Stewarts Crossing Camp - Charleyong

With Christmas fast approaching, and having made the decision that we would be staying put over the silly season, we realised that time was running out to squeeze on more camp in before the Christmas Holidays would be upon us.

So we picked a weekend, and for a bit of variety put out an open invitation to the school community to come and join us for a weekend away.

The beaut thing about the camp was it is under an hour and a half from home, on a bend in the Shoalhaven River with a sandy beach and good swimming hole.  It is also accessed via a dirt road, keeping the majority of punters away - and access after a lot of rain can be 'interesting' as we found in March this year.

The bad (for the majority of punters) is that there are no facilities - not even a pit toilet.  So we got around that by packing the ensuite tent, a shovel and a treat for us - a loo seat from Ray's Outdoors.

The forecast was for 36 degrees on the day of our departure - which reduced our numbers a bit due to a few people balking at the heat.  It was a bit of a shame really, as we had a ball.

The Camp... But wait til you see the river...

Lake Macquarie and Beyond

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending a family Christening in Newcastle.  Newcastle is a good five hour drive north from home, and we had a choice to make.  Would we drive up in our Subaru, staying in a motel, or would we take the camper and stay in a caravan park.

We elected to take the camper.  We headed north on the freeway, making the most of the M7 motorway.  Pennant Hills Road is never much fun at the best of times, but we were through soon enough and heading up the F3.

We arrived at the caravan park I had booked, and my heart sank.  The park's name held the promise of enjoying a holiday - walking to the water to wet a line... Well if you took a cut lunch that is.  It became very apparent to me that my choice in park was not popular in the left front seat.

Now if we had both had few good night's sleep under our belts, the conversation in the front seats might have been a little more diplomatic... but we were both a little grumpy.  A few terse words were exchanged.  Thankfully Jo was a little quicker than me to work on a solution to our problem and my salvation came in the form of an iPhone and Google.

Between the iPhone and Google, Jo was able to find and book an unpowered site at  Belmont Pines Lakeside Holiday Park.

The park was well maintained, with a new kids playground and a pool to keep the tykes amused.  It also had a magnificent view overlooking Lake Macquarie.  It was perfect.... and I was saved.

The unpowerd sites had a great view

Sometimes it doesn't all go to plan

Like all good things, when you do too much of a good thing, something is bound to go wrong.  Or, if you do enough travelling on rough roads, something is bound to break eventually.

We certainly had a great time on our last camping adventure.  Bendethera Valley is about as good as it gets, with perfect weather and the valley almost to ourselves.  The aim of our week down there was to relax away from society for a while to recharge our batteries, and get a bit of focus on the more important things in life for a while.

It was also a chance to try out a few ideas that had been in my head for a while.  My set up with the Coleman Hot Water on Demand was a great success...  but not everything else went to plan.

Many of you would realise by now that when I get a new toy - I like to try it out to make sure I can use it before having to use it in anger.  It happened to me when I bought a 'free hand winch'.  Our next camping adventure found us stuck on a remote trail with rain coming in.  Out came the winch to haul us out, and I found myself wondering if I had jinxed myself entirely.

So one sunny afternoon I decided that I wanted to see if the Camper's wheels would fit on the Terracan, and vice versa.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to see if the stud pattern was the same, allowing me to consider purchasing Terracan rims for the camper.  The little helpers were most interested in the evolution, and eagerly undid the wheel nuts (after they were loosened of course).

33 inch tyres fill up the Terracan's arches... I am not game to lower the jack!

Bendethera Cave - With Kids

On Wednesday we decided to make the trek into Bendethera Cave.  The limestone hills in Deua National Park have many caves, however Bendethera Cave is the largest, and access is unrestricted. 

The walk from the carpark is about 4 kilometres, along Con Creek.  For the first couple of kilometres, we crossed the creek about half a dozen times – at delightful little crossings.  The little people were in their element, happily chattering away as we walked along the old firetrail.

Don't fall in brother!

The boys were kitted out with their little bum bags, containing water bottle, space blanket, whistle, compression bandage, camera and a zip lock back containing almonds, macadamia nuts and some dates.  They love their little packs, that give them a feeling of security on their walk, although the youngest has no hips and therefore has to readjust his bag constantly.  

It might be overkill, but we also carried additional water and our PLB in our backpack, just in case.  The last thing you would want to happen is for a snake bite at the end of the walk, with no prospect of a quick rescue.  And the snakes were about!

Sunning on a rock - we waited until Mrs Black moved on.

Bendethera Valley - With a Camper Trailer

After surviving our first night at Yadboro Flat, we enjoyed a leisurely day around the camp.  Being a long weekend, the campsite soon filled up with families all keen to enjoy the great outdoors.  The wind thankfully dropped off, and we were left with glorious weather, which was to stay with us for the rest of the week.

Sometime in the afternoon Nic and Dave arrived with their hired Kimberley Kamper.  We enjoyed the evening catching up and comparing camper trailers.  I was surprised at how similar the campers were overall, with their strong chassis and suspension providing the backbone for an excellent camper.

The Kimberley has a great awning.

The Kimberley, like our Aussie Swag has a pantry and fridge in the front of the trailer, and it really is a matter of horses for courses as to your preference.  The advances of time meant that their camper had hot and cold running water powered by a neat diesel heater - which is available on new Aussie Swags too, but sadly in 2005 when ours was built, was not an option... but I had a cunning plan to fix that.

I firmly think that if you’re interested in buying a camper the best thing you can do is try before you buy…  Hiring a camper will give you an insight into how you use your camper and what features you will deem necessary.  Once you buy one, you can then work around everything else and adapt to what you have.

We thoroughly enjoyed catching up at Yadboro Flat, however it was quite busy – being a long weekend, and between early morning standoffs between resident cattle and fellow camper’s dogs, chainsaws and kids on motor bikes, we decided to up camp and head further south – to Bendethera Valley.