Dont panic !!!! Its only temporary
We went camping this weekend with our besties. They are relatively newbie campers, entering the camping flow chart low down right at entry level, tent. We didn't want to overwhelm them by casting a solar eclipse over their site by parking the Behemoth 20/63.1OB right next door to them.
To be honest, I also didn't want to feel like a prancing pratt by "showing off", feeling like a genuine knob in the Expanda, so I got guilted into rummaging through the garage for my tent and camping gear which for mind you, good reason, hasn't seen natural light for more years than I care to remember. After 3 vans, I thought we'd really and truly moved on from tenting
A whirlwind packing (throwing) event had me packed and ready to hit the road in under 1 1/2 hours from scratch. Pretty good I thought, and proof that accused messy and outwardly chaotic apparently random storage "system" I employ works a treat, much to Mrs Crusty bewilderment. Out came the liquid fuel lamp and stove, soot blackened cooking gear along with the swag for the mini man. (in which the mini man lasted all of 15 minutes)
We were heading off down the Cowes, Philip Island (Vic), home to the Fairy Penguin, Australia 500cc motorcycle Grand Prix and other such marvels.
Whats steaming hot, and comes out the back of Cowes?? ... the Philip Island Ferry of cause, you filthy minded people
Weather gods were smiling upon us too which was good. I shut the shop early and headed home to throw all the gear in the back of the Navara only to find Mrs Crusty had been yellow carded by the Dr after feeling off her game for a few days. So, the early first chapter summary was Mrs Crusty organised a weekend away with friends ... forcing Mr Crusty to close the factory, leave the perfectly fantastic luxury of the Expanda at the factory out of pure embarrassment, and reluctantly agree to bloody tent it for the weekend ... and worse, share the ablution block of which I thought was also well behind me now.
A savage and dramatic regression in camping standards; I literally became the Benjamin Button of camping ......... then Mrs Crusty damn well cancelled after setting me up nicely, thank you very much
The 11th hour last minute refusal by Mrs Crusty to miss the "fun" unfortunately happened after I packed only 2 of everything; plates, cutlery, towels, food etc etc etc for myself and my mini man. Oh well, we just have to eat in shifts. Although I didn't plan on much eating
We got to the caravan park and the office was closed with a number of envelopes pegged to the door for the late arrivals (late being after 6pm) ..... and our name was very conspicuous by its absence, but Scott C was apparently booked onto our site, and we are most certainly not Scott which was worrying. 2 choices; bin the envelope or press the intercom button; I lost and was told to pressed the intercom button.
The Probus Club had also taken over the park. And they later entertained (read annoyed) us by playing bagpipes and taking over the games room and forcing the abandonment of the International Philip Island Ping Pong tournament.
I pushed the intercom, and was promptly told our booking was for next weekend ...... then she hung up. We stood there like idiots for 10 minutes burning daylight, but nobody came out. Are you kidding me??. I pushed the intercom button again, ready to ramp up the conversation, but it turned they live offsite and the intercom was the problem and not the reception girl.
We all conspired to relocate Scott C, got out sites allocated and started the urgent setup before nightfall. At least we manage to fluke the tent up before our newbie friends ..... and had tonic flowing before too much longer.
Turned out to be a great couple of nights with a small amount of drizzle Saturday night, but that didn't take any of the shine off. I usually wake at about 5.30am, even in the Expanda, but even with the tent lit up very early like a carnival side show I somehow slept till 7.30am both mornings. We did have an unfair advantage that the camp matt we used was the camp matt we slept on for over 12 months while I renovated some of the house ... so we were very accustomed to that.
Mrs Crusty has fond memories of camping with her dad and that distinctive hissing of a gas lantern over the camp site. The best could do was the slightly quieter hissing if the liquid fuel lamp ... but in the circumstances she appreciated the sentiment, which was completely lost on our newbie friends with their silent 14 LED lanterns, torches and lights.
A fire was the only missing element, and it was only after we'd book that we remembered the other places we could have gone to that would have allowed a fire; one being Eppalock that I temporarily forgot about @Smergen's fantastic review ..... next time I think but the extra hours drive would need a long weekend more likely. But we've already tentatively agreed to the next outing ... and whether I pike on the tent and take the van will be decided later
The only lingering downside of the weekend was the amount of crap that has to be packed to facilitate a camping weekend away. The ute was packed to the roof, and and we only took the caravan park camping equipment, which is minus toilet/shower tent, water, gazebo etc.
This guy was camped next to us with this incredible trailer behind his motor home. The trailer contained a small 4x4 which was impressive enough, but it also housed 12ft tinnie on the top deck, complete with the tinnie on its road trailer. The top deck lowers at the rear like a flat top tow truck so the boat, on its trailer, can be backed up by the car, then winched on backwards with the tinnie trailer wheels sitting in the front dropdown section, the top deck then raised .... the whole thing ending up virtually level with the roof of the motor home; and the car then driven underneath. Genius
We went camping this weekend with our besties. They are relatively newbie campers, entering the camping flow chart low down right at entry level, tent. We didn't want to overwhelm them by casting a solar eclipse over their site by parking the Behemoth 20/63.1OB right next door to them.
To be honest, I also didn't want to feel like a prancing pratt by "showing off", feeling like a genuine knob in the Expanda, so I got guilted into rummaging through the garage for my tent and camping gear which for mind you, good reason, hasn't seen natural light for more years than I care to remember. After 3 vans, I thought we'd really and truly moved on from tenting
A whirlwind packing (throwing) event had me packed and ready to hit the road in under 1 1/2 hours from scratch. Pretty good I thought, and proof that accused messy and outwardly chaotic apparently random storage "system" I employ works a treat, much to Mrs Crusty bewilderment. Out came the liquid fuel lamp and stove, soot blackened cooking gear along with the swag for the mini man. (in which the mini man lasted all of 15 minutes)
We were heading off down the Cowes, Philip Island (Vic), home to the Fairy Penguin, Australia 500cc motorcycle Grand Prix and other such marvels.
Whats steaming hot, and comes out the back of Cowes?? ... the Philip Island Ferry of cause, you filthy minded people
Weather gods were smiling upon us too which was good. I shut the shop early and headed home to throw all the gear in the back of the Navara only to find Mrs Crusty had been yellow carded by the Dr after feeling off her game for a few days. So, the early first chapter summary was Mrs Crusty organised a weekend away with friends ... forcing Mr Crusty to close the factory, leave the perfectly fantastic luxury of the Expanda at the factory out of pure embarrassment, and reluctantly agree to bloody tent it for the weekend ... and worse, share the ablution block of which I thought was also well behind me now.
A savage and dramatic regression in camping standards; I literally became the Benjamin Button of camping ......... then Mrs Crusty damn well cancelled after setting me up nicely, thank you very much
The 11th hour last minute refusal by Mrs Crusty to miss the "fun" unfortunately happened after I packed only 2 of everything; plates, cutlery, towels, food etc etc etc for myself and my mini man. Oh well, we just have to eat in shifts. Although I didn't plan on much eating
We got to the caravan park and the office was closed with a number of envelopes pegged to the door for the late arrivals (late being after 6pm) ..... and our name was very conspicuous by its absence, but Scott C was apparently booked onto our site, and we are most certainly not Scott which was worrying. 2 choices; bin the envelope or press the intercom button; I lost and was told to pressed the intercom button.
The Probus Club had also taken over the park. And they later entertained (read annoyed) us by playing bagpipes and taking over the games room and forcing the abandonment of the International Philip Island Ping Pong tournament.
I pushed the intercom, and was promptly told our booking was for next weekend ...... then she hung up. We stood there like idiots for 10 minutes burning daylight, but nobody came out. Are you kidding me??. I pushed the intercom button again, ready to ramp up the conversation, but it turned they live offsite and the intercom was the problem and not the reception girl.
We all conspired to relocate Scott C, got out sites allocated and started the urgent setup before nightfall. At least we manage to fluke the tent up before our newbie friends ..... and had tonic flowing before too much longer.
Turned out to be a great couple of nights with a small amount of drizzle Saturday night, but that didn't take any of the shine off. I usually wake at about 5.30am, even in the Expanda, but even with the tent lit up very early like a carnival side show I somehow slept till 7.30am both mornings. We did have an unfair advantage that the camp matt we used was the camp matt we slept on for over 12 months while I renovated some of the house ... so we were very accustomed to that.
Mrs Crusty has fond memories of camping with her dad and that distinctive hissing of a gas lantern over the camp site. The best could do was the slightly quieter hissing if the liquid fuel lamp ... but in the circumstances she appreciated the sentiment, which was completely lost on our newbie friends with their silent 14 LED lanterns, torches and lights.
A fire was the only missing element, and it was only after we'd book that we remembered the other places we could have gone to that would have allowed a fire; one being Eppalock that I temporarily forgot about @Smergen's fantastic review ..... next time I think but the extra hours drive would need a long weekend more likely. But we've already tentatively agreed to the next outing ... and whether I pike on the tent and take the van will be decided later
The only lingering downside of the weekend was the amount of crap that has to be packed to facilitate a camping weekend away. The ute was packed to the roof, and and we only took the caravan park camping equipment, which is minus toilet/shower tent, water, gazebo etc.
This guy was camped next to us with this incredible trailer behind his motor home. The trailer contained a small 4x4 which was impressive enough, but it also housed 12ft tinnie on the top deck, complete with the tinnie on its road trailer. The top deck lowers at the rear like a flat top tow truck so the boat, on its trailer, can be backed up by the car, then winched on backwards with the tinnie trailer wheels sitting in the front dropdown section, the top deck then raised .... the whole thing ending up virtually level with the roof of the motor home; and the car then driven underneath. Genius
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