Day One - Palm Beach

Thursday 7th January

"I was driving on the wrong side for the first time ever over the Sydney harbor bridge and north to

the coast. No destination planned. No idea where we would sleep!"

Reflections of one Christophe Zimmerman

Our departure from Sydney was an exciting one and saw us both in high spirits. We just couldn’t believe we’d scored a tent so soon and for only $30. Not only this but an air-matress and a load of other camping gear! We didn’t have a clue what the quality would be like but this was part of the adventure: maybe it’d have a gaping hole in the top and we’d be sleeping under the stars literally on our first night while struggling with a flat mattress! Nor did we have a clue where we’d be pitching our tent tonight; we certainly didn’t want to be paying extortionate campsite fees (the one we asked at cost $45 just to pitch a tent in the suburbs!)

Leaving the city at 4pm, we didn’t have much time to find a place. However, luck was with us again today as Chris’ memory was jogged: Palm Beach was supposed to be a favourite of Sydney-siders, he said. We plugged it into the Sat Nav - yes, against my out-in-the-wilderness wishes, Chris had insisted and cheekily paid the extra for a Sat Nav while I was hunting and gathering for the tent - and arrived within a few hours.

What a great spot. You’re not supposed to camp here really as it’s just a carpark for the beach but we didn’t see a No Camping sign so we went for it; we’re not in Singapore anymore! There are even toilets, a tap and outdoor showers! It seemed to invite us to stay for the night.

As Chris pitched the tent, I busied myself cooking on our brand new (second hand) stove.. Oh how I love camping! It feels great to be out in the wilderness and when you have all the gear it’s just great. The only things we’re missing are a lantern and a table. We stopped off at the supermarket on our way here and picked up two chairs and some groceries. On the menu tonight: Dynamite Stag Chilli and Rice. Yum. Our little bottles of wine that we’d saved from our British Airways flight came in very handy tonight, I must say!

We met two Northern Irish guys who had the same idea as us and went round to their bright orange ‘Spaceship’ van for a cup of tea as dusk fell and it started raining.