Campfires and Kids

We spent Wednesday night in a free camp area near Colleranabri. It was a lovely large area, beautifully maintained by the Council, rather surprising as the town itself looks sad and neglected. As usual, i did a walk around my end of the camp ground and introduced myself. Cory got as far as the first group. They had a fire going and he spent the next hour poking the fire and tossing on twigs. He said later that it was the best experience of his life. Simple pleasures!

His parents may regret letting Cory travel with me. His sleeping patterns are already changing. Instead of 8.30 pm bedtime and 6 am or earlier rising, he is reading fairly late as my light is on late. He has slept in as late as 8.30 some mornings. The van has blinds, the camping areas are usually quiet and the night is very dark.

The night sky is beautiful. The Milky Way is well named with the smudge of white supporting hundreds or thousands of stars. Last night we were looking at the Southern Cross when a satellite passed between the stars. We followed its path until it disappeared about ten minutes later. This was totally serendipitous that it occurred in the few minutes that we were star gazing.

Because there are no school holidays at the moment, Cory is pretty much the only kid around. He gets remembered. In Lightning Ridge we visited the Info Centre at the beginning of our stay. A lovely bubbly lady named Di gave Cory a lot of brochures and maps and suggestions of what he really should see and do. The following afternoon when we arrived at the Opal Centre to look at opalised dinosaur teeth and opalised shells etc, she greeted him like her own grandson and took him on a personalised tour of things geared to his age.

This trip with Cory is a joy. I am amazed at how much he has added to my enjoyment. He comments on everything. Cows, horses, sheep and goats are as interesting as kangaroos and emus. He is also very quick to talk to people. Tonight (we are now at Eulo) he said, ‘We should go and speak to our neighbours in the caravans.’  It is lovely to see his confidence.

He has been like a little geologist. He happily sits in the dirt and digs, overturns rocks and scrapes away at surfaces.  He spent ages trying to get sparks by striking rocks together. Unfortunately they were more clay than rock and he had no success. With his floppy hat and fly netting cover, he looks like a real country kid.