And we're off...
Friends of ours, Helen & Cliff, had asked us to join them at Sheepyard Flat (between Mansfield & Maryjig... near Mt Buller) camping for the Easter Weekend. They were going up Easter Thursday and staying until at least Easter Monday. We thought we'd start off slow and head up Easter Saturday.
We arrived around lunch time to everyone sitting around the huge camp fire. Helen and our neighbour John jumped up to give us a hand with the tent, which we got up in about 40 minutes... not bad for novices!!
They Helen, Diana & Kylie decided to show us around a bit and took us down to the creek where the kids had an absolute ball, throwing river rocks in and getting their toes wet!
It really was the perfect place for kids. It wasn't a deep, fast flowing river so you weren't constantly worried about them falling in, if they did, the worst that would happen is that they got wet!
We hardly saw JMK & CJK as the older kids took them under their wings and led them off on adventures... and they had a complete ball!
Dinner time proved to be a little difficult for us. We don't have all the gear for camping so we had to rely on others and we hated being a burden. That wasn't the real problem though... while Rob was cooking our snags a freak storm hit. ... that's right a freak storm! There was thunder and lightening and then out of no where it hailed like nobody's business. The hail stones were the size of marbles and the storm lasted for about 5 minutes! CJK and I took cover in our tent, JMK took cover with Helen (I think!!) and Rob was busy trying to save our dinner on the BBQ!!
Our tent surrounded by hail... it looks like snow!!
The kids running through the hail having a ball!
It cleared up after about 15 minutes and the evening ended up being really clear but really cold. The hail didn't dissipate until late the next morning so the kids thought it was great playing in it!
The next morning was cold, wet & slushy from the hail storm the night before but we knew we were in for a beautiful day... just check out our view from the campfire...
The boys went out for a ride while the kids hung around the campfire playing connect four and the grown ups just sat and chatted.
The guys got back from their ride, relatively unscathed (Cliff came back early after coming off and hurting his shoulder and wrist) but pretty tired. Every time a motor bike rode past the older kids would yell out "MONO... MONO" so that's all we hear from CJK now. He sits in the back of the car squawking "NONO... NONO".
Of course you couldn't go camping without toasting some marshmellows over the campfire so that's what we did on our last night.
Overall the whole camping experience was relatively good... you can't help the weather. Next time we'll just have to be a little more prepared... a camp oven, a billy to boil some water for a hot cuppa in the morning... just those little things. A powered site with toilets and showers would be nice too!
The kids had an absolute ball so we'll definately give it another go!
4 comments:
They joys of camping, the kids can run wild, get dirty and really not get into to much trouble. Brodie loved camping at Easter, he did not want to go home.
I take my hat off to you.... camping with toddlers... when its hailing! You are a brave woman!!
Hey Feliss, I will have to send you a photo of the ensuite Wayne built us to take into the bush, you will be very impressed...!!!
These are memories that all children should have...I still remember being in a cot and having the rain so heavy on the roof of the tent that the whole thing nearly caved in on me... ah camping!!!
Post a Comment