Camping!

I haven't been camping for perhaps 20 years, but jumped at the opportunity last weekend to head bush with Max and Rob for some star-gazing, walking swimming and fishing. Rob selected a peaceful spot near the beautifully named Wee Jasper in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains and on the banks of the Goodradigbee River just before in flows into Burrinjuck Dam. The web-site at http://www.weejasperreserves.com.au/ gives some idea of the location, along with the attached pictures.

Max had a wonderful time playing in the fairly fast moving water near our camp-site, fishing in the Goodradigbee (until he lost his lure casting high into nearby trees), playing on swings made of rope tied to the branch of a tree, and cooking supper on a local barbecue.

The camp site was full of holiday-makers there for the long weekend in the run-up to Australia Day (26 January), but the facilities might best be described as basic! The river itself was extremely attractive and not just from the flowing water. Trees overhung the banks almost everywhere and there was astonishing bird-life. In fact, I was awoken at about 5.30 am by a dawn chorus of maybe hundreds of birds including the magnificent sulphur-crested white cockatoo. They chattered loudly to each other for what seemed an eternity.

But, for me, the most wonderful event was to wake in the middle of the night in pitch darkness and cast my eyes skyward. There above was one of the greatest sights humans can experience. The Milky Way arced across the whole sky in a band of light thrown by literally billions of stars - a sight that is barely visible in the northern hemisphere. At Wee Jasper there was no interference from terrestrial light or from water vapour in the atmosphere. Better still, the large Magellanic Cloud also shone brightly - a separate galaxy to our own in the Milky Way cluster. Alas, my camera was incapable of capturing such images or they would be posted here.

AS