A movie or two under the stars!

With conditions being so dry around home lately – and barely a drop in the rain gauge since Christmas, we thought the best thing we could do to break the drought would be to get a camp in before it really gets too cold in these parts.   We were rewarded with a fantastic weekend at a friend’s farm near Boorowa – however we were unable to break the drought!

Looking back towards camp

There is something magical about sitting around a campfire at night enjoying the serenity.  It is also a lot of fun watching a great Australian movie under the stars, with full surround sound… unless you are camped nearby and not a part of the party.  Hence we enjoyed our night on private property with no one to upset with our whisper quiet generator, 5.1 surround sound, or raspy out of tune voices singing along with the soundtrack!

Singing was best left to the professionals

But we held of the chill!

 

It was also our first camp in the Amarok – and a good opportunity to come up with a plan for fitting out the canopy.  I think after a few inspirational ales and rough sketches, we are coming closer to a plan for how we will fit it out for our big adventure.

We appreciated the extra space - but the Jerry (Rubbish Bin) holders on the back might have to go.

No trip to Howard’s Dad’s Farm would be complete without a drive around the farm. ,With over 1500 acres of some magnificent granite country, we enjoyed exploring many of the tracks.  Some areas were particularly tight, with some large rocks to avoid.  We did notice our lack of ground clearance on occasion – and this combined with our long wheelbase and significant rear overhang made some of the short dips interesting to say the least.  That said, the Amarok handled the steep slopes with aplomb – the only time it nearly came unstuck was my fault entirely, when driving through some soft sand, and I backed off whilst showing off, and we sank to a stop.  A little gently rocking and we reversed back and did it again – properly this time, and we sailed through.

Pete gets to try out his new winch

Stopping on top of a hill - on top of the world really

Dry - but beautiful country.

The kids were entertained by a collection of friends, and enough water to try to catch tadpoles and carp, but not enough to get really wet in. And the big people were entertained by meeting new faces and old friends in a truly magnificent part of Australia.

We were very fortunate to enjoy the weekend.– thanks to Howard, Mick and Pete for pulling it all together – and for everyone else who came along and made it a great weekend!

Oh and at last – I have a camp truck!!!!