It's all about power. (Bean)

Electricity. Power. Amps. Wattage. All very useful but personally I find it incredibly boring. 'On' and 'Off' are really the only words I really like to know about it.

Still, since we are 'glamping' a powersource is needed. (Seriously it is. We have the whole collection of Magnum P.I to watch on DVD via the laptop. There's lighting, recharging ... all those things that should be a welcome relief while sitting in a tent in the freezing cold listening to the rain at 3am).  I won't bore you with details because you can look it up if you are so inclined but we have a battery box. Here it us at home in the studio ( hence the stained floor):


Somehow after our little excursion we manage to leave something on ( or that's what we think as it was quite flat). This meant getting out manuals to learn how to recharge it via the solar panels. It can be recharged from the mains or from a 12v cigarette lighter. The solar panels have a separate controller/monitor that required some putting together.

I placed the solar panels in a not too ideal place as the sun was the other side of the house I couldn't be bothered to move the battery for this particular test. ( Its heavyish).


After some double checking and triple checking I plugged it in and then a rather unexcited moment happened:


Yes. Power. ( Look, I did mention that this was a tad boring). Moving the panels I managed to increase it to3.6A. That's amps. The only thing I know about amps is that if they gang up on you they can kill you. Apparently.

Luckily they didn't and the battery leapt into action ( after a dull minute or so) and did this:


So. Solar panel system working. Great stuff. (Actually I did do that 'isn't it amazing how we can capture energy from the sun' thinking stuff. But then I got hungry and stopped).

That's it.  I'll stick a different pic in the heading to try and make this post look more interesting than it really is.

Valley of the clouds & flies (Bean)

How much can you fit into a Jeep Wrangler unlimited? Well it takes meticulous planning ...or brute strength. Both of which I'm slightly lacking in. (Although my wildlife senses are pretty honed in). Basically it all stuffed in well and we think it is all pretty useful.

Rainbow Valley is just south of us around an hours drive. The last 20 km is stupidly corrugated but it gave a good test for our egg holder - none broken!


The ground was as hard as rock. That's because it was made out of rock. Again a good test for tent pegs. Some are better than others.  Below are the good ones:


Once up the tent was fantastic. Much more spacious than we have had in the past.


Unfortunately the weather turned grey and the light went as flat as a very flat thing.


Al decided to hunt for the sun...


The fire was good although our collecting of wood and wrapping in a tarp will take some practice and refining. (No roof rack you see - Oscar doesn't like wearing hats)


Not much wildlife around. I heard some wolves howling in the morning (Al says they were Dingos). Pretty sure I saw a bear around our cook site as well ...


Our new gas cooker is stronger than our cooker at home. Amazingly hot. I reckon it could melt rock. Something I might try if ever I get bored sometime. Al did some magic tricks with some tins of stuff (not that we'll be going for tinned food all the time).


The cloud did clear during the night and the moon was quite bright. Slept very well though.

Morning brought some prettyness with it:


And also the flies:


There was a slight breeze as I took TC out for a fly ( no pun intended). Luckily we were the only people there so I didn't have to worry about his humming annoying anyone.


I had accidently left all the setting on for the usual sunny days so the white balance was slightly out. Ah well.

A view back saw where we had been camping:


And finally, that's me by the edge of the clay pan:


It was great fun to get away.

A list of things have been made that need to be added ( another hammer, towels, matches (!), wolf repellant).

A worthwhile fun little trip. I'd give it a 5 out of ten or if scoring in colours a pale green.

Rainbow Valley Trial Run (Al)

All in all? Yup. A good one. A bit like riding a bicycle perhaps (really, it must be around 10 years since we've really been camping). . . some things forgotten, like a lighter (ah the inconveniences of being a non-smoker), but god bless the pezzo thingy on the shiny new red stove top . . . which was also shared with some neighbors who'd run out of matches . . .

So, crappy light, no sunset red on the range, no stars, but hey . . . nothing fell off Oscar that we noticed on the 20km SERIOUSLY corrugated road going into Rainbow Valley, ridiculously comfy sleep (thanks humongous thermarests and uber thick sleeping bags!), great supper and breakfast (even the eggs survived the ride in), didn't get got by the scorpions that came over to check out the warmth of the fire, or the strange scuttly flappy things that alighted on the bell-tent's canvas after we retired . . . great (shortish) run the next morning, primarily as I didn't get lost . . . and home in time for brunch and a nap before an afternoon the studio.

And hey, everything fitted in the car on the way out AND on the way back . . . good to go!

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Before we go (Al)

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Taking down the second pitch (Bean)

So today we decided to pack away the tent and the airbeds. Al did some connecting of sliders which have made things a lot easier.

The airbeds are quite thick.


But then thickness equals comfort. Comfort equals happiness. Happiness is something very much needed to tackle these things back into their bags.

Al is seen here trying to dominate her foe


She then manages to subdue it into submission and eventually into the bag.


It took us about 20 mins each to pack them away. Personally I could have done with a lie down after that. Rather ironic.

Then it was the tent. We had packed it up once before so this should have been easy.


Put it this way, we got it into the bag ... well most of it.

Next weekend we hope to head out bush. It'll be good practice to see all the things we have forgotten and all the things we don't need!