Yengo National Park camp last weekend in April 2010

Annie and I decided to meet at Yengo. I'd drive from Newie and she'd go up from Sydney on her motorbike.

I arrived to a wet camp at 12 pm on Saturday. Set up the tent while Josh was happy getting wet and dirty in the grass. Fortunately it was a bit uncomfortable for him to crawl in the grass and he didn't move at a great speed and could be kept under control.

I was so relieved that he stayed happy the whole time. He absolutely loved the whole experience. The wet grass, the old fire pits, the wood pile, the trees, the rocks the works pretty much. He even found the tent exciting.

Annie came after a while and we decided to go for a walk and have a look at the Old Great North road that lead from Hunter Valley to Sydney back in the 1830s. Apperently 700 odd convicts built it by "hand", well pickaxes and the like and when they were finished it was only used for a few years as bushrangers were prevalent in the area (think Ned Kelley). As no one really wanted to be out in the middle of the bush and get robbed of all earthly possesions the road soon became unsued and instead people travelled to Newcastle by sea. We went to the circuit flat bridge which is one of the few remaining bridges that are in good shape. It was a nice walk, lots and lots of nasty flies but beautiful, lush bush.
The weather also cleared and it turned into a beautiful afternoon.

The next day we decided to go for a walk on the old convict road and when we came back the camp was empty. The three other campers had left so we were alone with the wildlife. There were about three goannas hanging around eating whatever foodscraps they could find. They hung around our camp and as we know they pay little attention to anyone trying to scare them away we let them have their way.

Here's one by our camp fire.

This is me and Josh having our lunch. Josh is pointing at the goanna and I look like a happy camper. Too bad we don't have a few more pictures of what happened next...

Suddenly the goanna charges at Josh and I, with sandwich in one hand, grab him by the back of his shirt and very roughly yank him out of the way of the goanna. This is true! Annie saw the whole thing. Josh was crying and Annie thought the goanna had gotten him as it was that close. Phew, I think he was a bit shocked and maybe his neck hurt a bit but at least those nasty teeth and claws didn't get to him. I have NEVER seen anything like it and will never look at goannas the same way again. Their teeth are very dirty as they like to eat rotting meat, among other things like juicy babies..

This is a close-up of one of the ones from the camp and it shows those big claws.

Later on, we're sitting around and one of the goannas sniff Josh's toy train, grabs it and runs off with it. Look closely at the photo and you can see the yellow Duncan train in its mouth. Haha, I think they liked the smell of Josh.

Josh and I stayed on for another night and were joined by John who had just arrived back from Germany. Annie left for Sydney. It was a lovely star-lit night and luckily the lizards left with the sunlight and Josh could play like he wanted.

Beautiful site, one that I'd like to go back to and I definately want to discover more of the national park.