of comets and bogans
went camping on thursday with megan and jess and tom, up to the barrington tops, north west of newcastle. pitched a tent at the Allyn River State Forest campground. Oh my, now i grew up in Blacktown, but i've not seen anything like this. ever. Mullets, Obese children, chainsaws, all-night parties fuelled by jim beam and coke in a can, leaving rubbish at the river. The youngsters next to us had been there two weeks, and blasted their car stereo at every available moment. Problem was (if that wasn't), was that they had ONE CD, and it was some kind of FM radio 'best aussie beer drinkin' songs' or something. I heard john farnham's "chain reaction" 7 times in 24 hours.
now for the good part. after a sleepless night, we packed up and headed up into the mountains, deciding to camp illegally somewhere sans bogans. drove up a no through road which lead to the top of a mountain. it had a little shelter there, and seemed pretty quiet, so we set up shop. only two cars came up to the lookout in the next two days, and they left straight away.
friday night was amazing. more than that. played guitar and banged the drums and screamed into the night sky and valley below. it was really great. the comet was something that i cannot describe properly. it's tail seemed to stretch for about a quarter of the sky, and curved towards its end. we looked at the half moon, and saw the international space station whiz by on its nightly transit. the milky way was stunning.
saturday was a bit hairy, as a strong northerly wind set off a total fire ban, and when we drove down to the river, found out that there was a total fire ban. we debated whether to move somewhere less vulnerable, but at 3pm the wind shifted 180 degrees, and the most wonderful misty rain fell for the rest of the night. meant we could make a fire, and the rain never got past that misty stage. beautiful.
sunday, the ranger found us, but was very cool about it. told us he understood why we were there, and said that it's the worst camp ground in NSW. so now we know.
but what a great weekend. i only saw one big spider too, which nature girl virtually picked up and removed from the tent entrance.
my right leg has 43 bites from a little insect of some description. little bastard.
some pics!
sorry. another sunset. nice, though, huh?
our little camp site. notice the lack of drunkus boganus
telescope and moon
tom and meegs at dinner time
jess on fire stick
now for the good part. after a sleepless night, we packed up and headed up into the mountains, deciding to camp illegally somewhere sans bogans. drove up a no through road which lead to the top of a mountain. it had a little shelter there, and seemed pretty quiet, so we set up shop. only two cars came up to the lookout in the next two days, and they left straight away.
friday night was amazing. more than that. played guitar and banged the drums and screamed into the night sky and valley below. it was really great. the comet was something that i cannot describe properly. it's tail seemed to stretch for about a quarter of the sky, and curved towards its end. we looked at the half moon, and saw the international space station whiz by on its nightly transit. the milky way was stunning.
saturday was a bit hairy, as a strong northerly wind set off a total fire ban, and when we drove down to the river, found out that there was a total fire ban. we debated whether to move somewhere less vulnerable, but at 3pm the wind shifted 180 degrees, and the most wonderful misty rain fell for the rest of the night. meant we could make a fire, and the rain never got past that misty stage. beautiful.
sunday, the ranger found us, but was very cool about it. told us he understood why we were there, and said that it's the worst camp ground in NSW. so now we know.
but what a great weekend. i only saw one big spider too, which nature girl virtually picked up and removed from the tent entrance.
my right leg has 43 bites from a little insect of some description. little bastard.
some pics!
sorry. another sunset. nice, though, huh?
our little camp site. notice the lack of drunkus boganus
telescope and moon
tom and meegs at dinner time
jess on fire stick