This one is going down in history …

We arrived at around 7 pm on Friday night, let me go back a hour or two so that you can appreciate the start to the weekend in all isn’t splendour.

I left work around 4:45 pm to pick Anne-Marie up from work, car loaded with all the usual – surf board and fishing rod on the roof. 10 Minutes after I picked Anne-Marie up I get a call from the office, urgent call – They need my help with something NOW. I explained that I was in transit and would not be available for at least 2 hours. The urgency of the issue in the office resulted in me pulling over and swapping with Anne-Marie, I was now in the passenger seat and Anne is driving. I plugged the laptop in the car cigarette lighter for power and connected my wireless network card. For the next 2 hours I did some work remotely while Anne drove us to Norah Head just outside Wyong – about 2 hours north of Sydney on the coast. I literally finished the work required as we pulled into the campsite where Paul and Flick have already set up their tent and sat relaxing with a nice cold one.

Sean and Lauren arrived at about 10 pm after a few phone calls to explain how to get out of Sydney – Well done guys – I am impressed you made it all the way to Norah Head without a map.

So far so good – We pitch tents and life is better. Next morning was a awesome 36 degree summers day and we started the day off with a nice egg and bacon roll to line the stomach. The rest of the morning and up to around 2 pm was spent on the beach – beautiful day, clear water and a few small waves for the new 7,6 ft surf board.

I head back to the tent site just after 2 to start with the Potjie, lamb shank curry pot – I knew I needed at least 4.5 hours and I wanted to do some fishing in the evening. so that would have put me on the rocks at around 7 or 8 after dinner with a full stomach.

All went well until about 6 ( yes we have not eaten yet ) when a monster of a storm erupted over the whole Wyong area – Our neighbours lost their tents ( broke in pieces ).
We stood our ground and hung onto the little gazebo we used for shade earlier on in the day. It was like a scene from a movie, everyone grabbed a corner and screamed in unison as the gusts of wind tried to rip our home from our hands.

Completely drenched by the rain we had a small reprieve for just long enough to eat the Potjie ( about 45 min. ) and then that storms father arrived and all hell broke loose. It was messy and wet – I don’t remember much detail – I have memories of Paul and I standing in corners of the gazebo with one hand holding down our protection against the storm and the other firmly clinched around a metal camping cup filled with wine. There was an hour or so of huddling around a little gas fire under the gazebo with FM tunes from days gone by and lots of laughter.

So all I can say is – it was by far the hardest camp we have had – there was lots of fun and lots of stress – but we all made it home and it might take a while to dry out all the tents before we can try this again – but I am looking forward to the next one already.

Thanks guys – it was awesome – you all showed courage and determination – I love spending time with people that always look for the bright side in things even when, like Paul said when he had a quick look inside his tent and everything was floating around – ” Houston , we have a water problem ”