybe the brilliant weather we had (before Byron) and our beautiful, peaceful surroundings. Or maybe it was just spending quality time with no one but great friends!!