Shark Bait Chronicles: Vol. 2
Kangaroo Valley
Up and up and up the East Coast we went in Shark Bait. Since getting rid of the unnecessary mini-fridge and toaster oven, we have a lot more room to store our food and gear.
We found a promising campground on WikiCamps Australia called Bandeela Recreation Area in Kangaroo Valley. Sounds cool! Interestingly, Bandeela is run by WaterNSW. The area is only open during the summer and consists of massive fields of grassy next to a river bank. Jordan and I chose a spot near the edge of a field, not too close to the bathroom block. The first thing I noticed as we set up camp is that we instinctively set up SharkBait with his doors facing away from the center of the field, giving us a wonderful private porch looking into the bush. Everyone else, all the Australians, seemed to have their vans parked toward each other. It turns out that summer camping in the Australia culture is a lot more social than it is in the US. At home, most people go to nature to get away from the bustle of society and enjoy the stillness of nature. Here in Australia, the campgrounds quickly became like going to an outdoorsy family reunion. Kids are constantly running through the center, the little boys running around like mad little thieves and the girls twirl, practicing their gymnastics. There is no telling who belongs to who. Everyone is there for the same reason, to enjoy the summer sun.
Our first night in Kangaroo Valley, we set up camp and took a walk around. The river is shaded by trees lining the edge. There were people laying in floating rafts in the river while spinning a yarn with people chilling on the riverbank. Groups kayaked by and waved at those on shore. This is the perfect spot to throw up the hammock and take a dip. Wombats and kangaroos wander the grounds freely, not bothered by the human visitors. Jordan and I saw a boy walk by with some friends carrying a lizard that was as big as he was. In the middle of one of the grassy fields, a truck had tied a kayak to the back and was driving around in figure eights while the man inside the kayak was laughing and drinking his corona. Jordan and I joked that we are living in a zoo here.
The weather began to turn to rain, so Jordan and I headed back to our van to set up a tarp. Jordan tied two ends of a tarp to Shark Bait and used two poles to create a veranda just outside our sliding door. This proved difficult as the rain picked up, until the owner of the neighboring camper ran over to help. By the time we were done, the rain had subsided and our camp neighbor invited us over for some barbie. Greg said he couldn’t eat all the meat he had cooked and his kids wanted to roast marshmallows. His kids (and others) ran around in the lightning storm, wrestled in the wet grass and drenched themselves in the water spigot, their laughter and screams filling the campground. What a great country to be a kid. Also a parent.
We left Greg’s camp and returned to ours with full bellies. We had a card table set up under our tarp where we settled in to play some dice. As I sat down, a wombat pushed my foot aside to get under our car. We didn’t realize until later that night when we woke up to our car shaking, that the womats like to go under the cars and scratch themselves on the undercarriage.
Out of the blue, a woman ran over to our van with her beer and sat down under our tarp to chat with us. She said her son had been running around with Greg’s kids and he’d told her we are from California. This woman was apparently an arial pilot who came to the States to help out with our fires. She was full of great stories from her time in the states. We heard interesting facts from her job, like Australian and the U.S. firefighters have unofficially been helping each other out since the 1950s. This agreement became official when California and the Pacific Northwest needed this help in 2018, the very fires Susan went to fight. She said that in Australia they use foam to extinguish the flames, but that we don’t use foam in the U.S. She said while she was over in the U.S. she was the only female in her group. The boys were all sent to an encampment for the emergency workers but for her, they gave her a tent and a truck. To understand the next part of her story, you must first understand that Australia is a land of strange, prehistoric and deadly animals. Almost anything in Australia can kill you, down to some of the ancient trees in the Daintree Rainforest. Beastly animals that we have in the U.S. facinate Australians, like the bear. Susan said she was camping in the forest one night and thought she heard a bear. Now what she exactly heard, she has no idea. But it was enough to give her a fright and she threw her tent, still made up, into the back of the truck and zoomed away from there in the dead of night.
When she’s not flying planes to fight fires, Susan runs a gymnastics barn out in the rural parts of NSW. She has sent many of her girls to the olympics and is a very successful business woman. She also plays banjo in a local band…you know on the side of her fire fighting, gymnastics coaching careers. Suddenly, Susan shouts “Oh, look!” Jordan and I jump. “I bet that’s a brown snake!” The Eastern brown snake is one of the most common, most deadly snakes in Eastern Australia. A bit from one of them could kill you in a half hour if you don’t get straight to a hospital. Susan happily declared they are great snakes for chasing around, catching by the tail and throwing back into the bush.
We waved good-bye to Susan as she ran back to her camper. So far already, Jordan and I have met so many weird and fascinating people. I think it’s going to be a great year.
Tomorrow we go into town to to get bank accounts and getting the rego on Shark Bait.
Neighbors at Bandeela in Kangaroo Valley.
Belmore falls
A short drive from Kangaroo Valley is the beautiful Bellmore Falls. The walk to the lookout is relatively easy, with a gorgeous view rewarding the hiker at the end lookout. Continuing on to the falls, one can swim in refreshing cold water. I’d imagine this place is packed on a hot weekend day.
