this posting is a celebration to the fact that I am still here to tell you about a quite perillous week end......
As you know, we went camping with a few other people (9 of us all together) for Carolinna's 29th b-day. most people were her and simon's friends from Melbourne, and Chris and I were the little kiddies....
On saturday, the week-end's quality seemed a bit compromised by the amount of raining pouring dowm but as we travelled through the country, well the suburbs, the weather started clearing up and what were first patches of blue sky quickly turned into a bright, hot, sunny day!!!!! All our hopes were raised again and the party could start..........
The site where we were to spend the night belongs to the National Park, a bit south of Sydney, and to reach it, cars have to be left at the carpark, bags tightly straped to the back and an evil hill must be climbed. the journey took about half an hour and it was hard but we were then greeted by a delish VB offered by our first settlers there, so the pain was forgotten almost instantly.
The site itself was quite beautiful, and being the only ones there, we had it all for ourselves. it was surrounded on three sides by hills and on the fourth, we had a beautiful beach waiting just for us. life was good in those days, and we made the most of it, contemplating our luck of having such a beautiful weather after a rainy morning.
things went on like that for a few hours, first trying to consolidate a tarp to serve as a communal shelter. lots of engineering and thorough designing went into the process, but the tarp was standing as a sign of what was coming next............... basically, pretty shaky and unstable.
it didn;t keep us from enjoying the waves, although a bit rough for my liking, lazing around in the sun and covering our skins with sunscreen oil.....
we had a nice dinner mostly made up of sausages (snags for the aussies reading this) and as the night covered us with it's dark blanket, we were greeted with an amazing spectable. all around us, the most amazing lightning was taking place, and as we were rejoycing in the fact that the storm was moving around and not above us, we sat there and oooohed and aaaahed at the fierceness of the "fireworks". slowly but surely, a few of us started feeling a few drops and we all made the wise decision to seek refuge under the tarp. the only problem was that the wind was pretty fierce by then, and well the tarp was not anymore, it had changed from a safe and sound shelter to a big piece of blue material flapping around in the wind......
the drops became bigger and we had no solution but to run to the "taj", the biggest tent available and all 9 of us squeezed in there. what was nice and cozy for the first few minutes changed into a toasty leeking environment soon deprived of oxygen..... soon emotion overtook us, as i discovered two leeches on my leg and in a movement of panic sent them flying accross the tent. as of today, one of them might still be crawling around the "taj"....
After a little bit, everyone decided to go back to their tents to sleep until the next morning, convinced that the storm would be gone and we would have a bright sunshine to accompany our pancakes......
the storm went on all night, it was crazy with the tent fighting like a little soldier against the harsh elements. we managed to stay pretty dry although the side where the wind was blowing kept bending quite dangerously on top of us, going from a three men igloo to a one man typee..... the skies were going mad and when your only protection is a small piece of fabric attached to the ground, I think that the conscience of the storm is exponentially increased...
The next morning, after a pretty rough night, we took advantage of a small break in the weather to cook some pancakes. it wasn;t very long before it was pouring again and we all ran back to our tents. about an hour later, a decison had to be made and facing teh elements, we were all packing up. it was pretty cold, all our clothes were damp but there was no point waiting there and the thought of getting home where we could take a nice hot shower kept us moving.
so we went back the way we came, up the hill.... the only difference was that the steps were now covered in mud and very slippery. at least, the climb didn;t seem so bad as we were focused on not sliding off or flying away. the way down was very slippery too but at least, it wasn;t nearly as tirering as the way up.
once in the car, my little story is over..... in less than an hour, we were able to get rid of the damp clothes and warm up in the shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we then went on with our civilised lives, the memory of the storm still alive but as a new week starts, it already seems quite far away....
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