Bush Camp

Here we are agian. Friday night at the end of week one Term Four. It is light outside at 7.30 pm as our clocks went forward an hour a couple of weeks ago. We are exactly 12 hours ahead of our friends in the UK.

We went on a bush camp in the holiday. It was one of the more notable events, as we did not go away this time. The plan was that the boys had to cope with 2 tarps for a shelter and they were given basic rations - a small bag of rice, oats, lentils, sugar, tea - plus a large bar of chocolate. No meat. If they wanted meat they had to shoot it themselves. Our patient and accommodating hosts were Ruth and Stephan and we based ourselves in a paddock next to the water hole and the hill where we have been very slowly cutting down trees over the winter.

In the end we took one small tent with us as well as the tarps, because we had a small reliable tent and it seemed silly to buy tarps when we could take one tent. Eric and Stuart elected to take the first night iunder the tarp, while paddy and I got the tent. Paddy and I had also thought to bring sleeping bags (plus a Karrimat for my old bones!). Eric and Stuart scoffed at the need for such trappings of civilisation with Eric taking very little in the way of clothes and Stuart taking a thin fleece blanket.

Day one was spent setting up camp, getting a fire going, having a swim (Paddy only) and trying to shoot the elusive rabbits. Zero result, so we had rice and lentils for tea, all cooked in the same pot. Filling, but bland. That night we went out to try and get a possum. Eric tripped over a tree root and bruised his arm and leg quite badly, so the hunting was postponed. We went back and turned in.

3 hours later I awoke in my snug sleeping bag to the sounds of boys trying to stoke the fire up. Eric and Stuart were frozen! What a surprise. I got up and helped them get the fire going well. Stuart and I decided to head off for another hunt, leaving Eric to keep the fire going. We walked a fair way aroung the farm lanes. Possum hunting involves shining a bright torch at large paddock trees. The possum's eyes reflect the light and they generally freeze when they are lit up making an easy target. We were having no joy and I was resigning myself to a meatless breakfast when we heard male possums screaming at each other. We carried on in the direction and found one out in the open in the grass. It was an easy shot.

Back at camp, I left the boys to it and went back to my tent. In the morning I awoke to a pot of possum stew. Stuart had spent the night skinning, gutting and then cooking the beast. It tasted OK. Gamey, a bit stronger than chicken, not far off rabbit.

We spent the morning pottering around camp. Making brews, visiting the house, putting on a bread mix so that we could make camp-bread.

In the afternoon, Stephan took us on one of his trap runs. The animal shown in the trap is a weasel. These are introduced predators that have a devastating effect on native birds including kiwis. He was using potassium cyanide as a poison bait in specially constructed hoppers.

After another tea of .... rice and lentils again with fried bread dough - we called them chapattis, I had another go at the rabbits. There are small numbers of rabbits about the farm and I was very keen to shoot one to eat. They are several orders more difficult to shoot than possums as they are very shy and tak off at the first sign of danger. I had one decent shot during our visit - and missed. Still, it was nice to get away from the incessant chatter of camp and sit hidden in the undergrowth, waiting. Rabbits took ages to appear, but in the meantime alsorts of other wildlife would appear - quail, tomtit, grey warbler etc.

Later on we went to the river to try and catch an eel. Eric pulled a good sized one out. Ruth and Stephan feed them when people come to visit, so it was a bit like taking a pet. Eel is very tasty and we did eat it all....

Paddy and I were under the tarp on night 2. Eric and Stuart slept abit better in the tent. I liked having the openess to the fire and the stars. It was a lot colder than the tent.

On Day 3 we had smoked eel for breakfast. Split down the middle and rubbed with salt and brown sugar. Very tasty. We slowly took the tent down and cleared the area and made our way back to civilisation. Showers were nice, boiling a kettle was convenient, Eric slept like a very tired person for a couple of days until he had caught up on his 2 nights lost sleep. But .... I felt like I had left a part of me back in the woods. The part that dreams of living a simpler life, that read Walden, that finds much of the distraction of modern living to be ultimately unsatisfactory. I resolved to go back and have a longer camp in the summer. We could go for 5 days, do some tree felling, get really dirty, run out of food and go completely feral. At the moment, the boys are not that enthusiastic!