The Journey – Adapting to Freecamping

The journey in freecamping has some wonderful adventures. The people on a whole are great and we often find ourselves chatting merrily away as unawares one hour… then two… then sometimes three slip by before you look up and realise you were going to be moving on today but once more … the pleasure of swapping stories with like travellers caught up with you once again. It is a good thing we don’t have a tight timeline.

There are also other joys … slipping along a waterway in the unsinkable ship .. our trusty kayak and simply just enjoying the view and experience. You can find water monitors along the way and the odd snake, as with yesterday, who we disturbed making a meal of a frog. The ducks, water birds and even wild geese can be wonderfully entertaining and I have discovered a new interest in birdlife. Even the pups have learnt not to chase the wildlife unless it gets just that smidge too close to them. The wildlife can be spectacular and the campfires memorable, memories which stay with you to be recalled at later times.

There are the  delights of swimming in fresh flowing rivers and the night skies … oh such beautiful skies!  Our dogs, Tuppi and Scottie-dog who are our travelling companions also have found little delights. Scottie .. all 8 inches of him thinks he is king of the camp where they lady dogs are concerned and I have never seen him get so excited as he does when a new little dog joins his pack… or so he thinks. Note to self: Get the dog neutered!

Tuppi guarding the Loo (bone)

Tupp on the other hand has learnt the value of the early morning raid and scouts out dog bowls left out for other dogs, this at the break of dawn. This morning she took to hiding her bounty (a particularly juicy bone) over near the public loo. I had to go and save the campers before they stirred, so in the misty mountain morning there I was scuffing around the loose grass and sand looking for where she had buried her bone. Either that, or no campers were going to get anywhere near the loo that morning. The day was eventually saved … you can see the pic where Tup is busily guarding the loo’s from inadvertent bone snatchers.

We have stayed in camp overlong here … it is just so beautiful on the western side of the Great Dividing Range, in from Wauchope NSW and it is hard to tear ourselves away. We have a yen for a day or two saltwater fishing though and I have even bought the licence. Time to use it methinks.

Here are some things to consider though:

Things I like about this life

• No appointments, no where to be
• The morning mist rolling in over the forest
• The bird song in the morning
• The companionship of the dog pack (we travel with two pups)
• The people you meet who are on the adventure of life
• The delight of finding wild foods
• The company of wild animals and forest creatures
• The curiosity in the eye of the cow trying to figure out just what you are
• I love annoying people who have parked in front of access tracks
• Sitting like a shag on a rock with my toy fishing rod, baited with anything that might pass me by such as an unfortunate blowie within range of a swat.

Things I don’t like about freecamping

• The hobo-sapiens & bullies – rare though they seem thankfully
• The wet annex when you want to move on
• The traffic while driving from camp to camp
• People who park in front of access tracks thoughtlessly
• The Rednecks of the world.

Happy travelling and I might just meet you along the tar somewhere. Say Hi and we can chatter over a fire while the billy is on the boil. Such is life.

Jan is an Author of Aboriginal tales. You can find her books at her web site. They are available in print and at Amazon.com and Smashwords in multi e-book format.

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