4 Stray Katz: Saddlers Spring and the 'campsite confrontation'!

(These blogs are from 5 weeks ago when we went back in the Gibb, there should be lots coming in the next few days now we have Internet)

Upon leaving Derby we both decided we needed a few chill days & remembered a campsite near a river we had seen on the way out. Thankfully when we arrived at Saddlers Spring we had the pick of the campsites and got the one right next to the river, complete with a swimming hole. To one side was a huge rock face which changed colours with sunrise and sunset, which were both spectacular from this site. We were close to the road so Daniel took the kids down to bike ride through the river crossing, which they loved. The kids could ride their bikes and there were lots of tracks to walk/ride down (though I didn't do much walking as my foot was still recovering from the muscle I pulled wheeling a ridiculously heavy trolley (a ridiculously embarrassing injury too!)). Daniel took Emilia on a hike up the rocky cliff face on the other side of the road, she loved her adventure with Dad and took heaps of photos.

We had a few other campers on the second night though the campsites were very well spaced so we still had a lot of privacy. On the third night however it looked as if we would have the place to ourselves as it had just gotten dark and no one was around. Then, just as Daniel was cooking our sausages for dinner, a car pulled in and drove right into our campsite. They started to reverse and move and I figured they had just accidentally come in. Then they manoeuvred their car around and parked adjacent to our van, only a few metres away. Then another car pulled in with them. The camp area was very large with at least 6 other cleared areas and they had stopped right on top of us (this would be the equivalent of someone entering an empty train carriage and coming to sit right next to you- rude and uncomfortable). Daniel to the rescue! He went and asked them if they needed any help and they said no we are just camping here. Daniel proceeded to tell them they were not and they needed to move to one of the other sites. They said they knew it was a free campsite so they could camp if they wanted. Daniel told them they needed to learn some camping etiquette and they needed to move. They did, thankfully, but we learnt our lesson and will now ensure the van is parked in such a way that no cheeky campers can try to camp on top of us. Whilst sitting around the fire that night, Emilia looked over at the other campers and said 'Maybe those people wanted to stay inside our caravan and that's why they came so close'. That is certainly what it felt like.

Anyway we really enjoyed this place and ended up staying 4 nights. The weather was lovely during the day but got freezing at night. I slept the first night with leggings, 4 layers and a beanie! The second night I remembered we had a hot water bottle, which became my most loved possession of the next few nights.