Carcoar Dam...Arachnophobia!

48hrs passed and we had to leave Yass, next stop Carcoar Dam. This place had been highly recommended, free camp by the dam, amenities and lots of space for the dogs, which is why it was very busy.

This camp was beautiful to see, in a valley, by the water but specially great for people who did water skiing, tubing or canoeing and we did none, also we had read comments not to swim in the dam because it had some kind of mites that gave you blisters, anyway, after struggling to find a space we got one not to far from the shower block.

By the time we set up the van an had some dinner it was time for showers, the boys and Carlos went first and to my surprise came back very quickly, I knew something was wrong. They came back In horror, josh told me about the showers and sinks and toilets all stained with yellow marks, raf told me about a creepy, cockroach disgusting flying thing and Noah told me about how the showers had no curtains and a man came in to use the toilet while they were having a shower and how embarrassed he was …no privacy!

So when it was my turn I thought I was mentally prepared, I went in and it was like a scene from a horror movie, saw the yellow stains from the water (I was told the water came from the dam) at least my shower had a curtain, very old stained one, never mind I thought, it had been very hot so I was looking forward to a shower, I ran the water and put my face under it and that’s when I noticed something very wrong, the water smelled like metal and it tasted like it too, blood like, metallic, it was disgusting. I put so much soap to try and get rid of the smell, didn’t work, I left the shower feeling worse than when I came in. As I lay in bed I waited to see whether my body was going to start glowing from the metal water…. a few moments later, my dog Lola starts scratching, she needs to go out, I get out, she pulls me so much I don’t really get time to put on my crocs or grab a torch, I walk through the grass, its pitch black and thoughts start running through my head, am I going to step on a snake? then I heard something in the bush, is something going to jump out? and then I looked up and saw it, the most amazing night sky… all the previous thoughts disappear, and I just stand there, one person, in the middle of nowhere, under millions of stars.

The following day, we took it easy, some homeschooling followed by monopoly, here we go again. Same as always, Noah becomes obsessed about winning (and usually does), Carlos and Josh gang up together to try and beat him, I try to get myself bankrupt so I can escape the game, and Raffy, the wise, deals with the bank, this took a couple of hours, in the back of my head, I am already thinking about the showers….

Word got around that I was an Osteo and a lady came over to see me as she had hurt her knee. I had a look, treated, strapped it and earned my first few dollars at a camp site! Very exciting.

Shower time came and we all agreed to have showers outside the van, anything better than the shower block however, late that night I needed to go to the toilet and Carlos came with me to keep me company with the torch. As I went inside I just managed to catch something in the corner of my eye, I quickly turned and it was a jumping spider, bigger than a 50 ct coin and it was now in front of the door, jumping from side to side, I knew then, I had become a hostage, the spider could sense fear and I was afraid. I called out for Carlos who was waiting for me outside, he opened the door and forget about the commonwealth games, I did a leap of faith, jumped over the spider and got across to the door. Talk about near death experiences, adrenalin was running through my body.

Needless to say, I don’t think we will be back there. So long, Carcoar Dam, see you never.