CAMPSITE # 43 - Princetown by Amy Mackay

The journey from Johanna to Princetown was the best drive we’ve had over the course of the entire trip. It was SO much fun. Tom was quick to jump on his GPS to map out an alternative to the highway for us, and it was quite the alternate route. Four wheel driving galore. We went in convoy with Charlie the Troopcarrier and Binks’ work ute now commonly known as “Binko Tiger”... we had to have call signs over the two-way and for some reason the boys thought Binko Tiger was very fitting ;)

Binko Tiger eating Charlie's dust...

Driving through the sand track was a great load of fun. We even stopped for a few scenic lookouts along the way. 3 tonnes of weight on Charlie took its toll though and he became very stubborn through the soft sand closer to the end of the trail, just 2kms from our next camping destination in Princetown. Tom put his mechanics hat back on and busily deflated the tyres. Once the tyres were down... Charlie literally flew over the sand and down the hill to Princetown, the land of many kangaroos.

After we had setup camp, Tom and I took a drive to the laundry. Yes that’s right we had so much laundry it was easier to just drive it over to the laundry. As we were about to jump back in the car and head back to camp, we were approached by a man who looked rather distressed. Apparently, he and his mate decided to take their two wheel drive through the same track that Charlie the Troopie even struggled to get through. The boys donned their hard hats and set off to retrieve the 2WD in Binko Tiger. After an hour of to-ing and fro-ing they only managed to pull him out 15 metres in total. As unmanly as it may be, the boys had to hang their hats up and tell the fellas to order a towey. I just feel sorry for anyone else who travelled the 30kms along the 4WD track only to get 2kms from camp with a car in the way and have to turn around and go all the way back. Worst part was the two guys in the 2WD were locals and knew how soft the sand was... silly old buggers.

Good luck getting this thing to move ;)

As I mentioned, Princetown is the home of kangaroos. We were fortunate enough to score a campsite with a very private aspect overlooking an open field. At dusk, the field was absolutely flooded by a huge mob of kangaroos. There were way too many to count but we would have guessed there were at least 40-50 roos. It was a fantastic first kangaroo sighting experience for Christian... he certainly had a very big excited smile on his German face.

Zoom in to view a crapload of Kanga's.

Princetown was the first time we were able to light a campfire since everyone came to visit. We all laughed at how mesmorising the fire was because I think we were all in bed by 10pm – I think the toasted marshmallows satisfied us all so much that they practically put us to sleep.

The next day, we sadly had to farewell a member of our team. Amy T had to return back to work in Brissie and was due to fly out of Melbourne. Matt, Christian and I took a drive to Colac to drop Amy off at the train station while Tom & Binks had it tough... they’d stayed and looked after the site which I’m pretty sure consisted of – painting their faces like clowns using the zinc, swimming in the waterhole and lying in the sun while they waited for the food delivery from yours truly to arrive. 

The two nights at Princetown were both relatively quiet and relaxing nights. Aside from the American Pitbulls that lived up to their names... well actually more the feral owners of American Pitbulls as I was awoken during the middle of the night while they were having a screaming fight with another campers. She threatened to “Let the dogs out of the car and then we’ll see how tough you are”(Insert about 4 profanities into that sentence). I lay there with my cushy doona tightly snug around me, eyes wide open, praying that she didn’t let the beasts out of the car. For some reason I didn’t sleep very well that night but thankfully, the dogs still looked rather hungry the next morning which was somewhat reassuring, I suppose. 

Rules are made to be broken...

And... thanks to great news from our friends - Pete & Anna we were able to crack open the two ciders Pete homebrewed for us and gave to us at our leaving party. Congrats to Pete & Anna for the birth of beautiful Georgia Violet. We're so happy for you both and are certain you'll be fantastic parents. xx