With the new year has come a new role at work, and a break from shiftwork for a while. For the first time in my working career I am now in the spectrum of a Monday to Friday 9-5 job... and that means weekends!!! And weekends means camping, lots of camping!!!
Of course I need to now caveat that claim with the observations of my friend - our calendar seems to fill up very quickly with swimming lessons / birthday parties / weekend play dates. So we have made a challenge to ourselves to get out at least once a month for a weekend away. It is of course difficult as we have a few other projects keeping things really busy - like trying to sell our house and build another - just minor things really, so it was a real surprise that Jo gave me a leave pass to go to a movie night organised by Pete and the crew from Australia4wd forum.
I spent most of the Saturday morning taking accumulated rubbish to the tip, moving furniture around and generally doing little odd jobs that have been on the list since day one, getting our house ready to present it in the best way possible. Around 4pm was my knock off time - and I started to pull the tent, esky and water jerry out of the shed, when my beautiful wife looked at me and asked if I wouldn't be better off taking Matilda! Which is exactly what ended up doing. 10 minutes later I was on the road, confident I would be sleeping in a warm dry bed no matter what the weather.
A quiet night under the stars this wasn't, so the campsite was carefully chosen to be remote and in an area where we wern't likely to upset other campers. The little Honda generator housed in Matilda provided power for the projector and surround sound system. The night's veiwing choices were voted on, and after a campfire dinner we settled in to watch our movies.
The screen was the latest in silver screen technology - a full HD 1080p screen you can pick up for $13.95 from BCF. Its only limitation is that you need to wait until it gets dark before it is most effective, oh and it helps if you put it up before the sun goes down. JB-HI and Hardly Normal eat your heart out!
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| The screen and shelter |
The campsite was perfect for our group, a nice natural amphithetre, complete with long-drop toilets, fireplace and park bench. It is looking very green - which is unusual for this time of year. The amazing thing is that this place is less than 30 minutes from the heart of Canberra - and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
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| The campsite in the morning sun |
We have been to a couple of movie nights hosted by Pete and the Australia4wd forum crew before. They have always been great fun, but this time we didn't catch up with one of the main characters who often comes along, BeasT50 or more commonly Pete and Kate.
We first met Pete and Kate on our first 4wd trip into the Brindabella Mountains when bought our 4wd. Pete and Kate are taking their family on a crazy round Australia trip, and you can catch up with their news here: http://turnbullsgapyear2012.blogspot.com.au/. One of the really neat things about Pete's blog is his tally of costs for the week. We have been estimating a weekly budget of around $1 000 is roughly what you would need travelling around Australia. It is interesting to see how close Pete and Kate will go in their adventure!
It was also pleasing to see that Pete and Kate have been planning their trip for the past three years: http://turnbullsgapyear2012.blogspot.com.au/2011_10_01_archive.html. It is comforting to know someone else also spent a long time getting everything in order before heading off for a gap year. It is funny how similar his list of required things is to ours. We too have a long list of major milestones to complete in order to take the break. It all becomes increasingly important when you have kids in the equation. .
Thanks Pete and Kate, all the best for your trip!
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