Amelia the explorer: Save Pambula Hospital!

After driving from Apollo Bay (Great Ocean Road) Victoria through to Bairnsdale, Victoria, the majority of which was through driving rain we simply disconnected the van, levelled her and raised the roof for the night. Unfortunately we leaked a little- which was very disappointing- hopefully we can figure out where the water’s coming from. Not bothering to set up the kitchen we went out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant (Amelia’s choice) which was a nice way to start our adventure. It was still raining in the morning when Tara accidentally lowered the roof while Chris was packing up, providing him with an impromptu cold shower. The day had to get better! And it did- for a while at least- we found a delightful campsite at Gillard’s Beach within the Mimosa Rocks National Park in New South Wales. About 14 kms from Tathra and 4 kms of bumpy, dirt track we got lucky. Just 10 metres from the beach (about 40 from the water) it was heavenly. We’d recommend it to anyone looking for a real bush camp. There were a few campsites, and the longest you can stay is 2 weeks during school holidays and 4 weeks any other time, $10 per night per adult. Amelia was free. Not having running water wasn’t an issue for us, and the drop toilets were handy.

Camped just metres from the sea

All was well until about 8pm, Amelia had made a brilliant sandcastle with her Daddy and we’d settled in for the night after a campfire dinner. Around this time the vomiting started (Amelia), unexpected and spectacular it continued for hours. After we’d exhausted all stores of clean linen, towels and pyjamas we decided it was time to find a doctor. On the journey up during the day we’d sighted “SAVE PAMBULA HOSPITAL” signs so we knew there was a hospital there. The GPS said the nearest hospital was 89kms away from Gillard’s beach, so we thought this was the better option. It seemed to take forever, with Amelia persistently vomiting in the back seat in between exclaiming her excitement at seeing kangaroos and wombats on the roads. It’s amazing how she can be dealing with something as yucky as projectile vomiting and still be chipper. (As an aside she’s only been this sick three times before and she thought it must have been the junk food her body was trying to “cough” up! We’d been talking about healthy food throughout the day.) Once at the Pambula hospital we quickly learnt that the petitioning signs meant the hospital had lost its night time doctor last March. The nurse on duty was brilliant, taking samples and doing all the normal things. (She even gave us a gown and blanket to use as Amelia had no clean clothes left by this stage) Unsure, she called Bega hospital and we travelled through with Amelia finally being admitted at around 4.30am. Chris wasn’t able to stay so went back to the campsite (and the no doubt stinky campervan!), while I slept at the hospital with Amelia for a couple of hours. It’s worth noting that she wasn’t sick at all after arriving at the Bega hospital (which was only 25 minutes from our camp) but it’s better to be sure and safe. Amelia was released after lunch the following day, with two relieved and sleep deprived parents. She managed to sleep most of the next day but at least she had regained her fluids and rest. The "Electric light" (electrolyte) icypoles were great!

After this excitement we needed a few days to recover, which were spent in the luxury of our bush camp. We saw loads of wildlife; kangaroos, quolls, one bilby, two goannas (3 and 5” long), blue birds and various other birds. Stupidly enough we left some bananas out one night and became victim to some kind of native mouse/rat. A seriously dedicated eater it consumed three bananas one night and returned to eat a hole in Amelia’s chair (obviously seeking out lost crumbs), our plastic flooring (dropped rice) and make a decent effort of chewing the top off a wooden spoon. The droppings (and very small gap in a corner of the annex canvas) indicated it was a small marsupial creature not the quoll that had eaten up all our leftover rice from the rinsed saucepan. We never managed to definitely identify the banana thief but did catch it in action one night, when it knocked over the ipod and woke Chris. Overall this camp was amazing, especially due to the wildlife we met whilst there; the 3 and 5 foot lace monitor lizards wandering through camp next to our kitchen tent added to its appeal. Kangaroos were ever present (and very tame) but we’re well used to them now. The quolls were cheeky but fun to watch as they carefully surveyed our camp for food.

Through the smoke of our campfire, right next to our kitchen tent!

The nearby beach was loads of fun...

Feeling the need to recharge the camper batteries we moved onto Ulladulla (NSW coast heading North). This turned out to be a real test of our endurance, not in the drive itself but in the ensuing weather. We found a caravan park and thankfully set up the kitchen tent before cooking at the camp kitchen and meeting a lovely family. On school holidays from Canberra; Michelle, Trevor, Hannah and Patrick were on a first camping trip in a tent. They were a great match for us and Amelia played for a couple of hours with Patrick and Hannah while the adults chatted. (Michelle is a teacher too so the topic of education was all too well discussed.) Then the rain came- and NEVER STOPPED! Our kitchen floor was flooded with three inches of rain, but we fortunately lifted our freezer onto the plastic steps we use near our camper doors, so at least we didn’t ruin the electrics in it. The Ipod player was packed up and only bare essentials were waterlogged. Two tent poles broke in the storm and we spent the entire night semi-awake, checking on the canvas situation and making adjustments as necessary. We spent an entire day and night in the camper avoiding the terrible weather. Not fun!

We packed up in the rainstorm, noting all our neighbours had done the same and determined heading west was our only option to escape the dreadful weather. By this point, I’d developed a cold (something to do with damage control and packing up in the driving rain) and was eager to just get out of the place. Over the Great Dividing Ranges to Goulburn we saw snow on the hills (apparently last experienced six years ago- the freak weather conditions continued!). We checked into a cabin at a caravan park and I retreated into bed for the next two days.

The BIG MERINO!

Fully dried out and somewhat recovered, we learnt the weather was improving so we continued our travels, despite a strong impulse to head back home to Victoria. The hills were steep; roads windy, the eucalyptus trees and pastures intoxicatingly Australian and the sun shining. It was heavenly. Abercrombie caves (NSW) nicknamed "Aber-crawly" by Amelia was where we ended up, in the most perfect campsite ever. Beside the river, with ducks roaming freely and plenty to occupy a young child we thoroughly enjoyed this place. (Chris and I had camped there about 8 years ago and it was still magical all this time later) The fire was still burning from the previous occupants so we stoked it up and toasted marshmellows. Our canvas quickly dried out and we forgot all about the dramas getting to the perfect campsite. BTW- it's also the cheapest laundry as well, with a wash only costing $1 a load! (Tathra laundry charged $6 each load plus drying of course)

Abercrombie Caves- so many photos! It was simply stunning.