Camping in the Australian Bush

We were lucky enough to be able to head out into the Australian Bush to go camping. Our friends Mel and Daryl along with their three year old son Jack planned a camping trip into the Bush for us. We headed NNE out of Melbourne to a place called Sheepyard Flats. We drove 3 hours via country roads passing through some lovely small towns, eventually turning off onto a dirt gravel road that led to our destination. We found our Ford Falcon wagon was not the best vehicle but we made it, only scrapping the undercarriage of the car a couple of times!
Our chosen site was next to a creek that offered a refreshing break from the heat for both us and Mel & Daryl’s 2 dogs; Flip & Obi. We set up our tents and lucky for us Mel & Daryl have all the necessary equipment for bush camping; tables, rake, hatchet, wash basins, sun fly’s (notice it’s not a rain fly!) The boys set off to find fire wood so that we could have a fire in the fire circle. Jack brought out his gear and played and got good and dirty as any 3 year old boy would do. Jack absolutely loved camping, as much as the rest of us.
After an absolutely fabulous nights rest, we awoke to the sounds of the Bush. The Cockatiels are very friendly sorts and soon learned that we would definitely hand out food if they stuck around. They came round at meal time, both morning and night for their hand outs. Not as friendly but certainly as interesting, we sighted rare Black Macaws and then Gray Macaws, unfortunately a bit far away for great photos. We unfortunately did not have much in the way of other wild life out in the Bush.
Daryl loves to go off-roading so we all piled into his vehicle, Tim was in the back with the dogs, and off we went onto the tracks that wind through this area. Daryl’s vehicle is awesome and can take just about anything. We made our way to a historical hut, where we were able to learn a bit of what life would be like living in the bush in the 40’s and 50’s. After that we plow on until we reach an old abandoned slate mine atop the mountain. The views were spectacular, we could see for miles and miles. I collected several small pieces of slate to bring home! Yes I really did. We then continued on for a couple more hours’ off-roading through rivers and over hills. Once back at our camp site it was straight in the river for Tim and Jeff.
We absolutely love camping and have made a promise to ourselves we will do more after we return home.

~ Karen ~