My first night in the Australian bush was not the best sleep of my life. First off, there were three German guys who were skyping with friends back home, and apparently one of them doesn't realize that you don't have to speak so loud that your friend can hear you all the way around the globe. The internet does that for you.
I was also a little unsettled as it was my first night outside in an exotic country. I pretty much know the animals that live in Australia, at least the ones that can kill you, and consciously I realized that the rustling I heard in the trees was nothing that would come out and attack me. Not even recognizing the trees however makes the subconscious uneasy about a new setting. Not only was there rustling in the trees, there was a rustling right around my tent, and I suspected, under my vestibule. Not really one to shy away from such things, I got out my head lamp to have a look. Right outside my door was a small marsupial looking animal hopping around. Now less concerned about my person being chewed by this creature, though slightly more concerned for the tent's body, I fell into a slightly less fretful sleep. I was awoken by more scratching, this seeming to come from right next to me. When I investigated with my headlamp I found that this animal was indeed much closer to me, it was scurrying around under my tent and I watched the little lump in my tent floor much like a cartoon mole hole. The rest of the night was on and off sleep, dreams, disorientation and rooster calls. Well, good thing the majority of the next day was spent in the car with my Mom's shoulder to lean on for naps.
Possibly the worst part of my first free camping Australia style came the next morning. I have already described the toilets, well, the flies were replaced in the morning by much more repulsive creatures, I am not sure what they were, but appeared to be some sort of slug or leech that had crawled out of the toilet. And here I was thinking that I had to put on a brave face for the flies!
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| Our next night of free camping was much better, we stopped at a rest area that was also a local sports park. |
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| We had a delicious King Prawn meal |
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| And the only infestation was cicadas, but we are familiar and actually quite fond of these little guys. Plus, most of them were empty shells. |
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