Misty Creek Camping

After many months of planning - we finally managed our camping trip to Misty Creek. I met up with Pete in the morning, finished packing his 4by and trailor and then met Mum and Dad up at Dorrigo. We drove out through North Dorrigo, Bostobrick, Tyrringham and then turned off at Dundurrabin. The drive up to Misty Creek took about an hour from there - quite a steep and long climb on relatively rough dirt roads. We arrived and hurried to get Pete's tent up as we could hear thunder rumbling up and down the valley and it was clear that a storm was on it's way. We got the tent up - but not the fly - when the storm hit. We had to run around in the rain for a few minutes dragging tarps over the tent to protect it from the driving rain. Fortunately the rain didn't last too long and we were soon able to finish setting up. The sun came out for a while and then it rained again. We decided to just ignore the rain - and were soon sitting around with a glass or two of bundy to celebrate.

After a drink, Pete and I went for a walk to check out the lookout and Lucifer's Thumb. The grasses and flowers were absolutely magnificent... we stopped often along the way to take photos... and made slow progress.

When we finally got to the lookout - the view literally took Pete's breath away - it is absolutely awesome! I left Pete pondering a froggy swamp and continued up the track to Lucifer's Thumb. This would have to be one of my very favourite places to be - utterly wild, and awesomly beautiful. It is rather a lovely place to sit quietly and ponder the universe.
I stayed and watched the sun drop behind the mountains and then headed back down the track to find Pete. He was quite excited as he had heard the all of the New England Swamp Frog (a VERY endangered frog - there are thought to be fewer than 1000 of them left in the world). They have a very distinctive call and we were lucky enough to hear them. We continued back down the track, quite relieved when we got back to camp as it was dark.

We enjoyed a terrific fire and were entertained by the local nightlife... particularly a very cute bandicoot and an inquisitive possum.

We finally all crawled off to bed. This was the first time Pete had camped in a tent since his accident years ago..... so he was understandably excited and grinning from ear to ear.

The next day we set off on an epic drive - we had discovered that Peter's battery charger wasn't working and his wheelchair was unable to be charged - so we had to find civilization to plug it in to the power for a few hours. We decided to take the scenic route and drove through the mountains to Dalmorton - the ruins of a gold mining town from over a century ago. Pete found a lovely little 'renovator's delight' on our drive..... it might need a bit of work before anyone moves in though.

We continued on to Nymboida and stopped at the coaching house. The wonderful old building is a pub and accomodation and is now owned by Russell Crowe. They allowed us to plug Pete's chair in here so we stopped and had a few beers (well it was the least we could do). The pub was decorated with some 'interesting' signs...

We continued on, searching for a very isolated national parks camping ground which has just been opened. We got lost, but had a fun drive anyway (even needing to use Pete's winch to clear a fallen tree off the track). We eventually found the way to the camp-ground - but decided it was getting a bit late and we will save that trip for another visit. We went back to Nymboida, picked up Pete's chair and then started the long drive back up the mountain to Misty Creek.

We were pretty tired when we got back - though I did have the energy to play with the camera - learning how to slow down the shutter speed and take photos in extremely low light without using the flash... it was a bit of fun and I was pretty pleased with the results! Our next day was spent quietly enjoying camp.

There was a beautiful little creek running beside our camp spot and it was a great place to sit quietly and watch the bird life.

We really enjoyed our last day at Misty Creek and vowed to come back again another time... it is a little slice of heaven!

Four Wheel Driving with Pete and the Megabeast

Pete's "megabeast" four wheel drive is pretty much ready to go.... so we spent the weekend out getting it dirty with a bit of help from the Coffs Harbour 4WD club. On Saturday we went out for some driver training ("We" being Pete, Joyce, Alan Bailey and myself). We started off learning how to use the snatch strap and Pete's you-beaut winch. A club member kindly backed his vehicle into a creek so we could drag it out.

After this we practised stops and starts on a hill (nice technique which involves purposely stalling the car).

Then it was off to the bush to try out our skills. Now I will admit to murming something like "you don't mean we have to drive up THAT" when I first saw the hill. But we did, slipping and sliding all the way. When we got to the top.... we had to drive back down and that hill suddenly seemed even steeper. It wasn't easy to start - the instruction was "when it starts to slide sideways and you feel like you are losing control... point the nose straight down the hill and accelerate." My instincts said "HIT THE BRAKES".... but I had to work hard to overcome that. I managed ok, and got to the bottom safely. It was Joyce's turn next... she did have a bit of a play with the brakes and quickly found the megabeast rearranged sideways across the track. Oh well!

One of the more experienced club members offered to let me go into his 4wd as he tackled a steeper, more difficult hill. It was a matter of going VERY fast up the VERY rough and slippery hill - and after a couple of attempts we made it. What a hoot!
Pete didn't stop grinning all day!

On Sunday we went out on the Coffs Club's annual "Lady's Day" drive. We thought it would be a bit tame...nope! We went out the back of Coffs and up into the hills on the muddy little bush tracks. These hills were incredibly steep - we had to crawl up and down them in low range 4wd in first gear (and occasionally 2nd). Pete was pretty thankful for his full harness seat belt.

Eventually we all came to a stop in a muddy gully at the bottom of a very steep, very slippery hill. The front vehicle took several attempts to get up the hill and then used snatch straps to pull the next two vehicles up. Another vehicle got through and then it was my turn. I was just ever so slightly terrified. The only way to get up the hill was to drive as fast as possible at it.... skidding all over the place. We went flat out, and got within half a metre of the top when we lost momentum. I did the right thing and stalled the beast so that I could put it into reverse and slowly back down (for another run at it)... only there was a very loud bang.... the diff had broken. Bugger! Fortunately the members of the club have a 'never say die' attitude - and we winched the vehicle the rest of the way up the hill and then put it into 2 wd for the rest of the trip. We managed fine - though we did have to use the snatch strap several times when we just couldn't get through the mud or up a hill.

We had a brilliant day... and the megabeast is in getting repaired today (fortunately Pete had the beast booked in to have diff locks fitted - so fixing yesterday's problem won't add much to what was already going to be done).

Pete and I agreed it was the most fun we had had for a long time - and we can't wait for the next outing!

Hanging out at Pete's yet again

Well, it was Sunday and what else could we do but go to Pete's and have some roast cow (very yummy thanks mum) and fiddle around with Pete's camping gear. We put Pete's new tent up - a humorous hour or so spent reading instructions and pretending to know what we were doing (and Mum and Dad had this weird 'erection' thing happening). Anyway, we got the tent up and down and..... miraculously.... back into the tent bag.

I used the visit as an excuse to play with Pete's AMAZING camera..... so please, enjoy some of my photos of Pete's incredibly beautiful garden... that garden is absolutely food for the soul!!!!

Yes, I know the rotten orange is a bit gross.... but it's interesting don't you think???

Thanks Pete, it's great fun to borrow your camera!

Hanging out at Pete's

On the weekend I had the most wonderful experience of hanging out at Pete's place with Pete, Lachlan, Mum and Dad. It was a misty, cloudy day and we had a wonderful roast (one of Pete's cows did the honours) and some fun family time together.

Pete has a new camera which is just brilliant (it's a digital SLR).... and I had a heapload of fun taking photos out in his beautiful garden. The camera is so good, it made some of my photos seem professional.

While we were at Pete's, Lach and Dad did some work in the shed.... bloke stuff I think.... involving angle grinders and welders.

We even had time in our day for some family pics (ok, it was just an excuse for me to use Pete's camera.And finally.... isn't he just gorgeous! Gotta love that Yock!

Thanks Mum, Dad and Pete.... a terrific way to spend Sunday!

Building Castles and Hunting for Fairies

Today Elijah came to spend a special day with Namar. I picked him up from Bellingen at 7.30 this morning and we came back home for some fruit and a drink. Then Eli did some painting.... a Picasso in the making I am sure! After this we packed up and headed down to the beach. Eli had a lovely time building castles (well he actually seemed to enjoy destroying them more than building them), running up and down the dunes and jumping the little waves as they came to shore.

After we had had enough of the sun, we wandered off into the forest to go searching for fairies. We found a beautiful fairy tree, saw fairyhorses (butterflies) and some bright purple berries (definitely fairy food).

The forest was beautiful and full of the sounds of birds in the trees, lizards on the ground and Elijah calling the fairies.

We found a big dragon - we didn't go too close because he looked scary!

Finally, in the depths of the forest, I found the most beautiful fairy!

After this excitement we went back to the car and drove down to the Mystrom to give the playground a workout. Elijah loved the slide and play-house and we had great fun on the swing together (we didn't go too hight because I got a bit scared).

After this, we wandered down to the tidal pool and Elijah enjoyed a paddle in the water.

We finally made our way home for some lunch and some quiet time. We read "Magic Beach" together and Eli spent a good half hour sitting quietly looking at the pictures.

Before we knew it, it was time for Elijah to go back home. I can't wait for our next exciting day together!