Freedom Camp

Despite having my inner clock skewed in a grand way by a 2:30 a.m. start, South West Rocks certainly was a very pleasant place to spend my day. The reason for the early Saturday morning departure from Sydney was that the crew I was headed there with had booked a diving excursion that morning. After dropping them off, I took the car to the beach, constantly chanting “left side, left side,” any time I made a turn.

Killing time in the a.m.

I whiled away several hours in the sun, and then went to collect the group so we could get some food, some drinks, and organize our evening. The main campsite in town was quite booked up and a little uninspiring, so with good faith we took the tiny Hyundai GoGet car for a bit of an off-road adventure down to a much quieter bay. (Down was the easy part, by the way.) Choosing to forget about the no tenting signs we came across, we set up for some freedom camping in perhaps the most ideal setting you could picture. We tucked in behind a line of trees, and the tent – conveniently a deep shade of green – blended right in. Waking up with the beach at the doorstep and the sun rising over the water gave me a pretty good feeling that I was headed in the right direction.

A highlight of this experience was that, while walking home in the dark, the path was littered with kangaroos. I probably saw about eight in the ten minute walk from the car. Just chilling. These were all quite small kangaroos, which wasn’t bad as stumbling upon a giant one in the dark would be a little unnerving. They just sort of stare at you, slightly confused by your flashlight, before bounding off into the bush when you get too close.

As a side note: My bad luck with cameras continues and I have misplaced accessories. This means no photos for awhile.