While some of the joys of the Big Lap – like the stunning scenery, the fascinating history, and the ever-varied wildlife – are appreciated by virtually all grey nomads, other things are a little more personal.
For some travellers, it’s Happy Hour socialising, for others it’s the fishing, and for others still it’s the bushwalks.
For Lisa and Mark McCarthy though, it’s a crackling campfire that elevates their Outback adventures to the next level.
“Picture this: It is a beautiful, clear night sky, the temperature is around 10C and the night is still,” said Lisa. “It is so lovely to just lie back in your chair, gaze at the stars and feel the warmth emanating from a lovely, small fire; the marshmallows you have just toasted in the fire are delicious; your friends are with you … what bliss, what more can you want!?”
Mark happily cooking on a campfire in Kanangra Boyd National Park, NSW
As passionate bushwalkers, the couple has a long history of cooking on, socialising around, and being warmed by, a campfire … although they hasten to add they enjoy a small cooking fire, rather than an enormous bonfire.
Since retiring 12 years ago and travelling remote roads like the Anne Beadell Highway, Gibb River Road, all the tracks of the Simpson Desert, and the Plenty Highway, Lisa and Mark’s appreciation of campfires has only increased.
“On our own or sitting with others, it is meditative just staring into the glowing, red hot coals and discussing and ‘solving’ all the world’s problems,” said Lisa. “It is so relaxing.”
The pair travel very light, using a simple slide-on camper on the back of their two-door Toyota ute. The camper has a bed, two chest freezers run off solar cells, lots of storage, with 80 litres of water, and a small gas stove which they use on the rare occasions they don’t cook on a fire.
“When we sit around the fire in the evenings, our old black billies and fry pans come out as we prepare our evening meals and hot water for brews,” said Lisa. “By morning, the fire is fully extinguished, or soon will be; coals are cold and it’s time to remove evidence of the fire so the next people will feel they are the first there … we scatter the fine coal dust under bushes, cover over depressions in the ground and cover with dirt, there is no trace of the fire left.”
However, Lisa and Mark do worry that the fact not everyone is as responsible as they are will mean more and more areas will ban fires.
For now though, the pair could not be happier exploring the magical Outback for months at a time, finding genuinely remote camps … and enjoying magnificent campfires at the end of the day.
WIN A JOOLCA GOTTAGO TOILET
Grey Nomad Members are being given the opportunity to win a Joolca GottaGo Toilet, which normally sells for $349. This ingenious loo actually separates solids from liquids so it doesn’t fill up the solids tank with urine, and thus needs emptying less often.
It’s also the only camping toilet for number 1s, 2s … and 3s! Although it’s one toilet, it has three setups … chemical, bag, and composting.
Click here to find out more about GN membership, the prize, and how to enter.
Members: If you wish to enter, please click here.
Bushwalking is the ”extra” thing that we enjoy the most.
We have an occasional small campfire but we’re not pyromaniacs. LOL.