Last weekend we went to Wilsons Promontory. Andrew took two days off work, so we had 3 nights camping at Tidal River. The campsite was just like a big caravan park, with numbered sites, toilet blocks and rubbish bins spaced regularly throughout the park. There was also a shop and fast food outlet there I love bush camping, so at first it seemed a bit too much like caravan park camping for my liking, but I must admit that it was wonderful being able to get rid of rubbish immediately and having a hot shower after a day at the beach.
We didn’t wander too far from Tidal River on this trip. It was lovely just exploring the local area and not having to drive places. We did a couple of short walks and enjoyed the Norman and Squeaky beaches. What I loved about Norman beach was that we found soldier crabs there. I used to love going to see the soldier crabs in Royal National Park in Sydney, and was thrilled to find a place in Victoria where we can find them.
Squeaky Beach is a beautiful beach, with lovely fine white sand and a clean river running down the beach to the ocean. I think that the only nicer beach I have ever been to is Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays, but I suspect that Andrew likes Squeaky Beach more because it is an ocean beach and has waves and no stingers (that we are aware of) to worry about.
With our camping weekend coinciding with Nathan’s birthday, I was spending every spare moment leading up to his birthday trying to finish his new overalls and a t-shirt and didn’t do a lot of planning for the trip. We left on the day of his birthday, so had to pack the car between birthday activities and always aware that timing was important because we wanted to leave when Toby was ready for a sleep. Consequently a few things were left behind. Camping is actually much less comfortable without pillows, and Andrew couldn’t caffeinate his aches and pains away because I forgot to pack the coffee machine thingy
(very technical term). The gas regulator was forgotten, so we couldn’t connect the stove up to the gas bottle, so we had to buy a new little gas bottle to fit our hose and get it filled from the shop at Tidal River. Luckily, coffee was also available from the food outlet….it may not have been the best in the world, but Andrew wasn’t in any position to be fussy after one particularly bad night with no pillow and an awake Nathan for 4 hours during the night.
