camping equipment. Leaving Sydney behind us we headed off for about 150 miles in a north-westerly direction to find a place with the none-too-inspiring name of “Dunn’s Swamp”. It was always our intention that, before heading off on the real journey, we would do a 1-2 week stint of camping to check that all was OK with the vehicle and equipment then head back to Sydney for any fine tuning”.Being slightly ahead of schedule for purchasing the equipment we decided to have a short 2-day foray to see how things were shaping up. Johann suggested Dunn’s Swamp as a good campsite in Wollemi National Park next to a lake and with some good easy bushwalking that would not over-tax novices such as ourselves.
The first bit of overtaxing came in actually finding the place! Unfortunately our map did not provide enough detail and it was somewhat akin to trying to find Gore Glen using an AA roadmap of Great Britain. We stopped to ask directions in Kandos which appears to be the nearest place of habitation. An obliging young man with two massive dogs got us onto the right road. Driving through the village we saw a sign informing us that this was a dry township – initially assuming this related to lack of rainfall we were soon corrected when we saw that one of the two local pubs was derelict, the other was only selling food, the café only sold non-alcoholic drinks and the bottle-shop was a sad, neglected site. Thank goodness we stocked up in Lithgow.
The second taxing incident came on our arrival at Dunn’s Swamp. We stopped to find a place to camp but when I tried to restart the engine – it was dead, not even a chug from the starter motor. Instantly regretting not attending night classes prior to leaving home to learn how cars work and how to fix them when they went wrong, I searched for the thing to open the bonnet. My foray into the engine compartment was more for show than any notion of actually getting the thing going again. Things were looking serious as, although I had joined the NMRA - Australia’s equivalent of the AA - we couldn’t get a mobile phone signal to call them out – leading to another regret - that I hadn’t invested in a satellite phone.
However, within a minute, problem solved, the engine was running sweetly again and my stock with Sandra had risen dramatically. One of the battery terminals had come loose, probably with the bumpy roads, and even I was able to fix it easily – “Nae problem – what do we need a satellite phone for?”
Dunn’s Swamp was really a bit of a misnomer – Dunn’s Lake might have been more appropriate.
A relatively small, irregular lake with at least one island, it was man-made about eighty years ago by flooding a gorge. The scene was a bit picture postcard-ish with dark, tranquil water and surrounded by mountains covered with mainly gumtrees. There were many strange rock formations which reminded us of the beehive shape of the Bungle Bungles up in the Kimberley which we visited a few years ago.The campsite, close to the water, was relatively empty and if it hadn’t been for two organised groups camping some distance from us we would almost have had the place to ourselves. The first of these was the Sydney Bushwalkers Club, an elderly (well at least compared to us which probably makes them very old) bunch of old codgers who were staying for a week on a walking holiday. Unfortunately we were mistaken for members of this group so perhaps I should do something about my greying hair and beard!
The second group were from Dubbo Christian School on an Outward Bound type of course – surprisingly Sandra and I were not mistaken for members of this particular group! The kids, a mixed bunch of boys and girls all about 15 years of age, were in two separate camps with strict gender demarcation after lights out. Christian or not, I suspect that the teachers might have had their work cut out enforcing any non-fraternisation rules, or have teenagers changed from our days?
Sandra and I are very pleased with the tent (see photo). It is of modular construction with the basic module, which we might use when having a brief, overnight stop, being very easy and quick (30 seconds!) to erect. - this is basically the sleeping accommodation.When staying a bit longer additional modules can be added including a living space, a covered area for cooking, making jewellery and writing a blog (Sandra and I are doing the latter two as I type) There is also a “screen room” module which provides additional space when necessary or when we have guests staying – we haven’t bothered with the screen room on this trip – nor have we erected the shower/toilet tent as there was a ‘long drop’ (environmentally friendly bush toilet) in close proximity. Our overnight toilet facilities at present consist of a green plastic wide necked wine carafe with lid. Any people planning to visit us take note of this fact in case you try to make the camp dinner table posher by decanting from the box! Being enroute to the long drop for the Sydney bush walkers we discovered that potties with lids are de rigueur for real campers.
As night fell I looked for the very expensive, re-chargeable electric lamp to throw some light on the kitchen whilst we prepared a meal. This became a learning exercise and we now know to take everything out of its box and read the instructions BEFORE setting out on a trip. Unfortunately the instructions said the lamp had to be charged for at least 15 hours before use with dire warnings of what would happen if it weren’t. Luckily we had head torches and a couple of small reading lights which lit the place well enough for us to cook and enjoy our steak and salad washed down with red wine.
Weather was a bit overcast and fleeces were brought out for evening sitting. Both of us thought we heard rain overnight but later discovered it was only the gum leaves falling on the tent. So much for scorching days and balmy evenings. However our freckles are joining up and we both look less peely-wally than when we arrived.
Dunn's Swamp saw our first grey kangaroo lurking about in the bushes. On attempting to get closer it hopped off. However photo attached - look carefully as they are well camouflaged. It also gave James an opportunity to lurk unseen in tree trunks waiting for other wildlife sightings - again well camouflaged so you will have to look carefully!
Our Dunn’s Swamp experiment was deemed a success with a number of lessons learnt so back to Sydney for a bit of fine tuning and to celebrate Johann’s sixtieth birthday. On the way back we stopped at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, a place which we have visited before, with breath taking views over the mountains and valleys (see photo). We did the usual touristy things along with the busloads of other tourists with hardly an English word being heard. The roads in this area were originally built by convicts. As you can see from the photo the Aboriginals were bemused by the idea of road building especially when it involved only people in chains doing the work whilst the overseer drank tea.
Evening was spent having a drink with old friends who we hadn’t yet met this visit then off to a French Restaurant for a Birthday Meal and a bottle of red - It's a hard life.
PS Sorry to those of you who had posted comments and they didn't appear - I had inadvertently switched this facility off. It is now back on - all comments have now been posted as will any future comments. James
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