We spent last weekend at Coolendel again, after having such a brilliant time there for the Australia Day holiday. This time it was just a two-night trip and it was a much smaller group - just us four with Richard and his two eldest girls Ella and Tess. Zoe and Paul had to pull out late in the planning after Sam broke his fingers, had to have micro-surgery and is stuck in a cast he's not allowed to get wet for some weeks. While the weather was much cooler too it was a very pleasant temp in the mid 20s. Scarlett skipped school on Friday and we took our time getting down there, stopping at Gerroa for a lovely lunch on the deck at the Seahaven Cafe. We had the tent up and fire going well before dinner time and I was delighted that we cooked everything using the fire alone. Our potatoes wrapped in foil cooked perfectly in the coals and our steaks were done on the hotplate over the fire.
There were a lot fewer campers than before too, although a large group of middle-aged couples and their kids assembled close to our pitch. Rich arrived in the dark, having got stuck in traffic almost as soon as he left the city. While Tess snuggled in my lap, he and Rich put the tent up with Ella helping. There was time for the kids to be read to and put to bed and for us to have a couple of drinks before hitting the hay ourselves. It was a bitterly cold night and I was woken frequently by the cold as was Flo.
On Saturday we awoke to an overcast day, got the fire going quickly and were soon cooking bacon and eggs in the frying pan over the flames. When the sun came out, it was sunscreen on (Rich's applied here by Tess) and we went straight to the river which was much much higher than last time with a really brilliant set of rapids right by the beach which we took the girls down several times on Rich's excellent lilos.
After lunch back at the camp we decided with the weather being so unpredictable we should pack as much into the day while the sun was out so trekked across the campground to the far side where the river wraps around and there are two further sets of rapids. Again they were much higher and swifter than on our last visit and an absolute hoot. But then I would say that as I had the only lilo that stayed afloat. Rob's attempt to use the girls' two inflatable beds proved disastrous for him and Scarlett and his accompanying undignified strop ruined the rest of his weekend. Rich had Ella and Tess on the other lilo which sank and required re-inflation repeatedly. While the boys struggled helplessly far behind us, Flo and I were floating serenely downstream, screaming our way through the rapids and were irritatingly all smiles when Rich and Rob finally appeared.
We had a much warmer evening around the fire and a few white wines but were eventually forced to head off to bed due to the singing fest that accompanied the big group camping beside us. Listening to Helen Reddy and Oasis sung acapella by a supply teacher from Petersham really was too much to bear. I was kept awake the second night not by the singing or the cold, but by Flo's newly acquired shocking cough. I spent most of the night checking on her and pulling her back onto her mattress that she kept coughing herself off. It started to rain hard in the night and it was a wet, muddy and cold campground that greeted us when we woke (not unlike any camping trip to Wales, ever) as did a huge goanna who came to finish off the remains of last night's dinner.
While the girls had running races, we spent a lazy morning packing up our wet, muddy camping gear and hit the road, stopping off in Kangaroo Valley for lunch at The Friendly Inn before heading back to the city.
On Monday we had a great treat with old friend Darryn Cherry and his girlfriend Rachel dropping in for a late drink on Monday night. Rob has known Darryn since they worked together 20 years ago and he now lives in the UK but has recently set up a business in NZ, and was in Sydney for just a few days on his way through. Darryn and Rob lived together in the share house in North Finchley when Rob and I first started going out and we have had a some great laughs with him over the years. Although Rob has caught up with him a couple of times in the last 2 years, I hadn't seen him since our wedding day. We went to bed far too late and enjoyed much too much champagne, but it was so great to see him and meet the fantastically lovely Rachel.
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