Old farts blue gum whiskey bash

With Ian turning 40, Heidi requested I help lure him out of the house for a "males howling in the wilderness" type of experience, just like times of old. So it was that the two Daves, Ian and Neil ended up walking into Acacia flat next to the mighty blue gum forest for a night of blokey excess. Actually, it was the two Daves who got there first. We were one of just two parties in the forest that night, and Dave and I set up camp at the blue-gum end of the flat so that Neil and Ian, who would be walking in through the dark, would have no trouble locating us amongst the scrubby wattles, growing back vigorously after the fires that ravaged the forest a few years back. We needn't have worried. Before taking the big plunge down from the lookout at Perry's, Neil proclaimed to Ian with lofty outstretched arms, "there is mars, and there is Dave", presumably followed by considerable laughter. Apparently our camp fire was one of several bright objects in the darkness that eve, and could be clearly identified from the top of the valley wall some 400m above.

When they stumbled into camp, the clock really could have been turned back 20 years - same voices, laughter, bad fashion (tracky dacks, flannos), vintage rucksacks etc. Only thing to change is that we were all at or around 40 now - sporting in some cases either less hair, some grey hair, or a combination of both. Anyway, it was a great night involving curry (thanks Heidi) beer, wine and whiskey. The next day we slept in, breakfasted on pancakes (nice one Dave), slowly packed up and set off back up the track at about noon. Once back at Blackheath we sampled more pies and chocolate before the drive back to Sydney. It was great to catch up with everyone in the context of that great place. Looking forward to doing it again, hopefully many more times before we add another 20 years to the ledger.