Myall Lakes!

beccathumwood
May 18, 2016
6 min read

Okay, I'm really not managing with keeping up-to-date with these blog posts but I still need to talk about my camping trip! And it's sooo worth reading about it (really late), trust me. So, going back to the 27th of April... :D

So, after a panicked few days trying to get a few camping bits we managed to have everything organised. Extra sleeping bags were being bought for us and we knew who we were tenting with. We had bought a blow-up duvet (which was an amazing decision as you'll hear about later :D), I had bought a hoodie as I didn't have any warm jumpers with me here in Aus, and other little bits that might come in handy. We set off on the Wednesday morning around 10:30-11 on the 'party' bus with 5 other people. Considering most of these people were practically strangers to us to begin with, most of the journey was spent singing, very loudly along to music, and being in awe at our surroundings. This happened for about 5 hours :s

The journey lasted way longer than it was supposed to, but we did have a Maccas stop and a little shop in K-Mart where we took the last of their camping chairs. Eventually, we pulled up to the campsite. Our tent (nicknamed the Taj Mahal because it was by far the biggest tent around) had already been put up (tyty Clarissa and Ava), so it was just a case of putting our stuff in, saying hello to everyone, helping out putting up the 'food prep and chill area' and exploring the area. There was a wooden hut with 2 'posh' porta-loo type things, a sink outside and that was it. There was a little wooden path going up a sand dune. You walk for about 4 minutes uphill, and then suddenly all you can see is a long stretch of beach and ocean. Mine and Greta's jaws literally dropped. It was the longest beach I've ever seen, you couldn't even see the ends of it - and the whole time we were there I only saw one other man who wasn't from our trip on it. It was beautiful!

The rest of the day consisted of hanging around, talking to people and after dinner as the evening came... drinking games :D Apparently there's some weird ritual where if you've never drank goon (cheap wine from a box basically) people kneel down in a circle, chanting and you have to drink it??!! Idk, but that happened. Anyway, a few crazy, slightly (very) intoxicated people decided to go for a late night swim, and the rest of us were just on the beach - listening to music, talking and drinking.

Also, earlier in the evening I had my first encounter with a dingo - which is like a wild dog/fox type thing! We were all at the campsite talking when suddenly someone turned a torch towards the gravel and a dingo was just stood there :O

Day 2 was magical and a day I will never forget for the rest of my life. After waking up because of the heat and having breakfast, me, Greta, Ava, Clarissa and Charbel decided to go to the beach to swim and sun-bathe. The waves were quite big and I was not wearing the most sensible of bikinis - so I didn't go in all the way.. I still managed to flash my ass to some people though (the wave was bigger than I thought)!

Anyway, pretty much everyone ended up at the beach, and the day was spent sun-bathing, talking and in/out the ocean. At one point, most of us were on the sand other than 2 guys surfing. Suddenly Greta points to the water and she's like 'what's that?!' I looked out to where she was pointing and saw a fin... Everyone starts shouting 'SHARK SHARK' to the surfers, and then Ava was like 'hang on, is that a dolphin or a shark?!'. A few more fins protruded from the water and a little pod of dolphins were just swimming, metres away along the waves. I couldn't believe my eyes. I've seen dolphins out in the sea before, but this was so magical - and that's when it hit me like 'holy shit I'm in Australia.'

We went back to the campsite, had lunch and persuaded Clarissa who had just gone for a nap a bit earlier to drive me and some others to the lake which was 5 mins away. We all squished into the car (more people than seats) and went to the lake. It was massive and nobody was swimming in it, so ofc we all went in. It was quite refreshing so we spent a bit of time there just messing around. Then, we came back, dried off and got ready for the football tournament.

Before we left, we had been put into 4 teams. Basically each team had a meal to cook, and this was the team for the football. So we headed back up to the beach with drinks in hand, had team photos and played football well after the sun set. Our team was one of the last to play (Navy vs Black), and in the daytime it was hard to differentiate between the two teams colours, so in the dark not only could we not see who was on our team but we also couldn't see the ball which made things v interesting (we would have won otherwise). The sun set that night was also amazing, I had another moment of realisation with Greta whilst we were sat, drinking cider, playing football on the beach and watching the sky change colours...

By the time we got back to camp to cook (it was our turn), it was pitch black - but that made it all the more fun. We served up some delicious burgers and the evening's drinking commenced - well to be honest, it had started way into the afternoon but the drinking games started again, including a game of drinking Jenga?! Anyway, we all ended back on the beach, sat around a camp-fire, music playing, talking etc. By the time 4:30am rolled around, me and a few friends decided to call it a night :D

Back at the campsite I heard so many dingos around our chill area, and ofc everyone was asleep so I was freaking myself out. I also had only shut one tent door so wasn't sure if the dingos could get in, but I couldn't be bothered to go out and shut the other one so I just prayed that all 4 of us would still be there in the morning ahahah. I had visions of one of us getting dragged out the tent by a dingo, but thankfully we were fine :D

Day 3 - the last day. Considering I was the last one to get back in the tent, I was the first one up because it was so damnnn hot in the tent. So we sat around, had breakfast and people stared to pack up and leave. We were all packed, but a group of us decided we wanted to go back to the lake. So we loaded all the cars, drove to the lake and spent a few hours there. Me and Greta hadn't deflated our double mattress yet and used it as a lilo on the water - best decision ever. All 4 of us, me, Greta, Ava and Clarissa basically spent the whole time floating around on the lilo. People were starting to get hungry, so we dried off, got in the van, made a little stop-off for the execs to clean some cutlery, got in the van and drove to another Maccas. Here we basically said bye to the remaining people, got back in the 'party bus' (got changed cause I still had a wet bikini on) and began driving home. There was plenty of music and singing on the way back as well despite the tiredness :D

This was a crazy dragon/iguana thing we saw by the lakes. He was hissing at an old man :s

This was an experience and a couple of days I will never forget - good people, good memories in a place that is unforgettable. Myall Lakes - you have a little piece of my heart forever :)