Neil Uys Blog Site

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 ”

GPS Coordinates : S 33 31.772 E151 18.501

http://www.resortparksaustralia.com.au/ocean/travel-info.php

Yup, went camping again. Ocean Beach Resort on the central coast. You take the Gosford turn off and then the Woy Woy Road to your right. All the way to Umina beach. There you’ll find Ocean Beach Resort park – It’s part of the Big4 – facilities are awesome. It’s right on the beach, next to a little river. It’s a great swimming beach with some nice fishing rocks on the left. For any one following the Sydney Skate fishing saga over the past few weeks – yes he followed me to the Central Coast – It took about 20 min and I caught him again…. Then luckily I also caught some Taylor ( 4 of them ) was great.

Anne-Marie and I stayed in the old faithful tent on a un-powered site – It was beautifully green ( some mozzies ). Werner, Elise, Taylor, Safara, Rob and Eli stayed in a nice bungalow called Wagtail.

Only negative point on the weekend was that they stole our bicycles ..
Anyway – one of those 15 things I suppose..

Montery Tourist Park is in Mannering Park on the south end of Lake Macquarie. One hour drive north towards Newcastle – take the Pacific Highway ( 111 ) and then head towards lake Macquarie. Easy to find and not too far to drive. I took half-day on Friday and joined big Jon for a quick swim before he head out for his last night out in Sydney before he had to go back to London ( what’s with all the weird weather there at the moment ). Picked up Rob and Eli and their trailer ( thanks guys – no way we would have been able to do the weekend without the Venter ). Sean and Lauren joined us as we head to North Sydney to pick-up Anne-Marie from work and then the usual battle to get out of Sydney and onto the highway. Thanks to some awesome navigation by Rob ( see mate – you can still do it without the sat-nav ) we got there in no time at all. 4 Sites, 4 tents , a kayak , 2 wind surfers , 2 surf boards , 2 kite surfers , lots of beer , some wine , some whiskey , lamb chops , chicken wings , old faithful ( bacon and egg zaams for breakfast ) , 10 second jenga that produced a new record ( 34- well done team !!! ) , a very cold surf , Graham got ripped of the planet with his kite ( don’t know how you held on to that thing mate ) , Sean almost got plane-ing on the wind surfer, Thanks Kylie, the kayak was a huge hit. 10 Points for Eli for finding us water when it felt like there was none left on the planet.

A possible camp for next time in this area might be in Munmorah State Conservation Area

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/ParkContent/N0605?OpenDocument&ParkKey=N0605&Type=Xo

Camping on the Australia Day long weekend has become a bit of a tradition now – Almost always to good old faithfull Nelson Bay. This year we did a Camping \ Golfing weekend with some nights in the tent and one night in a hotel. Awesome time