Tuesday, April 1st, 2008...12:43 pm
Camping is intense
We packed by moonlight. Which sucked a bit.
Something seemed wrong as we set off. It was that we were driving away from the sun and in to the dark clouds.
But there was hungry friendly wildlife to greet our arrival.
This is Jethro doing Gumboots 101. He passed, but he had to do the supplementary.
Day three of rain seemed unendurable.
However excellent cocktails raised everyone’s spirits. Well not the kids. We just gave them chocolate.
We have too much in this consumer society, don’t you think? For instance, did you know that a VB can wtih a ringpull inside makes an excellent rattle?
Eventually the sun came out. Yay and Hallalujah.
There was Harry Potter by headlamp.
And later I pondered my ugg boots …
while listening to pretty guitar doodlings and drinking some Lagavulin.
There are always moments of ennui camping, but seasoned campers can rise above them.
Particularly when there is a second day of sun,
and then a third.
But then arriving home brings its own sadnesses.
16 Comments
April 1st, 2008 at 5:35 pm
That is a fat, fat goanna. That is all I have to say about that.
Gumboots 1001 is a difficult course, I know. It sucks even worse when you fail and have to go back and do it at winter school.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Is that goanna pregnant?
I just did a very similar post although minus the cocktails. And the goanna.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Well, I don’t have any proof, but I’ve heard that some full fee students have “passed” Gumboots without having even attempted “Introduction to Dunlop Volleys”.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Nah, Suse, they were all like that and about 2 metres long to boot. (Suse had a pretty similar holiday, but takes heaps better pictures.)
April 1st, 2008 at 9:48 pm
But yours is such a fab photo-essay! I could smell the salt, taste the cocktails, hear the guitar doodling. But without the rain.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:14 am
Nice not to feel the goanna, too.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
I love this post. Only a blog can give one such scope for the matching of image and text.
Good call taking the guitar, also the oranges if that’s what those cut-up things are.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Yeah, looks like you had a ripper of a time. Jethro in gumboots is a great look, and Sage looks so pleased with himself!
I was a bit worried about your blog while you were away, as the spammers were clearly having too much fun here!
April 4th, 2008 at 10:59 am
At least that holiday didn’t end so like so many others with frantic cries of “The goanna’s got my cocktail!”
April 7th, 2008 at 12:20 am
beware freakin’ goannas and their freakin’ nasty sharp backwards-pointing teeth.
who’da thunk they’d go after your block of cheese at a picnic, and who’da thunk that the bugger-orf-that’s-my-cheese-you-bloody-goanna reflex wasn’t fast enough to save having a finger stuck in a goanna’s mouth?
I would have laughed too, like my best friend did. until she saw the blood…
freakin’ goannas.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
So good to see you blogging again, Zoe!
Great photo-essay. Goannas, gumboots and guitars = perfect camping holiday.
I totally feel your sadness at surveying that laundry pile.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
How odd – I see now you posted this quite a while ago, but this post and all the others only popped up in my feedreader today. Sorry that I didn’t realise you were back blogging earlier.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
tigtog some evil spamlord had hacked my wp-config file and borked my feed. grrrr
April 16th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I’ve told anyone who asks after my son that his big news is the acquisition of gumboots. Some register that this is a significant Stage of Development (dunno why it isn’t something that needs ticking off in the maternal & child health centre book) and others look confused.
Obviously I have to respond to their confusion with “they have dinosaurs on them”. Because that helps…
Good to see you back!
April 29th, 2008 at 11:20 am
How splendid. I’ve not been camping in years. You got the title wrong, though… Surely it was intended to read: “Camping is in tents”?
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