Worrying moments out there camping!

Gee! one could recount many camping stories all right Axle.

One that immediately comes to mind here was when we were to camp at Phillip island and had no idea where to go and its was starting to get dark. We managed to drive down onto a beach not far from a place called seal rocks and set up a tent on sand just before a small cliff.
Was cooking up baked beans on a gas stove when all these funny noises started outside and all around us.

Having no idea I opened the tent flap and this damm Penguin came inside - didn't really know what it was but I grabbed it and chucked it out and went outside to look and there were Penguins everywhere running up banks, under the car, around the tent , geez was confusion everywhere for about half an hour.

Now days they charge to go there, sit on hard benches and watch 3 penguins waddle around for a few minutes and have the nerve to call it a tourist attraction.

One that comes to mind is maybe 6 or more years ago, after Christmas, we camped at a nice quiet campsite near a hut in the snowys. A black snake lived under the concrete slab of the only toilet. Everytime visiting the "facilities" it would be sunning itself next to the toilet or laying under a bush then dash under the slab when anyone approached.

Not so concerning during the day, but after dark made me very nervous!

Vicki

we were camped at The Devils Marbels back in 2011 late in the dry season, and there were fires about everywhere up that way at the time. we could see smoke from a large fire way off on the horizon during the day and weren't real concerned about it at all, but after dinner that night an electrical storm came through, and the winds from the storm front whipped up the fire so much it turned the campsite from dark to daylight in a matter of minutes. whilst it was scary how much the fire cranked up, i took into account the wind direction and location of the fire and sort of knew we'd be ok where we were, still didn't stop me making a plan to jump in the fourby with the family and make a run for it should the fire start to come our way. just before the storm hit i started pegging the camper down even more in anticipation of what was about to hit, the girl camped next door (in a Hiace van with her boyfriend) saw me doing work around the camper and asked me if i needed a hand packing up, as she thought i was worried about the fire coming our way and was leaving....lol...truth was the fire did concern me some, but i was adding more ropes and pegs for the storm not taking them down to flee the fire.
the straight down lightning bolts from the storm and daylight like glow from the fire was both scary and spectaular to watch at the same time. around 2.00 - 3.00 a.m another storm came through and i watched the show all over again from my bed looking out the camper window, the kids were so scared by the storm it was 2 adults and 2 kids lying in the bed together.....lol

I remember the time we camped down by the Nymboida river in NSW.

Took our camper trailer down a steep 4WD track to the river flats with the intention of packing up in the morning & being able to loop around & drive straight out in the morning. Well it started to rain & rain..... About 2 am we awoke to the roar of water coming down the river & rising fast toward our camp.
By the time we folded the camper there was no room left to make the turn so here I am REVERSING up the 4WD track in the dark & rain with my wife using a spottie to guide me.
Set up camp on top of the hill & next morning then drove down to the road bridge we had crossed & all we could see was a mass of foaming water where the bridge once was!
It was 1 week before the river level fell enough to get out via an alternate route. We found out over the radio that a 1 in 20 year rain event had hit North NSW & some people had to be taken out by helicopter. No stress for us though as we were on an externded trip so had plenty of food so just waited it out.

Thanks for sharing Axle. Good topic.
Cheers
Stu

Hi Axle,

Good topic!

We had a few interesting moments on our first trip to Fraser Island back in '92. Among other things learnt that its important to remember about the tide coming waaay up the beach - makes travel difficult especially if you have to wait half the night for it to go down again. We also learnt why its always a good idea to walk through a water crossing, and why packing a vehicle properly makes camping a bit easier, especially if its raining. And tents that collapse can be a bit of a pain - and if you're camped a bit behind the beach its a good idea to clearly mark the entrance to your camp, even if you don't expect to be coming back in the middle of the night.

But for all that we still had a memorable time.

Click here for the full story.

Cheers,

Val.