Never a dull moment!

After almost a week in Bright, we have decided this is definitely a place we could spend a lot more time. It has that great mix of old and new, country but cool, forests with the river and the wow is it warm!

And never a dull moment….half way through our stay we find a great new bar/eatery called Tomahawks (highly recommended!). We head over with the doggies for a cheeseburger and cider and as it’s such a hot day (38 degrees) we sit outside. We have also left the hatch to the van fully open, as it’s also 38 in there! (we know this because we bought a thermometer today!) Half way through eating the most AMAZING cheesy, it’s start pouring rain. OH NO – the hatch is open. This means wet bed. Frank rushes back to the van to close the hatch. He returns, I am saturated from still sitting outside guarding his prized chips and he tells me the bed is just a little damp. Should be fine. A couple of hours later, we return, open the door….OH MY GOSH…..POW…the smell hits you. It’s like a mix of wet dog and old socks. URGHHH. Rain has stopped so we open ALL the doors, light some incense, get devoured by mozzies in the process and try to air out the van. It seems a little better, still 34 degrees, but we try to go to bed. Frank on the couch as it’s just too hot for him, so he is closer to the sliding door, me on the bed. 5 minutes in, the van reiks. I cannot sleep. We proceed to sniff test the whole van. Anyone who knows me well knows I have “Super Shnoz” and can smell out anything. I sniff Arnie, Frank’s shoes, surely the smell is one of them….unfortunately not. I smell my dog, my shoes…of course it’s not them! I proceed to sniff the futon mattress. EIWWWWW….the bed is wet, it must be rotten, the smell is the wet wool in the futon, of course. Holy shit, we’re going to have to throw it out, Frank I told you not to put that layer of insulation under the mattress as there’s no air flow….on and on the panic goes. We strip the bed, open up the mattress cover, it looks good – no mould! Then why the smell??? Frank suggests we get out and check in the back of the van for the smell….but that means battling more mozzies, I just can’t do it. Let’s just air out the mattress tomorrow, rotate it and it’ll be fine. By this time it’s 12:00am, I am beyond tired, I can’t sleep on the bed….I’m going outside. Like a mummy wrapped in a sheet on the dirty ground. My face gets attacked by mozzies – of course. I cover my whole head…man. it is HOT under there! Frank says to me “call out if you need anything, I’m right here”….I reply “How can I call out if I’m dead from suffocating?! Can I suffocate and die from being under a sheet??) We laugh at the ridiculousness and decide to enjoy the experience, so I come back in the van, everything from the bed is now on the floor, doona, pillows, sheets, throw rugs…we have way too many soft furnishings that are keeping in the heat. We proceed to the dumpster and throw some out! 2:00am, we pull out the battleships and play a game in the dark (not enough solar charge to turn the lights on!) I win by one boat and at around 3:00am we are so exhausted, I fall asleep in a little ball on the floor next to the dog bed, half in the kitchen, half in the bin space, Frank hanging head first off the couch…we manage 4 hours sleep.

Next morning, sleep deprived but happy, I open the 2 back doors to lift up and air the mattress. THERE’S THAT SMELL AGAIN – but worse!! My eyes scan the back area…I lean in the sniff Arnie’s rope toy that I had played with him then washed in the river and left to dry outside. Why is that in here?? As I get close to it…..my face turns into sour puss and I yell out “I found the smell!! F@#King hell it’s Arnie’s rope toy!!!” I grab it with the smallest pinch of 2 fingers and pass it to Frank to smell!!! That gross rope smell was seeping up the side of the mattress gap straight into my nostrils in 38 degree humid weather…..ARGGHHHHH!!!! We laugh it off…what else can you do?!

My parent’s arrive later that day, as they are keen to test out their new tent before their upcoming trip to Tasmania. We tell them of our antics over an extended happy hour and don’t do very much else that day, as it’s just too hot! We take a short stroll later in the day and Dad and I go for a swim in the Ovens River. Such a blissful moment, swimming in a huge fresh water hole, feet can’t touch the bottom, swimming upstream admiring the angle and view of the trees, ferns and rocky edges. Truly beautiful. Then back to camp for BBQ dinner and some boozy homemade icy pops.

The next day Dad makes us some amazing campside eggs and bacon in exchange for one of our van coffees and we take off on a hot sweaty hike this time the full length of the Canyon Walk. We read the history of the gold sluicing, navigate our way over rocks and tree roots and find a deep, mossy sluicing wash tunnel. It’s super narrow, so deep and I just have to get in it to see what it felt like for the minors who built these tunnels/channels. I get half way, lost in my own little world of mossy, claustrophobic tranquility, then hear this terrifying growl. I’m not that easily spooked, but this thing sounds pissed off and I’m in it’s tunnel! I turn, shoulders scrape the tunnel walls and I shoot out in hysterics, loose my sunglasses and whack into Frank on my exit. “There’s some wild vicious creature in there!” I turn and then see the culprit – my Dad, who is climbing off the forest ground above the tunnel, him and Frank are laughing so hard. They thought I was just playing along and giving Dad a good reaction to his prank. Ahhhh….no! Mum tells Dad off as my hands shake with adrenalin. I see the funny side most definitely! Would have been a great GoPro moment!!

Back to camp, happy hour, dinner and a few rounds of chinese checkers to finish off the night.

We say our goodbyes in the morning and head off for Falls Creek.

JT xo