Upper Yarra Reservoir Park - 2nd, 3rd & 4th January, 2004
Participants:
Oiyee, Laiyee, Jim, Carina, Jessica, Aaron, Brittany, Amber and Rachel
Mark, Michelle, James & Liam
Friday, 2nd January 2004
We all met at Lillydale and drove together to Upper Yarra Reservoir late afternoon. We set up the tents and had a late dinner (10:00) in the mess hall in the relative cool. After dinner, we all went on a night forest walk, where same as last year we saw an eel but no other wildlife. Not to mention that the gas bottle was empty so we couldn't get any descent light happening around the campsite. So off to bed, and it was a rough night at that. I had no attachments for the compressor, and the air mattress had a large inflation hole with no means to attach the compressor to blow up the mattress! To add insult to injury, some Bozo decided it would be fun to set off a firework at 1:00 in the morning.
Saturday, 3rd January 2004
We had a relaxing morning, with the kids running around chasing each other when they weren't playing on their Gameboys! The young girls delighted in watching the ants climbing the trees and were most excited when they found cicada shells clinging to the tree side. Well, everybody had to have one then!
We had a long chat with Stuart the Ranger as we paid the Park fees. He reckoned he new who the culprits were that setoff the firework last night, and was quite keen to nab them.
Jim stayed behind with the kids whilst the rest of us drove into Warburton to see what could be done about getting our air mattress blown up. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I was able to buy standard compressor fittings, as well as a garden hose tap fitting which worked perfectly to blow up the mattress. We picked up some fire wood, refilled the gas bottle and got some other essentials, including icy poles! It was damn hot. We headed back to camp, to find Jim playing cricket with the kids.
In the afternoon, we visited the Big Peninsula Tunnel on the Yarra River, and Liam had a swim with a snake as well as making friends with a dragonfly.
The road up to the water race and mine shaft was closed with a locked gate so we went looking for the Goldfields walk, but I missed the path entrance. We walked down the wrong track, and soon gave up as it was too damn hot. I eventually spotted the right track on the way back but none of us could be bothered now, so we went back to the campground where Jim and the kids played cricket and soccer. A couple of Irish guys joined in for the soccer game, which they took quite seriously!
After dinner we got the campfire going where the kids toasted marshmallows and generally had a great time playing with the fire.
Sunday, 4th January 2004
Time to pack up and head home. There was the ominous sound of thunder rolling up the valley as we started packing up the tents, and needless to say we didn't get everything packed up before the rain hit. It wasn't too bad though, with most of the stuff we didn't want wet thrown into or under the cars whilst we waited out the storm. We stopped into McDonalds at Lillydale for lunch and then made our way home to unpack and recover!