The simple pleasures in life
Host: Lochon Contracting
Written by Tini – Owner, Lochon Contracting.
When you live out bush you learn to recognise and appreciate the most simple and common amenities that you take for granted when you live in town. A hot shower, a cold drink, a room with four walls around it, and a door to shut etc, suddenly become luxuries, that you long for occasionally. On the other hand, it becomes clear, that they really are just that – luxuries. In our bush camp, we have lifted our standards so much over the years, that we even consider some aspects of it as “luxurious”: the washing mashine, power on demand (you gotta love the little suitcase generators), and comfortable camping chairs in the shade under a massive tarp.
But in the end what is most precious is the simplest things of life, sitting around a campfire at night, mesmerised by the flames and the sound of the cracking wood, with a stew cooking in the camp oven; a good night’s sleep in a cozy swag, with the stars shining above you, and the sound of nature waking you in the morning; a good coffee and toast cooked on the coals as the day is dawning.
Morning glory.
You can bring all the luxuries you want into the camp, but what is most enjoyable is the things you can’t pay for with your credit card.
It is always quite amusing to watch the transformation of people that come to work for us for the first time. Some might have been keen campers for years, some have never even pitched a tent in their life. What most of them have in common is that they are virgins to a full time bush camp lifestyle. It takes a few days, sometimes a week or two for them to rid themselves of certain expectations and surrender to the pleasures of a basic lifestyle.
A hot shower at night does not have to involve a tap, a shower, and unlimited water supplies. Try a bucket, a dipper and a few litres of cold water with some boiling water from the fire. A dinner does not have to be a fancy fish dish one night, an Asian stir fry the next, and a chicken parmigiana the night after. How does oxtail and kidney stew with rice cooked on the fire sound? Have you tasted homemade, fresh salt beef and damper or a barbeque t-bone steak, rib bones on the coals (all fresh and unprocessed beef from the free range cattle around you)?
Fresh beef and crackling camp fire.
And who needs a lap pool or spa, when you can jump in a cattle trough on a hot and dusty day of drafting (before cattle have been slobbering all over it, of course)!
Spa Session.
There is no doubt that life in the bush can be as good or as bad as you make it. We are always trying to make the best out of it and truly enjoy what it has to offer. And when it is time to go into town for a break, we indulge on the easy luxuries of an urban life, knowing that the bush is not very far away!
So, to all of you, enjoy life, wherever you are!
Thanks for reading,
Tini and Locky from Lochon Contracting