Over the long weekend my host family invited me to a camping weekend to Old Bara near Mudgee.

My host family rented a camper trailer, which was already prepared in the days before the trip. On Saturday morning we woke up early to pack everything up and get the camper trailer started. With two small children it all takes so much longer, so that we didn’t leave until eleven o’clock. This morning it just rained and it was very cold, which is not nice at all if you want to camp. Fortunately the weather got better and better the further we got away from Sydney. We drove four hours through the outback. We drove through all the small villages where there is no more than a restaurant, a supermarket and a few people who live there.

Car Problems, Campfires and stars at night

And of course, not everything could run smoothly. Because the Camper Trailer was so heavy and the car was not properly designed for such a huge trailer, the car could not brake the Camper Trailer properly. Thereupon we stopped at a gas station in a small place and called the car service. Fortunately the car service was already there after less than ten minutes and the problem could be solved and we were able to continue very soon.

Around five o’clock in the evening we finally arrived at the camp. Friends of my host family, who also had a five year old son, had already arrived. Before the sun went down we luckily managed to set up the camper trailer and the camping tent where I slept with my host mother’s sister. In the evening we had a barbecue at the campfire and also made marshmellows. The camp was very remote and very quiet. It was very relaxed to sit at the fire and watch the stars so clearly in the sky.

My host parents were totally fascinated by the stars, as they are not used to so many stars in a city like Sydney. For me, the stars at the sky were almost a normal sight, after all, I live in the countryside in Germany. But when I looked up into the starry sky again in the middle of the night, I was also totally thrilled. I had never seen so many stars in the sky in my whole life as I did that night.

A busy day with a relaxing evening

The next morning I was woken up by the high temperatures in the tent. Although it was still a little bit cold outside, it was already really warm in the camping tent. During the day we couldn’t go in the tent because it got much too hot in there.

First we all had breakfast together in front of the camper trailer on our camping chairs. Shortly afterwards we all made our way to Mudgee. First we stopped at a coffee shop and then we went on to a honey store. There we could test honey with different tastes. For example we could try strawberry honey or honey with banana taste.

At noon we went to a restaurant for lunch. Afterwards we went on our way to two wine tastings. My host family took care that there were playgrounds or toys for the children. So they were busy while everyone else where tasting wine.

In the afternoon we were back at the camp. In the evening we all sat at the fire again and had a barbecue and made marshmallows.

Some more wine

The next morning we started very early to pack everything into the car. In the morning it was already really hot, so that we started to sweat a lot while packing. When everything was finally packed up we went to a wine tasting before we started the four hour drive back to Sydney.

Spending the weekend in the outback in a tent without a shower and only with a compost toilet was a very interesting experience that you must have had when coming to Australia. But after two days I was very relieved to be back in Sydney where I have a decent bed and a bathroom. Moreover, the Australian flies in the outback are really annoying.