With Grimace having a Saturday out of the shop, off the back of public holiday Friday 26th January, we had three days to get out for another camping trip. The original plan was to head to Burralow Creek in Blue Mountains National Park (north side, near Bowen Mountain/Kurrajong) however fire season unfortunately meant our back up plan needed enacting.

After arriving at the fire trail gates for Burralow Creek, heartbreak set in when we found the gate tightly locked shut, Grimace turned our vehicle around and headed to the other side of Bells Line of Road and into Wollemi National Park for the Wheeney Creek campground. As the boys’ Gra had forewarned, the creek and campground were heaving with day trippers and weekend campers.

Grimace took charge with the set up after finding a nice patch of green, while the boys took charge of cricket, swimming and exploring. We were all set for a laid back 3 days/2 nights out in the wilderness, and with thanks to the Australia Day long-weekend, a thousand others.

Having pre-cooked our pasta for Friday night’s dinner, it was a very carefree night indeed, well, that was until our little campers were too excited for sleep. After what felt like an eternity, the little buggers finally dropped off and Grimace and I were able to enjoy a wine or two, taking in the expanded universe.

Boasting a little, this was our first camping trip whereby it didn’t rain, or have all the equipment soaked with overnight dew. Grimace and I cannot recall a camping trip together where we’ve escaped the wet stuff, and I gotta say, it was rather nice packing down with everything dry!

In a decision I sort of regret, we opted to take our smaller tent – a 4 person tent. We were all on moon mats and it was a squeeze to fit us all in. I am well aware that no-ne ever gets enough sleep when camping, and so the justification for taking the smaller tent was not around the inevitable sleep disturbance (sleeping altogether in the one tent meant both boys slept through both nights), rather the smaller amount of space we’d need in the car and at campground, and if we take the bigger tent, we are more likely to take more stuff, just because we can… now, my lesson from this is: the 4 person tent CAN fit 4 people for sleeping, however it doesn’t MEAN you have to.

Across our lazy days I read a lot of my book, adventured up and down the creek and watched Giggles Magoo flourish, practicing his school-ready social skills.

A very fun and dry camping trip – let’s start planning the next one Grimace x