Gone Camping

Robin Falls, NT, Australia
Friday May 20th to Sunday May 22nd, 2011

Yes that’s right……I went camping. Don’t act so surprised. I camp…..I just prefer 5 Star hotels but I can handle roughing it for a couple days. And roughing it we did. Darwin is surrounded by some great and beautiful places to camp and with my time in Darwin quickly coming to an end and with Debi and Scott heading to Canada for all of June, it was decided that we better get out camping and soon. Of course it is difficult to camp during the wet season but now that the dry is upon us it was perfect.

So when Friday arrived we packed up the Discovery and headed out to a spot recommended by a friend of Scott’s. We weren’t too sure where it was but we found it and it turned out to be a very nice spot.

Trying to get everything from our 9th floor apartment to the parking garage. On days like this you wish we lived closer to the ground....but on every other day, we love our rooftop patio.

We had a nice huge camp site with easy access to a little creek. The place we camped (Robin Falls) was mostly empty and really quiet (could barely hear those few other people who were around). The only thing it was missing…..toilet facilities of any kind. After I got over the initial shock of that, Scott went to scavenge up some fire wood and Debi and I set up the tent (well mostly Debi but I was there for moral support. She really does underestimate how much shorter than her and Scott I am).

Scott's fire wood collecting success. In a few weeks I'm sure we won't be able have fires but until then we will burn as much scavenged wood as possible.

There's our beautiful spot. We could have gotten like 10 more tents in the site but it was very nice to have the place all to ourselves.

Here are a few more pictures of our wonderful 2 days in the wilderness.

Hiking up to the falls. It was suppose to be a nice 5 minute, easy hike that we could do in flip flops. It was certainly longer than 5 minutes and it would have been nice to have boots on but it was worth it in the end.

Debi and I hanging out in the totally croc free fresh water swimming hole complete with waterfall. We had the place to ourselves and the water was only a little cold.

Later in the day (Saturday) we made our way to a fishing spot. We didn't catch anything but we did take some good pictures.

Debi and I just hanging out while Scott tried to catch some fish.

One of the many water markers you will find on any road in the Northern Territory. Not needed so much this time of year but certainly you must pay attention to them during the wet season. Yes Debi and I are enjoying a glass of wine while Scott fished.

We also stopped by the ARSS Club (Adelaide River Show Society). I feel like they could come up with a better name. There is a chance we will be back to check it out another weekend when some horse racing is going on.

Looking warm and comfortable in my corner of the tent. Still not sure why Debi felt it necessary to wake me up.

The wonderful wine we were drinking Friday night. I shipped this home from Melbourne. I was worth the cost of shipping it. And Debi then spent the morning taking some very artistic pictures of the bottle.

This was part of our campsite. Yes, Debi and I are really, really relaxed.

Scott was also very relaxed. He tied himself off so he wouldn't float into any spider webs. He'd never get them out of his dreadlocks.

The "man steaks" Scott made for us. I took care of the fire (super hot coal action is all I have to say). Those steaks were good and Scott was super impressed with my fire building ability. He didn't think I had it in me.

This is how we spent most of Sunday, hanging out in the hammocks that Scott was able to string up for us. I do have one complaint.....I was woken up when the hammock hanging was going on but I had a talk with management and I was assured it wouldn't happen again.

It was a very relaxing morning.

We're tied together so we didn't swing all over the place. Well mostly I think it was because Debi likes to irritate me. Sometimes it is really hard to tell who is the younger sister.

So it was a great camping weekend, even with the limited facilities. Too bad this is probably our last chance to head out to the bush together but at least we got one weekend in.

Julie