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How's the Serenity?

27 March 2005, 11:14

There’s always one. Always one muthalovin’ selfish arsehole who finds it imperative to fill the silence of mutha nature with doof doof music…

We were enjoying our first night camping in a beautiful part of Australia – Barmah State Park (just north of Echuca on the Murray River – v. long way from Melbourne), the magpies, cockatoos, ibises and rosellas were making their evening symphony on the banks of the river, as the evening wore on, the light river breezes toyed with the red river gums, the distant sounds of other happy campers wafted in on the breeze – we were plied full of beer and red wine (sorry, this is v. long sentence) and heading to bed, when 10pm hit and….

DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF doofdoofdoof DOOF DOOF DOOF

We thought it would only be a brief segue into the lingering sounds of nature by night, but noooooo, 4 hours later we could still hear it and I was getting madder and madder. I was so furious I went hunting around our campsite for the offender but the noise was coming from the next campsite over. What mystified me was that there must have been 15 separate camping families in the next campsite and no-one complained??? It finally stopped about an hour later and I finally got to sleep (after having a minor tantie in the tent which Husband was very pleased about…)

Apart from this indiscretion, the camp trip was absolutely stunning – we drove up Thursday afternoon, and came back yesterday evening. In spite of it being Easter Weekend, there were only a smattering of campers at the site. Our Canuck mates had never experienced such an isolated part of Australia and we spent our days very busily eating, preparing to eat and thinking about what we’d eat next.

The wildlife (apart from abundant roadkills and 2 hysterical Canadians (funny hysterical, that is)) was mainly of the avian kind, although we did have a close encounter with a black snake curled up in foot-high grass, which apparently, wasn’t the kind of wildlife the Canadians were hoping for. After minor panic and visions of red-bellied coronaries we made it to safe ground and had something to eat. Just to add some variety to the trip.

We so didn’t want to leave. Husband was devising ways we could spend an extra night, but with no water left, little food, bar a couple of bananas, marshmallows and chocolate, and a wedding to come back to, it couldn’t be done.

So, we finally packed up around 3pm yesterday, stopping off in Echuca for a steam-boat ride in Echuca, a darling little town. V. old-world romantic. Sigh. End of vacation.

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I so had to get out of Melbourne – in fact, the moment we hit the ring road into Melbourne yesterday, a massive headache hit, and I noticed how tight my lungs were. I crave wilderness and isolation and places where you don’t have to think about anything and pretend that everyday 9-5 working pressures simply don’t exist…

Click here for more Barmah SP pics

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1. ahh yes, deciding upon whether to return or stay longer is an interesting process indeed. ( ‘but i absolutely MUST complete checking those copies for school…but it WILL be so long before we can come up here again…but well, we can drive to someplace nearer home next weekend…but i LIKE this place!... )
   — megha    Mar 27, 10:32 PM    #
2. “I crave wilderness and isolation and places where you don’t have to think about anything and pretend that everyday 9-5 working pressures simply don’t exist…”
   
   -how did you survive in Tokyo so long?
   
   And know what you mean about the noise thing, last year’s hanami in a small park near here, loads of people, loads of food and drink, all going swimmingly until a group (embarassingly of foreigners) turn up with stereo and large amp and the what little serenity was gone. Oh well
   — bogue    Mar 28, 10:44 PM    #
3. funny about your body freaking out when you got back into melbourne. i feel the same way everytime i go into the country! the wilderness is CREEPY! my ears ring and i feel cut off from society. i don’t like serene, quiet landscapes for more than 24-48 hours… such a city person.
   — gleek    Mar 29, 03:21 AM    #
4. Ha! Good question Bogue, indeed. We actually got out into the country in Japan quite a bit, maybe every month or so, about the same as in Australia. And don’t get me wrong, I do love the city and I could never actually live in the country, but I don’t think my body agrees with me sometimes. A constant battle.
   — Kinki    Mar 29, 07:46 AM    #