Camping @ Chichester State Forest

Before entering Chichester State Forest we travelled through windy, unsurfaced roads, a few "river crossings" before we came to a place called "Boot Hill" which is essentially a large wire fence with one tree in the middle of nowhere. Hanging from the fence and trees were hundreds if not thousands of shoes, trainers, thongs, shirts etc. Im not sure if there is a story behind them all or what the significance of it was, but it was worthy of a photograph.

After continuing along the windy roads, we finally entered the State Forest which had a large number of camp spots to choose from. We decided to go away from the crowds and travelled up the small hill above Old Camp and stayed at Dobbie Rim Campground.

Dobbie Rim Campground was walking distance from the river and various swimming holes called "Ladies Well" So we headed on down there with the dogs.

We first came to a large rocky / boulder type area where some people jump off into the pools below.

The pools were pristine clean and no doubt refreshing in the warm weather.

Jasper (Katies dog) can get enough of pools and water and probably made the most of the time there in the water alongside Katie

We decided to follow the river and headed further down the stream to uncover even more swimming holes. We decided that there was probably too much to see here in just a weekend so we will be definitely making more regular visits to explore.

Due to my achilles tendon "on the mend" I was not able to get down to everything. Some parts are very rocky and quite steep. Skyler and I chilled and waited at the top.

Rocky seems to have "ADD" - he cannot sit still and can never chill when he is out on a walk.

Marc decided to soak up some sun on the other side of the river on one of the rocks. It is a great spot to bring the BBQ and a few beers, we will definitely be back soon.

Mckell Bushland Reserve, Brooklyn

This weekend Katie fully moved into the spare room. So now the household consists of 3 dogs and a parrot :)

Given the warm weather, we decided to take the dogs out and we explored Brooklyn which is still on the central coast but mostly consists of national parks where dogs are not permitted.

We discovered mckell conservation reserve which permits dogs on a leash. It was a pretty awesome walk along the hawkesbury river front and boat ramps with some nice views over the river.

At the top of the reserve were a number of BBQ and picnic areas which next time we most certainly will bring some food and stay for longer.

On the way back to the foreshore, we took the bush tracks as opposed to the stairs. We walked over various rocky faces before descending back to the foreshore.

Overall it was a pretty cool area and we will definitely return. Literally just down the road maybe 15 minute drive :)

Penna - Katie's Bird

We have 2 new additions to the house (3 if you include Katie).
Meet Jasper or "White Devil" who is probably Rocky's only friend haha

And Penna

After not having a bird since Joey and Pippen (budgies), having Penna in the house is fun. She is unpredictable and scary at times..... her bite hurts especially when she is getting bitchy.

However, she is nice at times and shows her love and compassion through kisses...

Strickland State Forest Walk

After a warm Saturday (30+ degrees), today was a much cooler day (24 degrees). After this mornings rain, we decided to head to the local rainforest to walk the dogs.

Strickland State Forest has 6 different walking trails and we chose the ones deep in the heart of the forest - The Bellbird and Arboretum Trails.

The Arboretum Trail starts from the lower carpark "Stoney Creek Car Park" and the track follows Stoney Creek through some of the oldest tree plantations and thick dense bush. The trail is approximately 2.2km and connects to The Bellbird Trail which adds an additional 1.1km to the trail.

Alot of the creeks and river were full and flowing which made the air alot more humid than some of the "dryer" weather.

Towards the end of the trail is the big suspension bridge over the creek. Skyler seems to either hate heights or bridges as she takes super long crossing the bridge. She was even slower than me in my moon boot!

One of the disadvantages of trekking in rain forests in hot, humid and weather is that it brings out the leaches which hang out on the wet leaves etc and catch on to you as you walk past. By the end of the walk, i took my boots off and removed 11 leaches in total. They are harmless, just annoying and your feet dont stop bleeding for a while afterwards.

Paddys River Flats Camping with Jo (Easter 2016)

Shortly after visiting Paddys River Falls, we decided to move on to Paddys River Flats to soak up the sun and also give the camper some solar charge.

We were luck enough to get a decent spot overlooking the river and not too close to anyone else. So we pulled out the hammocks and chairs and chilled.

The campsite was pretty awesome with basic amenities, however it was heavily populated with wasps. I had the misfortune of getting stung TWICE in the morning whilst setting up. However, as time went on they really left us alone.

The dogs pretty much went into hibernation in the day due to the heat, staying in the shade under the car.

Before the evening came to a close we went hunting for firewood to start up our campfire and then chilled in the evening watching a movie from the camper.

It was a great relaxing weekend, not doing much but it was quite a drive to get here (7 hours or so).

Jo says hi to everyone!!

Paddys River Falls Camping with Jo (Easter 2016)

Easter 2016, we decided to have a reunion with Jo. We agreed to meet half way between NSW and VIC and chose Paddys River Falls as the meeting point where we pitched up camp for the first night. The falls are on the south western side of the Snowy Mountains and were very easily accessible.

We pitched up camp right next to the viewing point overlooking the falls and valley and close to the nearby trail that takes you down to the foot of the falls.

You cant fault the view from up above.

After lunch we decided to head down to the foot of the falls. It is quite an easy trek down for both us and the dogs although I was a bit slower than the others due to being in the moon boot still

The rest of the day was spent back up at camp and "catching up." Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon was a random snake that decided to pass between Jo and I and through our campsite and on into the scrub. We think it might have been an eastern brown snake which is the worlds second most venomous land snake. It could also have been a type of python - we weren't too sure.  We just kept our distance and let it pass on through 

As the sun went down, we made our camp fire and had a BBQ.

We were looking forwards to the weekend as it forecasted pure sun :)

Horror Movie Camp Out, Mt Penang Paklands

Sydney's first ever "horror movie campout" was hosted on the Central Coast, about 30 minutes drive from us. We took this opportunity to dress up as a group (as pictured below).

There was apparently just over 1000 people camping in Mount Penang Parklands with most if not all people were dressed up with me going as an old witch as above behind the ghost :)

There were various scare actors throughout the parklands waiting for you around corners, outside the dunnies and walking around campsite throughout. 

As the day progressed and the sun went down, the evening was introduced with various bands playing on the main stage The Lazy's headlined the stage before the movies actually started.

Finally after 4 hours of bands playing, drinking over priced beers and eating over priced hot dogs, the movies came on from 9pm ish.

The first movie played was Nightmare on Elm Street, followed by some short horror films. The final movie started at about 11/1130 and finished at 2am in the morning (The Conjuring) by that time everyone was shattered and pretty much head back to the tent.