5-star camping

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008, 12:01 AM by Lonely Planet

On the weekend I went camping in central Australia, about 3 hours out of Alice Springs.

Red road sunk in banks of sand and edged by avenues of red trees. Willi-willis (dust devils) whirling away to nothing in the blue skies. Wedge-tail eagles and kites high in the air.

We stopped three times: once to give some matches to some women from Yuendumu who were hunting goanna (huge lizards) in the scrub; once to haul a dead tree onto the top of the jeep for firewood; once to pull out another jeep bogged in sand. The two men had been practising for the Finke Desert Race and one had crashed his motorbike. They'd come out to examine the tire marks and analyse what went wrong.

So what did go wrong?

'I think I was goin' 50k too fast.'

The folk I was with were all hardened campers. They lent me a swag (best thing ever - like a sleeping bag with a bed in it) and majicked up a campfire dinner that began with baked ricotta and ended with poached pears.

The sky teemed with stars.

I'm a convert. Heading straight out to get my own swag - and learn how to poach pears.

Anyone got any great camping tips?

-Cherry Washington

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