The Maiden Voyage

BEAR GULLY 30/3/12

Left home at 8.40am and have forgotten the good camera! Great start :-)

A nice foggy drive through the hills of South Gippsland but very pretty just the same.....reminds me of the south of Scotland :-) (must go back there soon!!!!)

The amazing Barbara, all locked, loaded and ready to go!

How we got there :-)

We stopped at Leongatha Maccas for a cuppa and showed GM where Jamesy boy lives :-)
Got to Bear Gully and took about 45 mins to set up....40 of that was the awning.....gosh I hope we get better.....we must have looked like the 2 stooges!!!!
Now officially buggered and have stopped for a bubbly break before setting up the rest of camp and checking out the place properly.

GM relaxing after the exhausting work of setting up the awning :-)

Note: try to find even ground.....still managed to level her out.....she is amazing!!!!
Ham cheese & tomato sangers for lunch after a lovely walk on the beach (rocks)

Typical beach at Bear Gully

Lots of tiny shells everywhere and even some abalone shells.
GM is enjoying the whole experience and is becoming extremely, bravely cheeky!!!
It's hard to take this place.....there are cheeky magpies sitting next to me while I eat.  I shall persist though and try and make the most of it :-)

Met Laura & Margaret who want to have a wine later :-)

Oh!!! Almost forgot!!! GM is drinking 3 champers to my 1 1/2....the man obviously has a serious problem!!!
I think I need to have a serious chat with him ;-)

FARK!!!! How remiss of me!!!!! I forgot to bring scotch glasses!!!!!
Note to self: Bring scotch glasses!

There are birds and butterflies everywhere and resident crows who sound like a couple of old men having a yarn and a laugh :-)

1.47pm: I have finally sat down with my first scotch...............YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bout bloody time!!!!

You can here people, kids, engines and surf, but the sound is strangely muted.....may be the scotch???
Happy and very relaxed :-)

3.40pm: First pit stop!!!! This setting up camp is hot work.....no wonder I'm going through so much scotch :-O

Tried splitting a few logs as it's always something I've wanted to have a crack at.....especially handy if GM ends up incapacitated on one of our trips.....the likely cause probably being too much lip service!!!! ;-) ..........anyway, the bugger managed to find me some petrified wood!!  I'm buggered.....might have another scotch....but I will have this log split by the time I go home or else it's going to get burnt whole!!!

Trying to chop petrified wood

Petrified wood....we ended up burning it whole!!!

GM trying to show me how it's done

4pm: GM is finally talking about getting a fire going......gosh he's slow!!!! They usually have this going before the tent is up................strange how they insist on lighting it, but are more than happy for us girls to light it early on a freezing cold morning!!!
And in his words "Better get this going before I get more pisterer!!!!"

Met Bill from Springvale who comes here all the time and wears funny Japanese shoes.  He comes here alone as his wife is allergic to light.....seriously :-O Anyway, he gave GM some fishing tips....You're a DUD Bill!!!!!

Just met Bruno scanning the camp for juicy young lads....he's been fere for 4 months....he's just wearing shorts and he's old and skinny and has tummy flaps and a funny accent :P

GM Cooked me a yummy dinner of chippolata's, crispy potatoes and salad....god he's awesome :-)

Ian and Sandra from Rawson, and their granddaughters Brooklyn & Lindsay decided to share our fire.....nice enough people, but I really could have done without a 12 year old telling me how she was going to punch some girls head in :-/  Thought they were never going to leave :-O

There are some pretty amazing set ups here.....but none as sexy as Barbara :-)

BEAR GULLY 31/3/12

Had a good night sleep and GM cooked up a huge breaky of egg, bacon, tomatoes on toast and hash browns.  I must have looked hungry as he gave me twice my normal serve. 
Needless to say he got a lot of leftovers :-)

We went for a drive to Cape Liptrap lighthouse.  It was quite stunning there and sunny with a warm wind.  We time it perfectly!!!! As we were leaving, 2 busloads of tourinsts turned up.  We were so lucky to have the place to ourselves.  We had a quail run across in front of us on the way and an echidna on the way back :-)

Wilsons Prom from Cape Liptrap lighthouse.  A hazy warm day :-)

The Lighthouse.

We went for a drive around Walkerville and Venus bay, then stopped at Tarwin Lower, bought a milkshake each and had a rather unsuccessful fish in the river.  Back to camp where GM had another unsuccessful fish and I had a nana nap :-)

Coming back from a pit stop has  got to be one of the most horrible experiences of my life!!!!!
and we are never, ever, ever, EVER!!!!!! coming back here again!!!!!!  My bare legs got tangled up with a 3 foot tiger snake!!!!!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe it didn't bit me, so I'm still checking for any little dot or spot a couple of hours later.  There was no one around except a couple of kids on bikes.  Talk about feak out!!!!!! and the feeling of that thing wrapped around my legs is still there days later and will probably stay with me and scar me for life!!!! :-O

I have decided to hit the scotch bottle to sooth my frayed nerves now, as I will probably go into anaphylactic shock later and won't be allowed to drink!!!!!

The tent is zipped up tighter than fort knox......that bastard isn't finding me again!

Chilli Con Carne is in the dream pot, so tea is ready whenever we are :-)  I cooked, so GM has to do the dishes tonight :-)  At the moment though, he is looking through a camping magazine to see what other amazing gadgets he can get for Barbara :-)

Super!!! I now have an enormous stress fracture to my central nervous system!!!! GM made me a fabulous shower and while busily washing snake from my legs, I felt something crawling on my foot....phew!!!! It wasn't a snake....just a big black hairy spider :-/

I just wanna go home!!!! Surely nothing else can happen???????

My best buddy :-/

BEAR GULLY 01/04/12

The weather is just perfect :-) and I had a surprisingly nightmare free sleep!!!!

We packed up camp after an amazing home cooked breakfast of crunchy nut cornflakes :-)

We drove to Yanakie and bought a coffee.....the shop door is propped open with a slab of Johnny Walker & Coke cans :-D

Then we went back to Shallow Inlet and they have a camping ground that is amazing!!!! Far better and far more private than Bear Gully except no campfies allowed.  No kids running through our camp and each site is private.  Luckily we have set up so that we're totally self sufficient and don't need to rely on a fire or water supply :-)

There are little birds everywhere with absolutely no fear of people.  They're playing around our toes :-)
We only set Barbara up with the shade sail as we're only here for the night, so we'll see how it goes.  But so easy to set up!!!

Decided to do a wee bit of fishing as the tide was out.  Was in salt water up to my waist, and with the usual luck so far this weekend, copped a lovely sting to my left foot, all the way up to my knee....could have been worse.....could've been taken by a killer whale or great white!!!!!  So, quietly sobbing to myself, I braved on and managed to do so well that GM now owes me $1.40....20c for the first fish, 20c for the most and $1 for the biggest :-)  I caught 2 toadies and 2 real fish....not sure what they were??? GM caught.....well, he has me :-) What more could he want ;-)

Had leftover chilli for lunch with a couple of champers and a wander around the site.  What a great setup......shame we're only staying the night, the whole weekend here would have been better.  Clean toilets everwhere, fresh water and a kiosk a km down the road :-)

Will definitely keep this place in mind for another short break :-)

GM had a nana nap while I cleaned up the lunch mess and listeded to music.  We set the ensuite tent up and the pole smacked me on the nose....I swear it's broken!!!!!!!!!! My nose that is.......I don't know if there's anything else than can happen to me?????

I broke my first fingernail this afternoon and learnt how to use a pair of tin snips for personal grooming ;-)......forgot a nail file!!!
The rest of my nails are safe though, they're all being held together with mud ;-)

Just watched the sun go down over the hills and surprisingly only takes 3 minutes.  That was romantic ;-)

Note to Self: If camping more than 2 nights, take extra bottle of scotch
Note to GM: If camping more than 2 nights, take 2 extra bottles of bourbon....or learn to become a responsible drinker like me ;-)
Note to Self again: Just because there's lots of clean toilets, does not mean they have electricity.....take torch at night to make sure there are no hands reaching up from those horrible stinky pits to drag you away never to be seen again!!!!!
And with the luck I've had this weekend, there is no way I am risking that!!!!!

SHALLOW INLET 02/04/12

We woke very early and went for a walk along the inlet, watched fishermen set off and the swans do what swans do :-)

Fishermen setting off ealy morning

Swans doing what swans do......

Had a very lazy breaky of pancakes and am now procrasinating.  I really don't want to go home :-( but need to pay for the next weekend in Barbara.

Yes, she is fabulous and we are going to have amazing adventures in her, so long as those horrid snakes keep away!!!!

The weather has been perfect :-)

GM bought an Anzac day badge on the way home, and I even managed to stab myself on that while giving him an affectionate pat.  He is such an insensitive brute sometimes, so I take that affectionate pat back!!!!!

I am home now, clean and critter free.  My animals are happy to see me.....must be my animal (reptile, insect, fish, bird, etc.) magnetism ;-)

Back to work tomorrow for some de-stressing and off to Karratha for GM.

I don't know if any of our future adventures in Barbara will be quite so stimulating or interesting????  Will just have to wait and see :-)

Overall, the weekend was quite an adventure....especially for me!!!!!!!  Hope you enjoyed  the pics although there are none of a snake wrapped lovingly around my legs thank goodness.  It is forever ingrained in my mind!!!!

THE END!