Still cause trouble
For weeks now I had been banging on about wanting to go camping and to get away. It didn't really go as planned. The forecast predicted rain and it was raining but we decided to go anyway. 1, because I had already taken time off work and would cause some shit if I had to reschedule and 2. If I stayed in Brisbane another day, someone was sure to lose their head. Basically if I had a metre in my head measuring the amount of fucks I gave about anything, it would look like this.
I was so excited to go, I had packed everything before I had even arranged for Jake to come get me. It was pouring down with rain and I was hoping the closer we got down south, it would clear up just slightly. Driving hats on, sometimes conditions like this called for driving moustaches.
I wish I could have taken more photos of the scenery but I didn't realise then that our stay down at Binna Burra would be so short lived. Picture a narrow country road, going up a mountain with no barriers separating the road from the steep cliff. Rainforest trees and the occasional cyclist. One moment we could see clearly, the next we were driving through a cloud. That was pretty sick.
That camping grounds were lovely. Spaced out nicely and everyone of them had a fire pit. The grounds had reserved us a spot bigger than we had actually asked for. Our swag tent took up a quarter of the space
SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!!!!!!
The swag had a mattress inside it though and it was honestly the most comfortable tent I had ever stayed in.
Inside our tent, looking out
Inside the tent
We may not have had a big tent. But this was going to be DA BEST CAMPING TRIP EVRRRRRR
I was dozing when I heard something running through the leaves and brush outside our tent. It kept sweeping back and forth and then came a constant tapping. I opened my eyes, thinking it was a kid but through the haziness I could see it was one of those goddamn bush turkeys pecking at some of our scraps I had put outside the tent flap.
We get these everywhere around our place. They're always knocking about in our backyard, scratching at the mulch and in the garden. Our cats don't bother with them. I have never seen either of them chase after a turkey or go near one. They're a pest but I do love speed walking after them and jumping out from behind stuff and scaring them. They make a funny noise when you chase them as well. So anyway, this turkey had no idea that he wasn't alone and that he was literally a couple of centimetres away from my face.
I heard him circle the tent. He then poked his head around to see if I was still watching and then continue to circle again. Before he came back around, I snuck the scraps back into the tent.
He didn't come back.
We both woke from our nap to find it had become dark and the rain was pounding down on the roof of our swag. It was pissing down and water was splashing in from outside. Jake noticed the lining of the roof was wet. We had a bit of a problem...the fricken swag was leaking and it was only 6:00pm.
Jake: This doesn't look good
Mer: "No Meredith, why would we need to take a tarpolin? We don't need a tarpolin, this tent is waterproof"
Jake: It's not a tent!! and it is water proof
Mer: Clearly not. Mother....did I actually get dripped on?
The roof was dripping onto the sleeping bag and the mattress so there was no way we were able to stay in there the night without getting completely soaked. It was almost closing time at the front office so I quickly rang the office and asked the lady if they had any spare tents they could lend us. They had no tents but there were the safari tents (sort of cottage tents) which were apparently the next thing up from a place in the campsite. She said they had one left due to a cancellation for $76 a night and that we were welcome to just walk in when we were ready. The only issue was is that it was at the other end of the park. We braced ourselves and bailed the tent.
We had been given a map when we arrived at the park which looked as though it had been drawn by a six year old. It was difficult to find our camp site that afternoon when it wasn't raining; trying to make sense of it in the pouring rain was ridiculous.
After what seemed like a million steps, our safari tent was the last one at the bottom of the hill. When we got there, it really wasn't what I was expecting at all. I had seen in 'An Idiot Abroad', when Karl Pilkington travelled to India, he stayed the night in a Safari tent. His looked a bit like this and this is what I was expecting.
Ours looked like this
(with our stuff already inside)
The floor was sticky and dirty. Considering the two little blood spatters on my side of the bed, the mattress covers didn't look as though they had been changed since the last visitors. The black line in the background isn't a nice decorative touch to the tent.
That my friends, is a thick, long line of mildew. MOLD and that is a rather dangerous amount as well.
Granted, this shithole is better than sleeping in a wet tent but in no way what so ever was I paying $76 for it in the morning. I was cranky and disappointed that our camping trip ended up so shit and our plan to stay two nights would be impossible.
Jake made me buy a 24 pack of sausages (in case of an emergency) and I had no problem with letting him cook all of them.
Jake made me buy a 24 pack of sausages (in case of an emergency) and I had no problem with letting him cook all of them.
So at least we didn't go hungry. I only had one sausage before I decided to turn in. We huddled like penguins to keep warm and I had the weirdest dreams that night. One dream about a game show.
Nickelback are a pest but it's not the answer. I also yelled at Jake thinking he was Lindley and he had stolen my phone. I do have some very vivid dreams, especially when I'm grumpy :(
We woke up and decided to check out. Preparing myself to pay the $76, I went up to the desk and the girl looked us up, then looked at me.
Girl: You've paid.....
Me: Oh....really?
Girl: Yeah, you paid the depost on the 18th and then the rest yesterday.
Mer:...okay. Well we uh....
*Jake stands up*
Mer: Nevermind....
Girl: Okay, well have a good day and we hope to see you another time!
Mer: Kay...bye.
We briskly walked back to the car before she realised we hadn't stayed in the tent the whole night.
I would love to go back to Binna Burra one day. But this time with a tarpolin and a tent that's called a tent. And it will be DA BEST CAMPING TRIP EVRRRRRRR
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