But I digress (don't I always) back to camping. We went to Shallow Creek which is about 2 hours out of Canberra and it's just a field with a shower block and right next to the river.
We put the tent up (trailer tent no less, a bargain Sean found on gumtree .... had to discard the mattress as now I'm in the know 😉😉 I knew that particular mattress was NOT fit for use ... say no more). Brand new queen mattress in place and after an hour of putting the side bits up, juggling with poles and swatting flies away we were erect.
I was actually hoping I could have crossed my legs for the whole weekend but I soon realised that was not likely. So had to brave the shower block. More on that in a bit.
After exploring the river which was colder than ice but very soothing as was a bazillion degrees last weekend, we thought we'd go to the beach. Ob and Sean swam while I sunbathed and slept then I very bravely went in the sea all the way to my knees with I must add no beach shoes. Get me... I was feeling very brave after using the drop toilet at the shower block. (I don't think that needs explaining does it?
Plus the water was so clear I felt a bit like Steve Irwin (pre death obviously) and figured I would just wrestle anything that jumps out at me. I mistakenly thought I saw a shark that actually turned out to be a bird, but still a little shriek of shark now and again never hurt anyone ..... right?
Back at base now and still feeling brave I decided I would take a shower. After debating doing this with myself and reasoning with myself that I could do it, I took the long walk through the grass to the shower block (I actually ran /skipped/ trotted as I couldn't be too sure there wasn't anything lurking in the grass ready to eat me.
I spent around 3 minutes looking at the 2 showers and trying to decide which one was the better one, if you can imagine public toilets at their absolute worse mixed with festival toilets you get where I'm coming from, but now I'm brave I wasn't even crying which is the norm. I decided the shower on the left was the safest bet, started the 5 minute timer to get the water ready and started to undress...... I was willing myself not to look around too much, however those 4 foot cobwebs across the ceiling were just too big to miss.... but in my head scaries only come out at night so felt I was safe.
Stepped into the shower (with flip flops for added security and then I saw it........ the biggest scary in the world, my heart was flapping, my bouffant was growing with fright I was frozen to the spot and could not take my eyes off it.
After what felt like an eternity I told myself this is not how Steve would have reacted, and took a deep breath and realised it was dead and squatted and actually not moving anywhere. Then thought it may just be playing dead to fool me in to thinking it wasn't going to pounce. So I washed dried and literally ran out all within 2 minutes, timer flashing and telling me I still had 3 minutes left.
Then skipped / ran all the way back to the tent. Sean asked if I was alright as I was a bit white, I reply with a little squeak that I'm fine. I didn't want to tell him about my encounter because like I keep saying I'm brave now and I didn't want to cry.
(Had to get Ob to hold the door open to the ladies shower block last thing at night in case I didn't make it out alive).
I'd like to say Ob slept well but unfortunately he didn't, on account of his camping bed only having 3 poles along each side instead of 4. His feet were propped up on boxes. Still he was a little trooper and did what he was told "SLEEP IN A BALL"
Now the not so great news is that our friends came to see us the ones that told us in the first place about the camp site.... to cut a long story short Lex very kindly stood on a bullrot fish, I say this because Ob was standing 2 foot away from him when he did it and man oh man I'm so greatful it was Lex and not Ob.
As he hobbled back to the campsite, Sean rushed round to pack the tent up, I ran like a mad woman up to the owners house which was on top of a mountain (felt like) and it was a bazillion degrees. His repose in true Aussie's style "just put it in the hottest water he can tolerate, he'll be right" another kind Aussie came over and actually asked Lex why wasn't he drinking to numb the pain. I think Lex's expression told this man all he need to know. (Unable to ask Google as we had no signal at all so we had to trust the kind Aussie's and believe them when they said "yeh it'll pass in an hour, pointless going to hospital")
Meanwhile our truck had gone flat because some person (Sean) left the ignition on to charge his phone. He and Ob are unable to push the truck down the slight slope we're parked on, so I flex my muscles (now I'm lifting the weight of a small car, I thought, I've got this) tell Sean to get in the truck in case I push it so hard it runs poor Lex over while he's dealing with his leg going numb and the excruciating pain and poison spreading through his body, and off it rolls. Yay me. Fist pumping the air... so not only am I super brave now but also super strong.
So the moral of this story is to wear swim shoes and don't believe the Aussie's when they say it will pass....Lex ended up in hospital after 6 hours of pain, swelling and unable to weight bear. But yes they were right in some respect he was alright in 4 days time.
Oh and the scary was confirmed as a huntsmen... and if you open your hand and spread your fingers. ... that's how big it was. Gulp
The offending fish (well not the exact one but a picture)
Me after the shower incident and yes I can see why Sean asked if I was ok!
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