“Marinated shin of beef, that sounds good I’ll have three of those please” going to go very will with the prawns in chilli we picked up the other day – Surf & Turf with garlic roasties for dinner washed down with a drop or two of the finest red grape juice, mmm looking forward to our camping dinner tonight! When I was in the scouts a long long time ago camping involved eight to ten lads in a tent farting all night due to the vast amounts of baked beans that were consumed for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks the cooking trick was easy throw them onto the fire and hope you fish them out before they pop! Now that I’m a little older and a little more wiser as to how fire works meal times should be something to enjoy not injure!
This was our first day heading away from beaches. Yamba was just a pit stop lovely as it was the weather was taking a turn, the countryside and mountains had their downpour and now it was heading towards the coast. The POS and its crew were taking Highway 78 or by its more appealing name Waterfall Way west to a place called Dorrigo away from the rain. Stijn pop’s his head up from the Lonely Planet book “apparently they have wicked waterfalls here dude, and we could do with a wash!” Both of us didn’t really feel the love in having a shower on the beach this morning and toughed it out we were fine, anyway its camping washing is sometimes optional right? It was mid morning and time for the kids to have their nap and sure enough within a few short moments both Hannah and Stijn were in the land of nod. I on the other hand had an appointment which I was looking forward to, you see in a place which is so new shit is just going to work and Highway 78 is one of those roads which is crying out to be driven!
My thoughts on the road can be found under – Car’s are like Shoes, you need more than one! However what I’m in versus what I would like to be in are two completely different stories!
We make it in to Dorrigo in what feels like a record time, it can’t have anything to do with the outright speed 
of the POS as it wasn’t fitted with any when it rolled off the production line at Toyota but more down to us been totally transfixed with some of the most picturesque scenery as we rolled past. A spot of lunch and then a dip in the water underneath the falls – refreshing is the word that I can type but it was more of a ‘ohhhwoooohaaamuddfriginhellllllll that’s refreshing!’ So after my male anatomy has morphed itself into something which resembles a 18mth old baby I decide enough is enough and time to get going again, the next stop is a campsite which is a donation payment for your pitch and after the last night we had looking for a place to stop I really don’t fancy doing the same in the middle of the countryside!
A fiver each for a nights camping – what a bargain! Right now that is sorted out lets go and have a look over this park, according to Lonely Planet the view is amazing. Trek up there walk to the look out and what we saw was nadda, nothing – a complete white out! Oh well best we make a fire and have a beer or two….
“The fire wood is all wet mate – its not going to catch” said this confident voice, we look up to see what can only be described as a 55+ year old Ray Mears. Taking one look at his 4×4, tent and knife he has attached to his belt he might know what he’s talking about! Stijn looks at me with a look which mimic’s exactly what I’m thinking – when someone says to me you can’t do something, you give it 100% and prove them wrong. Now it took a little bit of time but by the end of it we are on an oxygen high from blowing air at the embers and stinking of smoke from the changing winds but happy that we have a small bonfire on the go. Hand over the pans and lets get dinner on, so back to the start of this story we have surf and turf, a few spuds which are cubed and going to be roasted off with garlic and Hannah has got the salad on the go.
Within 45 mins we are feeling suitably fat and well on the way to been locked (drunk in Irish slang) and still the fire rages on. Time to cue the pod and mini speaker so we can just kick back and enjoy some tunes and good conversation. Approximately 6 minutes later the battery has died on the speaker and all of us are coming under increasing attacks from a squadron of super stinging mozzies – time to retreat to the penthouse with the book and a promise of getting past two pages.
the bean hunter 