On the road again!

Monday 2nd september.

At last we are travelling again. We arrived in Sydney Monday night to pick up the Earth Cruiser. It has been serviced, the heater and cook top have been reviewed and now work perfectly, various small things done, such as a handle near the door and the battery made secure and locked in place.

We left mid-morning on Tuesday and made our way north to Wyong where we had lunch with an old friend (Sharon) and her daughter. They gave us directions to Munmorah National Park where we set up camp on a parking area overlooking the beach. We slept with the sound of waves crashing on the beach.  We were all alone, despite being quite close to a large population centre. This area had gates which were locked at 6.30 pm and not opened again next morning. So we felt very safe.

Wednesday 4th September.

After exploring the Munmorah area for awhile we left the park. 

Suddenly we saw a fire in the grass beside the road. It was about 1m x 1m when we pulled up, but we could see it was going to spread quickly. It was crackling and the flames were already meters high. I called 000 and Joe started filling a soft drink bottle with water. After the fire brigade was on its way I started filling water bottles for Joe. He was trying to limit the spread of the fire. At first it seemed like a drop in a bucket, but then another passerby stopped and I was filling bottles for both of them. The fire was soon more than 100 square meters, and in tops of bushes. 

But amazingly the two fellers got it under control! By stopping the edges they stopped the spread, and by the time the fire brigade arrived (30 mins from my call) it was nearly out. The fire brigade then got their hoses onto the hot spots spots to stop it starting up again. What heroes we were! And how fortunate that we had enough water!

The firies said that it was almost certainly arson! There has been a spate of arson attacks in the area recently. When we left they were pulling bottles and rags out from the area where we showed them it started, and smelling them for fuels.

We left feeling like heroes, but soon realised we could be under suspicion, as the first ones on the scene! 

We also realised that if we had had a hose attachment on our outside tap we could have put the fire out straight away! It would be quite easy to adapt the fitting and achieve this, so we are now planning to do so. This could also be useful should a campfire get out of control one day!

That night we camped in a National Park among amazing tall trees, at Gap Creek camping spot. Ahhh, it's good to be on the road again -as someone more famous than I has said!