Camping at the GogAuthor: jawapro
Date: Tue 21/09/2010 11:56 PM
Gale force winds, trees blowing over, snow on the Midlands - let's go camping!
Jason and Bec decided it was high time we all went camping, so organized a trip for last weekend. Little did they know that Thursday last week was going to be some of the worst weather of the year.
My workmate lives in Paradise, and we were going camping just up the road from his place. On Thursday he’d had trees come down, his neighbours had lost sheds - things were just plain scary.
So camping we went. We arrived in the dark to a warzone, with trees down everywhere. The wind itself was gone, but the damage remained.
After the first track defeated us, we found an alternative and after a few hours of clearing tacks and getting lost, we arrived at the fabled camp site. A very nice one too - down by the Mersey River.
Saturday dawned nice and cheerful. Hard to imagine how awefull it had been only two days earlier. Then again, it’d be hard pressed not to be cheerful with such a good mob of friends.
We decided to try to get up to the top of the Gog Ranges (Mount Gog?) and headed up the track. Once again this mean lots of clearing, and as I was in the lead, I did most of it. The Human Bulldozer they called me.
Eventually we came to a section where even my bulldozing skills and Jason’s toy chainsaw couldn’t overcome.
Yes, there’s a road in there somewhere.
We retreated to the camp for lunch, while Tim and I raided the Sheffield Shed for some supplies. We came out with an axe each and a pair of bow-saws.
"You have my chainsaw"
"And my bowsaw"
"And my Axe!"
So with the new weapons and some reinforcements (James joined us) we attacked the track again.
It’s amazing how quickly we got through it all. Wes and James double-teamed the log and were chopping fast enough to make David Foster proud. Add to that the bow saws and even Jason’s toy chainsaw, and the logs didn’t stand a chance.
And then it was time to call for the Human Bulldozer again to get them off the road.
After that obstacle, the rest of the track was easy. We arrived at the top in time to catch sunset.
The group shot (minus Ek and Brooke who were apparently sulking in Jason’s car.)
High Res version here. Why? Cause it’s a nice photo. That's why.
The view at Sunset was awesome. You can see the Strait from here!
So it was a descent in the dark to the camp site - and another great night.
If anyone remembers Around the Twist, they’ll probably know what I am talking about if I say "Without my Pants". Well - after it came up somehow, for about an hour everyone was ending their sentences with ‘without my pants’. Pure comic genius!
Saturday night was cold. Enough so that I woke up and put a jumper on. Anyone who knows me would know that that means it’s cold!
Sunday was great again though. We didn’t do much, just took things easy.
On the way home Tim managed to run into his Bullbar driving along the road. Not sure how he managed that, as it was still attached.
He had to stop and pull it back into shape.
All in all - an almost perfect weekend.
The not so perfect part?
Well remember when we were on top of the Gog Range? Well, Tim borrowed my tripod, and when we were leaving, he packed it up, and then left it there!
Granted, I left it there too - but he was the last one using it and I didn’t realise it was missing until I got back to Devonport. Doh!
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