As Ben got a new job he was running out of freetime so we organised to go camping, regardless of the fact it’s winter. We didn’t want to travel to far or pay too much so we hit up the NPWS website for camping grounds in our area. We found a place about 20mins from Richmond called Wheeny Creek. We took my car out to do some shopping with Ben and Brendan whilst Screech was at uni. A trip to Aldi and Woolies got us supplied including stuff to make a stew in my new cast iron pot. I couldn’t find any dampa mix so I settled for a packet cake pudding mix which I do regret buying.
We met up with Screech and headed out to the camping ground, it was in a valley and the sunlight was minimal. There was actually water in the creek though. Usually creeks around here are dried up but this had about 30cm depth and roughly 2m wide. We set off to find a geocache. We searched the creek bed where there were caves but had no luck. GPS was telling us it was on the other side, Ben found a way across a fallen tree. After some bush bashing and getting within 5m of coordinates there was nothing that would resemble a cache as there’d been flash floods in the area with branches wedged high in the trees. A bit more walking about and I spotted an abandoned bus which was really strange. It had a brick oven and some dodgy electrics hooked up but it was all rotted out. I fell through the floor whilst getting up the back so I could take that photo.
We couldn’t find the geocache so started to headback following the road. This lead us to the causeway. I thought i’d test out my hiking boots and walked sideways facing downstream to minimise the water buildup on my boots. My toes only just got wet at the end. So they’re fairly water resistant. The other guys took off there shoes and toughened up for the cold water. Once across the other side I found two leeches sucking through my socks. Bastards.
Back at the campsite we set up tents and got a fire going using flint sticks. Similar to this. Ben brought two recycling crates full of dried out hardwood. This turned out to be a brilliant idea as there was no way we could have had a fire that would last the night. I found another leech had attacked me, he’d been sucking away for a while. This left me with a foot that wouldn’t stop bleeding for a while.
Once the fire was cooking and airbeds blown up it was time to start cooking.
Course #1 – The Stew
Ingredients:
- Leg of lamb
- Potatos
- Carrot
- Onion
- Flavouring powder
- Water
Method:
Chop up the meat off the bone. Cook it slightly with onions. Chop up the veggies. Chuck everything in the pot, put the lid on and let it site for about 45mins or until the spuds and carrot are soft.
Course #2 – The Steak
Ingredients:
- Steak
- Bread
- BBQ Sauce (Tomato for Dave.)
Method:
We cooked using Dave’s new pan. Once it doesn’t look like it’s living then slap it between some bread and add sauce.
Course #3 – The Pudding
Ingredients:
- Packet Pudding Mix
- Water
- 1x Egg
Method:
Mixed it up in the billy, stirred it for a while. Chucked it in the pot only to find there was barely enough to cover the base. Mixed up the sauce and poured that on top. Let it cook for about 20mins.
This was terrible. A complete disaster.
Course #4 – The Rice Cream
Ingredients:
- Can of Rice Cream
Method:
We heated up our rice cream for about 30mins on the fire. It was basically caramelising and spewing out the top. It needed another 30mins to cool down before we could actually eat it.
We ended up in bed about 12:00am. The night started off alright, wasn’t too cold. A couple of hours into it though and my shoulders were starting to freeze. I put a jumper on. Another few hours sleep and it was getting really cold. So I put another jumper on and pulled my hoodie over my entire face leaving only a small gap to breath out of as my nose was numb.
The morning came and it was just getting colder, we were hearing some weird noises which we thought were a wombat. A quick piss ensured me that it was only birds scavenging from our leftovers and dirty bowls. By this time my toes were starting to freeze up. As we were in a valley, even though the sun had risen, there was no direct sunlight till about 10:00am which is when we all got up to discover our fire had died in the arse. Brendan had to settle a bet with Screech that it would be possible to get it going again only using some paper napkins we stole from the amenities. 15mins later we creacked out the flint stick again. Once the fire was going again it was time to start cooking again.
Course #5 – The Breakfast
Ingredients:
- Bacon
- Eggs
- BBQ sauce (Tomato for Dave)
- Pancake mix (maple flavoured)
- Steak
- Bread
- Spaghetti (tinned)
- Juice
Method:
This was one hell of a breakfast, we started with pancakes. After Ben was finished doing the pancake dance whilst shaking the mix we cracked out the frypan and started cooking. It was quite a challenge to get the temperature right for cooking. They turned out great. Aldi brand mix doesn’t have as much flavour as the woolies one.
Next was the leftover steak, basically the same as we had for dinner. It was still good.
As part of camping tradition, it’s necessary to have bacon and eggs for breakfast. Ben sourced some good bacon, once cooked with eggs, wedged between some bread and sauce it was perfect.
Lastly were some cans of spaghetti. Pretty straight forward. Chuck them in the fire till they’re bubbling out the lid.
