CAMPING WITH ALPACAS

So I gathered another pair of girlfriends and headed back on the road for another mini getaway. Now these sissy’s are some of my love you long time, since we were itty bitty things running the play ground sissy’s. As life does we hardly get some quality time together and get a little bogged down in the everyday and we wanted to get into the outdoors and enjoy the last few weeks of lingering cold weather before Sydney defrosts. (Although its been quite a warm winter realistically.)

So rounded up the girls I did. We shopped all our supplies - Wine, snags, spent waaaaaaay to long deciding which burger patties we were going to buy (a solid 15 minutes discussing patties), got some mini tomato and bbq sauce sachets from Maccas and we were all set.

Also got to take out ‘Big Red’, the bright red Jeep Wrangler onto some country roads. I hardly take this beast into the wild like I should, so it felt good getting some dirt onto the tyres.

Our destination Camp Tajenong, in the lower Blue Mountains. I found this AirBnB after looking into glamping option for a girl’s weekend and it won mainly because it has free roaming Alpaca’s on the property - Alpaca’s!

Far from disappointed - quite easily the opposite, truely blown away, this property was beyond magical. It’s set up as a glamping’esque camp site, currently with 2 permanent tents, each with their own set up including individual camp fire, mud kitchen and patio looking over the ridge into the valley below. Along with a larger communal kitchen, shower and compositing toilet’s ( but they were like really nice toilets). The site and each tent sits along the edge of the hillside, with the ridge dropping just below, opening up to these majestic views of the Abercrombie River valley. And whilst every aspect of this place was stunning it was the views that were the true lynchpin of this place. The real reason why this Air-Bnb was even created. To be nestled amongst the gum trees and watching the day go by with front row seats to some beautiful native Australian vistas.

All we had on our agenda for the weekend was to chill, hang, catch up and enjoy the views. 

I particularly was intent on building the most magical bonfire possible, Geline was intent on cooking every single meal over the fire and Kristina getting some perfect polaroids. Each were ticked off the list with great success. 

There was zero phone reception, and no wifi available at the camp. But we were in for a different kind of connection, not a data filled one. Reconnecting with nature and each other. That sounds a little cliche, but really we each needed a breather, and I truely believe in the restorative powers of nature. Personally I love being outdoors, my soul feels at peace and so I need to escape the stuffiness of the Sydney every so often.

Highlights: The campfire, building the perfect fire and watching it burn throughout the night. Sitting around it having a drink and having a good chat. The night skies, we lucked out that they were clear, with a full and bright shining moon. The moon lit the skies and the valley below in such a magical light. The moons light gently blanketing the tree tops we were still able to make out the curves of the valley below. As we looked out every so often we could see the head lights of cars driving along the roads of the opposite hillside. like small fireflies darting amongst the trees. 

The mornings were filled with crisp fresh air, and the warming sunlight shining through the tree’s. I hardly needed a coffee to be out of bed. But of course I had a coffee and what a delicious morning coffee experience it was, steam rising from the hot cup of coffee, sipping on my Nestle salted caramel latte whilst soaking up the views. Does it get any better. 

We also inadvertently made a new YouTube channel, as we had all our cameras out each time we cooked over the fire, it started out as making fun of you tubers intros, but it turned out we were really good at it. Out new Youtube Channel - Campfire Cookouts, our tips and tricks to cooking your meals over the fire. We got pretty good at it, although our camp neighbours outshine us making  some damper and a stew they had been working on for 12 hours ! And we did have a baked potato mishap as it didn’t well bake .. well. 

We didn’t adventure much. We mainly sat back and soaked up our surroundings. So there may be a lack of inspiration or entertainment from this post - it was mainly just pretty, and I love camp fire photos. So here they are. But if you’re into camp fire cooking vidz watch this space the campfire cookout chicks coming at ya’!

All I can say is, as much as I love travelling I also enjoy a good cheeky weekend getaway. Something about the stark contrast of being in the everyday setting one day and some where new and opposite the next, and accomplishing mini-advenures in smaller amounts of time. I’m really inspired to be doing more domestic trips this year.

…I miss having a drink by the fire.