You really start to feel like summer has arrived when you get to go camping. Well, that is exactly what we did this weekend. We headed off to a place called Creswick nature park, which is about 1hr30 north west of Melbourne. We were invited by our mate Nick, who was celebrating his 30th this weekend and decided to invite a few mates camping. In any case, our journey started with being picked up by Brendan and Pete (two other friends of Nick who had kindly offered to give us a ride), in a huge old holden kingsford - and what a fine old car it is too, DIY air conditioning and all!
My first impression of rural Australia (the bush as they affectionately call it), was incredibly dry and empty - you know a gum tree here a gum tree there and everywhere tinder dry yellow scrub. I asked Brendan if it is usually so dry and he seemed to think it maybe slightly drier than usual but that it always looked like this anyway. I'm pretty sure it is damn dry though - drought or no drought. I guess I'm just used to lush damp countryside coming from NZ, well the Australian bush is sure a contrast.
Anyway, we arrived at Creswick nature reserve to find Nick and Mike, who had both arrived the night before and were anxiously awaiting our arrival and not too coincidentally the arrival of our cold carlton draught slab. No need to say, three hours later, a slab by the way side and plenty of political rantings, we were all feeling ready for a nice bush walk. This was about the time that we had an invasion of flying termites. These were the most incredible (in their numerosity) and annoying insects you could find. Luckily, they only tended to hang around in the period just before sunset until slightly after. We still managed to roast a few thousand on our camp fire though, dumb buggers. At this stage, a full on headache had set in for me - a result I think of too much beer, not enough water and a baking dry Australian sun. In any case, I turned into the tent for a couple of hours to sleep it off while the others rendered in front of the fire, guitar in hand, such classics as, Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he...and There was a moose, the moose's name was Bruce. Obviously my headache didn't recover all that quickly.
Not long after the headache had receded, a bit of rain set in (setting in in Australia is something akin to a mild shower in NZ), and pretty much everyone decided to turn in for the night. By this stage I had also been intimately introduced to half the wild insect population of Australia. In no particular order:
Flying Termites (by the thousand),
Pesky blowflies (also by the thousand) and with a particular fondness for licking my eyeball and flying up ny nose.
Bull Ants - Luckily I was warned not to get too intimate with these fellas because apparently they pack a nasty punch that can leave you sore for weeks.
Huge flying beetles - these fellas were actually quite cute and harmless
Cicadas - with a particularly ear piercing chirp reminiscent of finger nails across a blackboard and just the prescription for a headache.
Despite all this, and you are forgiven for thinking otherwise, I had an awesome time and can't wait to go again. This really is the lucky country.
of civilisation and what made it what it is today, they have no concept of property rights which are the fundamental basis for a fair and liberal society. Instead, they believe in rule by force and would love nothing better than a modern dictatorship where they get to choose what everyone should and should not do.
