Pink puddles (Wilson’s Prom trip)
Posted by Campbell on | February 27, 2006
Just back from a weekend at Wilson’s Prom.
Bit of a false start on the way down on Friday evening with high temperatures, heavy traffic and a heavy load causing the car to boil over on the SE Freeway. We decide to rent a car and keep going which blows the budget considerably, but as Miles says to Joel in Risky Business “Sometimes you’ve just got to say ‘what the fuck’.”
On Saturday morning we take our first swim for the day. The water at Normans Beach is crystal clear, a contrast to the tannin-stained estuary of Tidal River. At the southern end of the beach the bright emerald of new growth is starting to soften the scorched earth and charred trunks of last year’s fires.
There are about thirty of us in all. Despite some initial trepidation and tentativeness (spending a whole weekend together is a big step up for friendships formed around school routines and events), we settle easily into a comfortable groove. As the day unfolds we expand and contract in shifting constellations spanning the river, the beach, the bush, a dead seal and a scraped knee.
The rain hits when we’re all back at camp and getting ready for dinner. The gear-freaks among us rise to the challenge and tarps, poles, pegs and guy ropes appear and are wrangled into a very impressive shelter that protects us all. Dinner preparation divides along gender lines- the men go off to barbecue the meat while the women prepare the salads. And where does the vegetarian male of the group fit in I hear you ask? I stay with the women, charged with grilling the vegetarian sausages, pumpkin, sweet potato, asparagus and onion. This arrangement works out well all round (my very limited supply of blokey camping conversation about cars, generators, etc was exhausted some hours ago).
The kids all go to bed early, exhausted from the day’s adventures. The adults stay up for a while enjoying chocolate, wine and conversation by the gentle, flickering light of citronella candles.
Morning breaks with golden light filtering through early morning cloud, bathing the surrounding hills in what I always think of as Eugene von Guerard light. We potter around the campsite, breakfast becomes a moving feast- fruit under the tarp, milo by one of the tents and pancakes in the picnic shelter. The kids spend a couple of hours deeply involved in collecting berries and crushing them into the puddles and staining the water a chalky pink. This will doubtless be one of their lasting memories of the weekend away and they carefully fill a bottle with the pink water to take home and share with classmates who weren’t able to come along.
A lovely weekend.
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2 Responses to “Pink puddles (Wilson’s Prom trip)”
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February 28th, 2006 @ 8:13 am
The hilux makes the journey all around Australia without a hitch but can’t handle a little trip down the prom.
Bah! You must be dissapointed.
February 28th, 2006 @ 9:39 am
Yeah tell me about it. But to avoid the wrath of other bloggers on this fine site (actually I think it was you) please refer to the vehicle in question as the 2wd, lpg-converted hilux.