I had been working out in Doomadgee in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the big adventure from there was to go to Lawn Hill National Park. It was all about water, trees, kayaking and the odd wine or two.

I never got to go there, but had bought a small 2 man tent in anticipation; four other healthy bodies went, used the tent and apparently had to all turn over at the same time, so I was a tad glad I had missed out. The tent is now the proud property of our skeletal seven year old grandson who has taken to sleeping on the lawn at home.

A year later armed with a 4 man tent, brochures and maps we drove across Australia to Lawn Hill on long stretches of endless straight roads with the odd kangaroo bounding across our path. On arrival we chose to camp at an idyllic spot adjacent to Lawn Hill, Adel’s Grove camp set in lush exotic trees around a picturesque lily pond, the odd fresh water crocodile basking on the warm rocks and lots of loud colourful birdlife.

We set up camp, cooked a delicious camp meal, chatted to our neighbours and hunkered down for the night. At 1am a loud cracking and tearing noise woke us, a tree branch came crashing down bursting through our tent and came to rest over our four femurs!!! Whoa - no air as the tent had crashed down around our faces.

Anyhow the warrior came to the rescue and managed to slither out enough to lift the branch off my sturdy legs. What luck, no fractures, we could still breathe and the stars were twinkling above. The neighbours by this time had rallied around offering condolences and help, not much could be done at this hour of night so after buckets of laced coffee, swapping camping stories and making new best friends, we settled down under the stars and slept the rest of the night away in the propped up ‘sunroof’ tent.

Lesson learned – if you must camp under trees check out that the branches are in a healthy state!

Comments are welcome