Waruma Dam

Sunday 18^th August.

We arrived at Wuruma Dam around 4pm on Friday and were surprised to find the camp area quite hilly and not much flat ground. After driving through a couple of the camp areas we came back to the 2^nd one and found a spot. Mark had to dig a bit of dirt away from the far side wheels so the van could sit evenly.  Even when the van is only a little bit uneven, you kind of feel like you’ve had one too many drinks! Not a nice feeling at all!

Check out all this info....Wow!

The whole camping area was totally flooded in the Jan floods. The Gazebos were completely underwater!

 

There are a lovely group of people here, about 8 vans or so, and as I sit here and type, more are pulling in. One bloke, Keith, is quite knowledgeable about things, and he came over and showed us a product called Alum. I had not long been reading about this. It takes all the muck, tannins and silt and rubbish out of the water so you can use it for washing either yourself or dishes. He put a little pinch into a bucket of water Mark had got from the dam, in which you couldn’t see any muck, just looked a little yellow/brown and within minutes the rubbish was separating. Unbelievable! Alum is used in pools and spas and is perfectly safe. 

Keith also catches Red Claw which is a type of Yabbie. He explained he uses dry dog food, packed into little bags he makes from Gutter Guard and puts this into Opera House crab pots. Mark went out with him this morning  in his little boat, to check the pots and they collected about 6 of them. He puts salt into the bucket so they purge for a couple of hours and to make them tastier. He came back over with them to show us how to peel them. He takes a pair of pliers and pulls back the middle fin to remove the innards completely and leaving them clean, this way you end up with a lot more meat than by pulling off their heads. He then cooks them in egg and breadcrumbs or a beer batter and says they are delicious! We love meeting fascinating meeting people like this who are so happy to pass own their knowledge to others!

Mark and Keith going off to check the Pots for Red Claw

Aaaaaagggghhhhh....Help...Someone...I'm not too sure about these things...

Nah, I'm not really scared...But just hurry up and take the damn photo!

See...This is how you hold em!!!

Here Lil, you have a go.  Ummmm, Lil? Has anyone see my wife? 

Keith showing us how to de-vein them.

Us girls havin a snoozy

Mark cooked delicious Roast Pork in the camp oven while I typed up stuff for the blog.

 

We had our first official ‘Happy Hour’ last night with everyone else here. It’s really interesting to meet people on the road. Some have been travelling for years, are on their second or third lap of Oz or just take off for months at a time.  We’ve met so many people who started off just like us, and are still out there years later!  They all have so much information to share, whether it is where to stay, where and what to visit, places NOT to go to, funny stories, and just general talk. We love it. Mark will talk to anyone and often disappears for ages only to come back and say ‘This bloke told me… said this or that….”. The best info is word of mouth and to just ask!

We will pack up tomorrow and head for Gin Gin. There are some nice free Rest Stops we’ve been told about, so we’ll check them out.