Nicking off to Nicholson – Day 5 – How do you like yours? Rare or Charred?

Day 5 Monday 13/2/2023 Nicholson, overcast low 20’s

After a quiet night and a good sleep, we’re up at first light to quietly move Priscilla to the new site. It only takes a short while to be settled into our new grassy and sheltered spot. And we have bleating sheep in the paddock opposite.

Later in the morning after showers and breakfast, we take a drive into Bairnsdale to pick up a few things. Our aerial winder has broken, and we get a replacement from the Jayco outlet. I reckon we’ve almost completely rebuilt this van by now. While there we nip across the river to the Wy Yung Pub as it may be worthwhile for a long lunch later in the week.

Back at camp, it’s warm enough to lunch outside and snooze. Because Woody reckons I sketch far too many toilets, I sketch the camp kitchen instead, but it’s nowhere near as inspiring.

Before happy hour, we cook up a rough ‘spag bol’ for dinner later. We circle the camp chairs under the shade of the gums and chortle as much as the friendly magpies. The rabbit is back and we’re all intrigued by the nightly hooting of an owl somewhere in the distance. This muster is turning into a circus rehearsal. This morning S fell off her bike, and she wasn’t even riding it. B fell off her chair, before the drinks at happy hour. And our resident mushroom expert the ‘fun guy’ limped in having pulled a muscle in his good leg.

Brace on the left leg, an ice pack on the right he won’t be hunting fungi for a while

JT lights a fire and we sit around chatting, eating dinner on our knees, comparing reds, and toasting marshmallows. It seems that some folks like them rare, barely warm and soft, while others like them charred and oozing.