Crystelle Clear: Camping fun!

This is just a quick post to follow up on my Camping Essentials blog!

We went..we camped...we got wet! Yes folks, the weather forecast was spot on and it rained, and rained, and rained! Now camping in the rain is not so bad in itself - but putting a tent up in the rain, (and I don't mean the kind pitter patter of a British drizzle - this was torrential downpour, end of days kind of rain - Australian rain) - well let's just say, it was a bit of a cheerfulness challenge. And the thing is, when we got to our campsite, yes there were some grey clouds, but there was also blue sky - great big patches of it - the sunlight was streaming through the trees, everything was glistening - hubby and I looked at each other, bit of a wink, each with our own smug face unfurling with increasing force as the minutes went by - 'we got this camping malarkey' is what we each were thinking.

And yes we got confident. There was the big decision to erect the tent. Little 3 was running through the leaves squealing with delight - hubby was swaggering around preparing the tent - we unfurled the fly sheet - the bit that should definitely not get wet...it was all laid out on the ground..right now for the poles....aaaaand - it began....

Now this downpour was a relatively short one, but reader, make no mistake - this was 5 maybe 10 minutes of the heaviest rain known to man. There was chaos...3's squeals turned to screams, I ran back to the car with 3 under one arm - threw her in to the relative safety of the vehicle and started hurling various plastic bags and pillows around with super human effort looking for our waterproofs or an umbrella - every time I glanced up all I could see was Dear Husband's face scrunched up, very animatedly calling out various 'instructions' to me! I have no idea what - he was like some strange silent mime with the occasional audible expletive carrying across to me.... And then the rain stopped - I wish I could say it was quiet - but there was quite a bit of rage emanating from Himself - I lingered by the car with 3 for as long as decently possible to allow the worst of it to pass...and then sauntered over, casually, quietly - respectful of the minor disaster that had struck us at the very onset of our 'Great Camping Trip'. We then put the poles in, each with now with a look of grim determination on our faces, intermingled with a hint of panic - 30 minutes of looking fearfully into the sky should it decide to open once more. But we did it - we got the tent up!

We gazed upon it with some dismay - little 3 could have used it as a paddling pool - and so began the great the mopping up ordeal - any dry, non essential piece of clothing or material we had with us was sacrificed for the name of the cause - that is - restoring the tent to some semblance of a dry refuge where we could realistically spend the night. Mission accomplished!

The rest of the trip went pretty smoothly - rain and all! We went for lovely rainy walks through the woods - I heard my kookaburras - and yes, we toasted marshmallows over a fire which we were able to intermittently maintain!

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