That time we went camping. Twice!

You can't go to Australia without going camping, apparently. It would be just like not going to Bunnings sausage sizzle, not have a barbie on the beach or not eat crumpets for brekkie. Camping in the Australian wilderness seemed a bit intimidating at first I must admit. And it didn't help by Dan constantly saying things like "The bugs are gonna freak you out!" or "I don't know if you would make it.." But coming to the camping grounds, at Lake Somerset Holiday Park, I could see that there was nothing really to worry about. The terrain was open and stretched around this big lake that was connected to the Somerset Dam. The park was surrounded with thicker woods, but in there, the trees were pretty scattered.
    Rhys, Dan and I got there before everyone else, and found a great, open spot close to the water. We had many friends and family coming and going during the five nights we spent there. At the most there was 14 of us, and on the last night just five. We had an awesome set up with fairy lights around and in the van, a tarp-roof-thing with walls that fit all 14 of us, a fire pit, tables, chairs and battery-driven lights in every corner. It was cool to see when we had our own mini-town made of tarps, tents, a caravan, cars, boats, and the van.

Our set up at night

    The one thing we didn't have though. Nice weather.. I thought it was a Swedish thing that it rains every time you go camping, but the bad luck must have followed us all the way here. The three first days it basically rained constantly with more and less intensity. It was blowing so much that we had to improve or reinforce our shelter a few times a day. But even though it was cold and wet, we still had a good time. We played games, had some drinks and kept the fire pit going almost 24/7. And we also ate a lot of food. We were always either cooking, eating a meal, or having a snack. At least we never got hungry. But for the last two days the sky actually cleared up nicely and we enjoyed sitting in the sun and relax. Until that became to hot, and we had to sit down under the tarp again, complaining about how hot it was.

Wet and rainy, but cozy!

Enjoying the sunset!

When the sun finally came out, we went for a kayak trip

Roast Dinner!

  Something fun we did, which I've never done before, was tubing behind a boat. It was very intense, but so much fun. I only went twice cause it was a bit overwhelming haha. And since the weather had been so cold, the lake felt like a warm bath!

Preparing for take off

    Despite the rain, we did get some cool animals around. We had Kookaburras in the trees screaming like monkeys (like, literally). Possums came after dark trying to get to our food, and one of them had a baby on her back! There was a fair few gnarly looking spiders in and between some trees. Big Pelicans flew over us and sat in the lake. But the coolest ones were the Kangaroos. There seemed to be a family living there, and you would see them a couple times a day. The bigger male was really tall and frighteningly muscular.

A Kookaburra aka monkey-bird

Kangaroo Dad with two babies

After we'd been home for a couple of days, Rhys, Dan and I decided to go camping again, since we had all the gear out from last time. This time we went to Boreen Point, and we only stayed the night. This place was a lot more intense than Somerset. The forest around us was thick, bushy, and noisy. You heard crickets, cicadas, and birds in a constant mini-roar that only went quieter at night. I'm not sure how many times I asked Dan and Rhys if they we're sure there wouldn't be any snakes around. (Knock on wood, but I haven't seen a snake here in Aus so far).
     As we we're setting up our awning and the tent, we got some visitors in the shape of a duck and her ducklings. They came up to us, and the ducklings walked around sniffing the things we had laying around. After about five minutes, they turned around and waddled away again. It felt like they wanted to see who we were and say hello :)

A bit more in the bush at Boreen Point

Ducklings!

    We had a nice night there. For dinner we had bbq chicken wings and sausages. And also some chocolate and marshmallows. Here's a tip! Grill a marshmallow, put it between an oreo cookie together with a square of chocolate and squish it together. It is amazing!

That's all for now!
//DanAnna