Australia Day at The Pines - Very Late Post

Alex
Jun 8, 2018
5 min read

Wednesday 24th Jan - Monday 29th Jan

The Pines Campground

Big River - Lake Eildon VIC

About The Pines

Distance from Melbourne - 3hr drive

Facilities - Drop Toilets, very clean!

Accessibility - I managed easily in an i30 towing a Jet-ski

There are various campgrounds and sections along this track, plenty of space to spread out.

As it is summer, boats and jet-skis are everywhere, kayaks and canoes as well as a few fishermen.

There is minimal phone reception, I am with Vodafone, my friends are with Telstra and still minimal coverage.

No bins provided so PLEASE. TAKE YOUR RUBBISH WITH YOU. Do not ruin the sites for everyone else!

The road into the pines is quite long, depending how far in you want to camp obviously. Dirt track so be ready to have a very dusty car.

It was an incredibly hot weekend, on Thursday myself, my dad and my cousin headed up to try and claim a camp spot. A lot of spots were taken by the time we got there, but we still got a good position.

We stared to unpack and the weather turned on us, I have never experienced wind like it!

we had launched the Jetski already, but hadn't tied it to anything (as we didn't expect the weather to change) I had my Gazebo up and my camp chair out, the rain started so I hid under my Gazebo. My dad and cousin were over the hill and I couldn't see them, but they had their Gazebo up as well. The rain got heavier and the wind picked up. My gazebo went flying, well, nearly... it flew into me, I was stuck holding it down to be sure it didnt 1. take my head off or 2. hit my car. if it flew into the lake I wouldnt have minded. The frame warped, I managed to get the shade top off, which was acting as a kite. A lady from a campsite next to us ran over in the rain and offered to help me, she helped lift the frame of the gazebo off me and we realised the jetski had disappeared into the trees in the lake. We collapsed the gazebo frame (let it flop to the floor) and I put the shade cover in my boot. I swam out to get the jetski and within this time (maybe 5 mins...) dad and my cousin came over the hill. Apparently my cousin had grabbed the gazebo when it lifted up just in time to stop it from hitting dads car. The wind was so strong it was picking up little rocks and had made my cousins legs bleed, so he sat in the car as dad unfolded the gazebo, his however was not broken. The rain stopped as quick as it had started and we started to search for our belongings which had been blown everywhere, including a kneeboard which made it over the hill from dads camp to mine, and dads chair which had gone through my camp and into the trees near the jetski... We lost an eksy lid in the mix, which we didn't find. We also noticed someones swag had been blown into the lake, so we rescued it just as the owner came back.

After that rough beginning, everything settled and we started to unpack properly and set up our sites.

The rest of the weekend was relatively normal, 40deg+ heat which made life a bit uncomfortable, but I moved my gazebo (which was managing to stand up at the correct angle) into the water for shade, and we moved our camp chairs into the water or used the inflatables I bought along.

All up across the two sites we had maybe 20 people.

My friend Anna bought her kayak and we all had a paddle around, I had a few skis and took the Jetski for a drive (flipping it and losing mine and dads licence in the process; but we don't speak of that...). I also did a bit of practice driving manual for the first time in 12 months.

Unfortunately, even after swapping out my air mattress from the trip the weekend before (Unify) I managed to get another air mattress from the shed which had a hole in it... that's right, two air mattresses, two trips, two weekends in a row spent sleeping on the ground!

Luckily, dad had just purchased his swag and hadn't even opened it before the weekend. He took his air mattress (without a hole) and didn't bother to open the foam one which comes with the swag, so I claimed that for the weekend. Not the best, but better than sleeping on the ground!

It was a gorgeous weekend away, although I was very ready to get home and have a good nights sleep and a shower by the end of it, hence how my car was packed up to leave!

Tuesday - The aftermath

I will admit, it did take me a few days to completely empty my car and clean it out, the heat and the minimal sleep really knocked me about, but that's what summer camping trips are all about!

I definitely recommend the pines to those looking for a bush camping spot near water, just keep in mind that it does get quite busy and you may not be able to get as secluded as you would like.

Packing tips

I have a small car (2010 i30) and manage quite well packing a lot in. I would not have been able to take more than 2 people on this trip however as I took the gazebo's and to fit those I need to fold down my back seats.

This is the final image of my car all packed for the long weekend.

2 Gazebos, both mine and dads, swag - unrolled because I'm lazy, esky, camp chair, fishing rod and tackle box, jockey wheel for the jetski trailer, about 8 inflatables.

I am always pleasantly surprised at what fits in my car, and have many comments on what I actually manage to get in and still be comfortable. Both front seats were empty and not pushed forward at all (although being short I bring my chair forward to drive).