Go camping

Truth be told, I added camping to the list thinking that I would ease into it without so much as a trickle of sweat. I adapt pretty well to things after all. So I booked myself in with the Nullabor Traveller for a 10 day road trip from Adelaide to Perth and thought nothing more of it.

16 November 2011: Two hours after the sun had set...

I remember falling short of breath as I stared down at the swag in front of me. My heart palpitated so hard that I had to hold onto my chest. I wanted to scream [for rescue]. But seeing that the rest of the tour group were not perplexed [as I was] about sleeping outdoors without a tent surrounded by wild animals, reptiles included, I decided to quietly accept my fate and prepared my swag. The first night brought out a whole new meaning to sleeping tight and not letting the bed bugs bite.

It involved a lot of twisting and turning in my sleeping bag which caused a "shwishy-shwoshy" noise. The sleeping bag did such a good job at trapping heat that I was perspiring feverishly. But I was too afraid to unzip my sleeping bag or the swag for fear of creepy crawlies [or worse] as I was told that they were attracted to the heat. Each time I stopped swishing and shwoshing, I would look up into the dark sky filled with stars and feel a wave of calmness. The heat of the bag however would slowly build up and the swishing swoshing would continue.

The scariest part of the night had to be when I heard creepy animal like noises from above my head. The heat from the sleeping bag could not amount to the fear that I felt. So I miserably covered my head under the swag cover and longed for daylight to come.

I woke up at the break of dawn to the sounds of the kookaburra hollering away like a monkey. I was relieved that I had survived the night without my head being torn off by an evil monster. Which, I must say, was highly unlikely but my imagination can be quite unimaginable at times.

For the next two nights, we stayed at Coodlie Park which was a farm retreat in the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. We slept in bunk beds. Three minute showers and all. Life was good. It was our only non-campsite accommodation.

We travelled across the Nullarbor and stopped over at the National Park where we would take our rest for the evening. It had a loo with no door and a yard filled with broken down [rusty] cars which were abandoned in the 70s as it would have cost too much to send someone out to tow or repair the cars.

It was there when I happened to chance upon a brown snake making its way across a footpath metres away from me. I took it as a non-optional option for me to sleep in a tent that evening. Away from the mice. And snakes. Thankfully, Katja was looking for a tent partner and with the help of Katrin and Manu, we had our first tent up and ready within minutes.

The campfire was great. One of the highlights of camping is definitely the campfires. The warmth. The mesmerising flickers of the flames. The conversations that could only be made possible with a campfire in its full blaze. I believe that it was then when I really got to know my fellow tour mates. Or rather, that they got to know me.

From this trip, I have grown to love the outdoors. I did go back to sleeping in a swag [without a tent] later on in our journey. The star filled skies continued to amaze me. And I was even brave enough to unzip my sleeping bag when I slept. There were days when we had no access to shower facilities and although it proved difficult at first, it became tolerable. Travel wipes are a blessing.

Camping is all in the experience. The pitch black darkness of night that you can never find living in the city, the sounds of nature and all that it holds and the disconnection from technology. I felt so much at peace [and at ease].

Grey [muscular] Kangaroo

First campsite

Coodlie Park with the tour group

Being daredevils under the road tracks

The infamous South Australian sign

Seriously.

At one of our lunch stops

Watching the sunset

The loo with the view

A smooth start to Bluff Knoll

Anamieke, my God-sent angel, still smiling as we continued to ascent the mountain

 Finally at the top!

Doing some light reading by the gas powered light with my trusty headlamp on

Us gurls and our lovely tourguide at Busselton

Alas, a full view of my travel accommodation

Thanks Eraj for the brilliant 104 which has left me wanting more and a massive thank you to all my ladies and [2] men from la tour across the Nullarbor. You have made my trip worth the while. Thanks for all the memories!