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2008 : Fortescue Bay
Well we survived the trek to Fortescue Bay by the skin of our teeth. Even though the weather and some hardware conspired against us - we prevailed and had a great time anyway!
Day 1 - Friday
The trek started gently enough - I had the day off, so I stayed home, looked after the boys in the morning, and leisurely packed my gear, and waited for everyone to turn up.
Mike arrived a little after 3pm, he and I head off to the Aberfeldy to stock up on beer, once we get back we loaded the gear in to the car. Jim rang and said he & Lone were on the way. I rang Justin and told him that Mike would pick him up, and we’d all meet at Sorell.
Mike headed off to grab Justin, and about 10 minutes later Jim & Lone arrived. We through the last bit of gear in her car and headed off.
The drive to Sorell was uneventful, and we met at the Purity carpark, and disappeared inside to grab breakfast fixings and last minute snacks etc.
We come outside load the cars up again, and decide to head to McDonalds for dinner - only to find that McDonalds is full, and has a queue a mile long - not good. So we walk across the road to a Fish’n'Chip shop - only to find they’ve turned off their BainMaries and haven’t got anything on the go. Fuckit we say, we’ll eat at Fortescue. Jim needs beer and we need ice, so we head off in search of a Bottleshop - Sorell has none (well none we can find) - so we head to the local pub and buy everything over the counter.
Walking out of the pub we find the heavens had opened and it was pouring down! We race back to the cars, where we all swap - I’m driving Lones 4WD with Jim and Justin, and she hops in with Mike - off we go…
The weather gets worse and worse the further we go.
By the time we reach Fortescue Bay it is pouring - a torrent of soaking rain… just great.
We drive around looking for a good spot to camp. We find a decent one, park the cars, and then madly dash around for 3/4 of an hour setting up the big tent in the dark and the rain. By the time we’ve finished we’re all soaking wet and cold.
We quickly set up tables, chairs, music and lights, and then we dry ourselves off. Then we break out the beer!!
We also pretty soon realise we’re a bit hungry, so we fry up some onion, and scrambled eggs, and add in some sliced kransky sausage - an odd meal, but filling and tasty!
We drink more beer through the rainy night - eventually it’s very late, and we all decide to get to bed.
It did stop raining for about an hour - just long enough for Jim to erect his new tent. Mike decided to camp out in his car, and Justin & Lone also decide to camp out in her car. I decide to sleep in the big tent, so I break out the lilo, and the sleeping bag.
Oh Boy - remind me never to drink so much beer! 6 bloody times I had to get up and pee!
Day 2 - Saturday
I slept well apart from that, warm and cozy - soon enough morning came around, and I got up, deflated my lilo, and rolled up my sleeping bag. Mike was also up, so we had a quick break of bacon and eggs, and I had a hot chocolate to go…
It wasn’t raining, which was a blessing!
Soon the park keepers came by and told us we had to register and pay down at the entrance.
While waiting for Jim and Justin/Lone to get out, I went down to the wharf to have a bit of a fish. Nothing was really biting - tried lures and bait. Oh well, will try later…
I wandered back up to the campsite, and found Jim and Justin trying to get a fire started. It didn’t take long and soon enough we had a roaring fire!
We all took a walk down to the park entrance and registered and paid for the weekend, then wandered back to the campsite.
It was a pretty relaxed afternoon, it rained on and off, but not enough to put out the fire… we decided to get the stew underway about mid afternoon, so Lone and I chopped onions, and carrots, celery, potatos and bacon to go with the marinated beef & guinness.
Pretty soon the dutch oven was on the fire, and cooking away.
While the dutch oven was cooking I decided to head down to the wharf and try my luck with some bait this time. First cast - a few nibbles - something was down there! about 5 minutes later I’d landed a decent sized Wrass… not good to eat, but fun to catch. I wandered a bit further round to a rocky point and tried again - and got 2 more… it was getting wet and cold, so I headed back to the campsite.
Lone whipped up some mashed potatoes to go with the meal, and we fried up some turkish bread to go with it as well! A sumptous feast!
The meal was excellent - very tasty and very filling…
The rain started up again - light but getting heavier as the evening wore on - so we headed back in to the tent, broke out the snacks and remaining beers!
We cleared the tables and started our regular Winkies card games - it proved entertaining and as fun as ever! The music was cranking, Lone brought out some yummy bananacake, and we were having a good time, regardless of the pouring rain & wind outside.
Midnight rolled around, and pretty soon everyone was heading for bed again. I got the lilo out, rolled out my sleeping bag, and was soon off to sleep…
But not for long… my bladder woke me again… so up and out to pee I go… while peeing, there’s this huge flash of light… but no thunder… very weird… I though someone had take my picture… back to my sleeping bag and off to sleep…
But not for long… something woke me, a slight movement, I dunno… I grabbed the torch, and had a look about the tent - a bloody possum! he’d gotten in under the open zipper of the tent (the zipper was not in good condition…) - the possum was helping him self to the bananacake!
I shooed him out, sealed up the cake in a container and wedged some collapsed camping chairs near the entrance to stop em getting in… it seemed to work. Then back to snore-land I went…
But not for long… something woke me… very nastily! - the back of the tent suddenly collapsed inward from the weight of rain/wind pressure, and the top of the tent seam let go with a huge rip… I levitated out of my sleeping bag, and was outside in the rain and mud in a fraction of a second…
While standing there, I notice Jim is up answering the call of nature, so we both peg the tent back down, retie some ropes, and inspect the damage… fatal damage I’m afraid… the tent has seen its last trek… we re-tied some stays, tried to straighten out some bent metal poles, and made the tent as sturdy as we could - then Jim headed back off to bed… I went up to the toilet, lit by torchlight, and the odd lightning flash (and thunder now!).
I got back to the tent, changed socks & clothes and hopped back in to the sleeping bag. Sleep took a while - I was still hyper from being shocked out of a sound sleep by the tent collapse. But eventually I dozed off… soon enough I woke again, it was lighter, dawn must’ve been close, and then another big peal of thunder, and a huge hail storm. I watched the hail hitting Mikes car, and wondered if the tent would collapse again!
Day 3 - Sunday
The hailstorm went on and off for half and hour, then it stopped - I went back to sleep, and got up about 9am or so. I made myself a quick hot chocolate, and had a muesli bar for brekkie. Then down to the wharf for a bit of a fish! Again, no real luck.
Mike got up about 1/2 an hour later, and while he got his brekkie, I deflated my lilo, and rolled up my sleeping bag.
Everyone was up by 11am or so, and we eventually got the fire going again (even the hail couldn’t put it out - but it was an awfully close call!)
Everyone lazed about for a while, the odd remaining beer being consumed, then we realised we were supposed to be out of the place by 11am - it was now about 2pm!
So we started packing up… tarps were folded, rubbish burned on the fire - it took us a good hour to get everything packed and in to the vehicles. The trip home was uneventful and dull (I slept a lot of it).
All in all an excellent trek - beleive it or not! it was fun exciting, and not all that miserable even though the weather tried its best! It also saw the end of our Trekky Booze Tent Mk1 - RIP… and it also saw the end of my $70 camping chair… boy I go through them!
And so on to the next trek, where ever it may be…