The Camping Thread - Page 22

BENT_8 · 20-12-2019, 09:09 PM

Just got back home from Robe, fantastic getaway if a little short for such a journey, definitely going back again soon.
Took a run to Tantanoola cave and Mt Gambier on Wednesday, hadn't been there for 38yrs so was good to get back again.
Territory soaked up the miles pulling the camper, icc showed outside temps of 49* around Tailem Bend but she never missed a beat.

Tantanoola
https://imgur.com/a8rHtF2

My Princess and I at the Blue Lake
https://imgur.com/9lbyynf

On the beach at Robe
https://imgur.com/4BCtaos

galaxy xr8 · 21-12-2019, 08:19 AM

Wow... I can see how that lake got it's name... so bright, I must endeavour to get over that way some day.

BENT_8 · 14-02-2020, 10:43 PM

Hey fellow campers, been a bit quiet in here of late so I thought I'd give ya's a shout out to see who's out and about.
I'm currently kicking back in the Mannum caravan park on the banks of the might Murray for the night. It's only a 1 nighter but it comes with an awesome back story.
8 months ago a friend of mine mentioned how he'd like to solo kayak the entire length of the Murray and I gotta be honest, at 87 I thought he was crazy but figured he'd have a crack and realise what a mammoth journey it is and pull the pin early on in the piece, well, he called us up last week and asked if we'd be interested in meeting him in Mannum at the end of his 79th day so here we are and in all honesty I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world, just simply inspirational stuff.
Not a bad park either.

davenl5l · 15-02-2020, 07:26 AM

Leaving in 5 weeks to go north for 5 months. Parrachilna,innaminka,birdsville,mt.isa,barcley,ka kudo,darwin,lichfield and then the gibb river road(bucket list) unfortunatly have to be back for the bend 500 or would be gone longer

**buggerlugs** · 15-02-2020, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davenl5l

Leaving in 5 weeks to go north for 5 months. Parrachilna,innaminka,birdsville,mt.isa,barcley,ka kudo,darwin,lichfield and then the gibb river road(bucket list) unfortunatly have to be back for the bend 500 or would be gone longer

Can't you watch it on TV !!

davenl5l · 16-02-2020, 07:39 AM

Already got camp sites and park n view we go every year with the stepson

b0son · 16-02-2020, 07:49 PM

Waiting for Alpine Way to be reopened so we can take our new camper down to Geehi…

prydey · 16-02-2020, 08:26 PM

Nothing planned until Easter when we go back to mambray creek.

Got to do the brakes on the van before then.

**Beastie** · 16-02-2020, 08:46 PM

We did a quick trip up to Maroochydore in Jan.

A quick pit stop in Port Macquarie

Ballina

Stayed on a friend's property in Diddillibah for a couple of nights.

Then one night at Alex Beach Tourist Park

ThePursuit · 17-02-2020, 10:52 PM

Gday fellow forumers, putting the feelers out well in advance as the wife and I start to plan for my long service leave later in the year.

We’ve got the new van ordered, should be ready the end of June, and we’ll travel down from Darwin to grab it in Victoria. Might take the kids to see some snow if there’s any hanging around close by at that time of year and catch up with some mates at Uluru as we pass each other on seperate travels, lucky buggers will be on their way home to Perth after doing the Gibb.

The big departure date however is the end of September and plan on being home for Australia Day 2021. So effectively 4ish months. We plan to head over QLD way then work our way down and around to SA and head up the guts again for home. WA will come at a later date as we both grew up in South West WA and anything up north is close to home from Darwin.

We did a similar 4week trip back in 2012 BC (we call it Before Children) in reverse though. It was a quick trip to see the major sites as neither of us had really been to the east coast beforehand.

We now want everyone’s help to plan the big trip, so if you know of any great secrets that can’t be found on google then let me know. From camping spots to specific towns, great food to the ‘odd’ must see, we’re all ears and your help would be appreciated. We are also mindful of the hard time a lot of places and people are having due to recent and ongoing events so even if the suggestion is to raise awareness and get some customers through the door then please suggest.

We will be travelling with our two boys, currently 6 and 3. Will be 7 and 4 whilst on our travels. We will have the Hilux and Masterpiece van and plan to do a fair bit of free camping. Should be self sufficient for a week I suspect.

We plan on documenting our travels subtly on social media between friends, family and the travelling community. We are definitely not ‘influencers’ by any means but would like to try and do our bit to promote travel within our own country, spend a few dollars helping the economy and stay away from those nasty viruses.

Sorry for the long post but in short if you have any suggestions that would be great.

Cheers, Sean

ThePursuit · 17-02-2020, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davenl5l

Leaving in 5 weeks to go north for 5 months. Parrachilna,innaminka,birdsville,mt.isa,barcley,ka kudo,darwin,lichfield and then the gibb river road(bucket list) unfortunatly have to be back for the bend 500 or would be gone longer

Another good spot in Darwin area is Dundee Beach if you like fishing or just great sunsets away from the majority.

Jealous of the Gibb trip, maybe next year for us....

Trevor 57 · 03-03-2020, 06:04 AM

Spent the weekend away in the Vict high country. 10 blokes, 7 vehicles. Didn't tow anything, just swagged it.

Met at Eildon Friday morning, climbed a few big hills around Eildon, did a bit of sight seeing at Rubicon. Camped the night near the hut on top of Mt Terrible (best views).

Saturday climbed a few more hills, went to the Mt Sterling, then to the mandatory Craig's Hut, I really couldn't give a **** if we went there or not - too touristy these days.

Camped near Kings Hut on the King River Saturday night, then home via a few hills to Lake William Hovell Sunday morning, then home.

I will post some pictures a bit later

**buggerlugs** · 03-03-2020, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

Spent the weekend away in the Vict high country. 10 blokes, 7 vehicles. Didn't tow anything, just swagged it.

Met at Eildon Friday morning, climbed a few big hills around Eildon, did a bit of sight seeing at Rubicon. Camped the night near the hut on top of Mt Terrible (best views).

Saturday climbed a few more hills, went to the Mt Sterling, then to the mandatory Craig's Hut, I really couldn't give a **** if we went there or not - too touristy these days.

Camped near Kings Hut on the King River Saturday night, then home via a few hills to Lake William Hovell Sunday morning, then home.

I will post some pictures a bit later

Done a Trail Bike Tour up thru there years ago. Riding thru the snow was interesting..........

Trevor 57 · 03-03-2020, 01:33 PM

My 2 young blokes and their mates ride motorbikes up there every year, they love it. They were reminiscing on the weekend

Trevor 57 · 03-03-2020, 01:39 PM

roKWiz · 03-03-2020, 03:46 PM

High country trails are beautiful with great location names, did you see Mt Buggery and Mt Disappointment.

prydey · 03-03-2020, 07:04 PM

Very inspiring pics Trev.

b0son · 03-03-2020, 07:16 PM

Great to see its reopening.

Trevor 57 · 03-03-2020, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

Very inspiring pics Trev.

thanks, we had an awesome weekend

prydey · 10-03-2020, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

We did Halls Gap a couple months ago.

Hey Sarge, we booked in to halls gap lakeside again today for July this year. Same area as last year. Lower section up the end looking out over the clearing.

BENT_8 · 11-04-2020, 05:23 PM

I didn't think it needed its own thread, but this is BENT_8's Easter weekend COVID-19 backyard camping project.
Well, its not really a project, I just cut the lawns and dug a shallow hole for the paver and whilst its not as permanent as Bongo Boy's window tint, it'll probably outlast Cav's fat gutted dog screen mesh..

The blank canvas..

Tools of the trade..

The finished product..

And finally, my entry in BCF's backyard camping competition..

Yes, that's dinner in the pot..

**Beastie** · 11-04-2020, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I didn't think it needed its own thread, but this is BENT_8's Easter weekend COVID-19 backyard camping project.
Well, its not really a project, I just cut the lawns and dug a shallow hole for the paver and whilst its not as permanent as Bongo Boy's window tint, it'll probably outlast Cav's fat gutted dog screen mesh..

The blank canvas..
image

Tools of the trade..
image

The finished product..
image

And finally, my entry in BCF's backyard camping competition..
image

Yes, that's dinner in the pot..

I see that you have been taking lessons from Cav on how to post oversized pics...

prydey · 16-05-2020, 07:36 PM

Not specifically camping but went to check out a very popular campground today that has been recommended by numerous people (including Bent8).
This is in Mt Crawford forest near Adelaide. Campground is called Rocky Paddock.

Anywho, it was packed, being the first weekend back opened and they'd also made it free to camp this weekend (unbeknown to me) so all sites were taken. We had a bit of a drive around to check out the surrounds and then had a bit of a fire and feed at an adjoining picnic area near the entrance.

Colourful mushrooms on display

Unfortunately, as is often the case with drop toilets and busy campsites, the facilities would be a deal breaker for us actually camping there. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say i'm a bit precious in that regard. To quote Kenny from the movie of the same name, there was a smell in there that will outlast religion.

Really enjoyed the day trip though.

**Beastie** · 16-05-2020, 08:56 PM

The Bride and I are looking forward to our annual Viscount weekend at Patonga (Central Coast NSW) in August...

Hopefully we will be back to some normality by then...

BENT_8 · 16-05-2020, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

Anywho, it was packed, being the first weekend back opened and they'd also made it free to camp this weekend (unbeknown to me) so all sites were taken.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with drop toilets and busy campsites, the facilities would be a deal breaker for us actually camping there. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say i'm a bit precious in that regard. To quote Kenny from the movie of the same name, there was a smell in there that will outlast religion.

Really enjoyed the day trip though.

Not surprising, I've been a few times now and when its busy its feral, but go up there on a quiet weekend and its actually not bad as they keep them clean.

Im waiting a month to let people get it out of their systems before I go anywhere.

prydey · 16-05-2020, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

Not surprising, I've been a few times now and when its busy its feral, but go up there on a quiet weekend and its actually not bad as they keep them clean.

Im waiting a month to let people get it out of their systems before I go anywhere.

Yeah, it was a bit of a shame as the campgrounds themselves looked great. They've tried to keep it very natural looking. No sign of wildlife when we were there and i'd imagine the crowds tend to scare them off.

the day was a great day though. nothing like enjoying the company of your family around a fire.

so much so that i got home and started looking for other picnic grounds that also have fire pits. turns out its a bit of a theme with Forestry SA and there are a couple of picnic grounds in Kuitpo that also are basically day camp areas, complete with numerous fire pits. Might check them out tomorrow and they are much closer to home.

Mind you, while Mt crawford is a 1.5hr journey for us, its all through the country so a great drive. We detoured through Meadows to buy some baked goodness from their bakery (meadows bakery is one of the best you'll ever visit. I can't go past their honey logs, and my daughter rated their vanilla slice the best she's had, narrowly edging out clarendon bakery, another baked goods paradise) and on the way home saw some of the evidence of the january fires as we came back through charleston and woodside etc.

Never know Bent, may see you out there one day.

BENT_8 · 17-05-2020, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

Never know Bent, may see you out there one day.

You know, I was sitting here yesterday afternoon as I didn't manage to get away for a look at Kuitpo and I thought, I know, i'll take a drive up to Rocky and see if there's a familiar SZ Territory about, then I remembered you saying once that you like to keep to your self and I didn't want to intrude on your family time so I decided against it.

prydey · 17-05-2020, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BENT_8

You know, I was sitting here yesterday afternoon as I didn't manage to get away for a look at Kuitpo and I thought, I know, i'll take a drive up to Rocky and see if there's a familiar SZ Territory about, then I remembered you saying once that you like to keep to your self and I didn't want to intrude on your family time so I decided against it.

Ahh, bummer. We do keep to ourselves but I don't turn away visitors.

Currently sitting around a fire at chookarloo campground in kuitpo. Really nice here although toilets are the same. Given it's less than 30 from home it's ideal for a quick 1 nighter or two.

BENT_8 · 23-05-2020, 01:43 PM

Just took a run up to Rocky Paddock and Chalks for a look around, packed solid again this weekend.
Good to see people out and about again, local bakeries are stocked up and doing a good trade, currently enjoying at bacon and cheese pasty, vanilla slice ans cappacino in Williamstown.

davenl5l · 24-05-2020, 07:26 AM

Just booked ski beach at Innaminka for 21 days next month cant wait