Camping at Woodhouse (22-24 May)

With the Covid-19 restrictions on camping finally lifted, we decided to head off camping with some friends to Woodhouse.

Woodhouse is a scout-run camp and adventure park located near Mount Lofty.  The weather wasn't the best, with rain predicted for most of the weekend and temperatures around 8 degrees C, but a fire and good company made up for that.

We headed off after work on Friday and arrived around 5:30pm.  It was just starting to get dark, but we managed to get our camper (The Adeline) set up and then we relaxed around the campfire for a dinner of Tacos.

Our friends had picked a campsite that was pretty far back and with the weather it was only us.  We had a 'base camp' consisting on a toilet block and a large shed that provided cover and somewhere to cook.  We both had camp kitchens, but the BBQs in the base camp were bigger.  We also had a nice fire pit.

The Map - We were at Brownsea Base Camp in the South East

Our campsite

Basecamp and the firepit

Alana up a tree

Basecamp

Cameron going for a hike

Our Fire

Relaxing in the Adeline

Kids in the Adeline

Kristine the Fire Boss

The campers

Brownsea Base camp - from the campers

We had a slow start to the second day (well mostly due to a late night around the fire the night before) and a breakfast of bacon and egg croissants, before heading out the activities.

The kids were super keen to try to tube slide, but it was closed due to the weather - so we instead went to Challenge Hill.  Before tackling the hill we checked out the play area and Labyrinth:

Tunnels in the Play Area

Play Fort

Facts about the Labyrinth

Top tier of the labyrinth - it had two levels connected by slides and stairs

The Labyrinth tiers connected by the slide

Heading down to the lower part

The Dead-Ends all had riddles.  We made a goal to find all 17 of them

 After the labyrinth we headed to Challenge Hill.  The Hill is a teamwork activity consisting of thirty challenges.  The boys all raced off ahead, so I didnt get too many pictures of them until the end.

The Start

The first challenge was the Swing & Climb - Swing on a rope and then climb a vertical cargo net

Kristine clears the cargo net

Challenge 2 was the Log Wall - climbing over a wall of logs

Cameron climbs the Log Wall

Challenge 3 - Tower Climb -. Climbing up a ladder, crossing a platform and climbing down

Cam about to climb

Tomas climbing

Alana at the top

Challenge 4 was Lava Crossing - Stepping across rope platforms to the other side

Cam takes a dive into the lava

Up the hill was the Challenge 5 - Monkey Bars

Going Up

Kris cheated on this one

Challenge 6 Elephant Graveyard - Crawling through pipes resembling elephant bones

Alana starts

A tight fit

Challenge 7 Boulder-Dash - Wall climbing around a building

 

 

Challenge 8 was a ladder - Simple climb up and over

Challenge 9 Tyre Climb - Climb up and over a tyre ramp

 

 

Challenge 10 Plank Walk - Walking over plank bridges

Challenge 11 Commando Climb - A wall climb

 

Onward and Upwards

Challenge 13 Teepee Tree -Climb up and down using a rope

 

Challenge 13 Mousetraps was closed - in this you crawl through a series of tunnels in a buidling

This tower obstacle was also closed - not sure exactly what it used to be

Challenge 14 Pipe Crawl - As the name says - Crawling through concrete pipes

Challenge 15 Sydney Harbour Bridge - Cross a rope bridge

 

Challenge 16 Swinging Buoys - Swinging through tyres

 

Challenge 17 Piranha Swamp - Step on stumps to keep off the ground

 

Challenge 18 Cargo Net - Climb up the net, walk across it and fireman pole down

 

Challenge 19 Log Balance - Cross log bridge using a rope

 

Challenge 20 The Big Slide was closed

 

We were starting to near the end, 2/3rds of the way through, but now we caught up with the boys and the water challenges.  The sane adults decided to give these a miss as it was about 10 degrees C, but of course trying to keep kids out of water is almost impossible.

Challenge 21 Rope Swing Crossing - Use the ropes to cross the creek

Challenge 22 Wade & Climb - Wade through the creek and climb the wall

Tom climbs the wall

They got a little wet...

Challenge 23 Chain Bridge - Crossing a chain bridge between trees

 

Challenge 24 was a Flying Fox

 

Challenge 25 Log Walk - Walk up the hill along a log

 

Challenge 26 Chain Walk - A Chain bridge between trees

 

Challenge 27 Vertical Net - Climb over a cargo net

Challenge 28  Viewing Deck - Climb the ladder, walk over platform, fireman pole and rope

Cam slips over

Viewing Platform

Challenge 29 Lower Deck - Another platform, climb the rope, slide down the fireman pole

Tom looks worried

 

Challenge 30 Commando Crawl - the final challenge was a crawl through tyres and under a net

 

Victory!

After finishing at Challenge Hill, we (well the kids mostly) needed showers, so we headed back to camp and cleaned up.  We had a roast dinner around the fire.  It started to rain about 10:30pm so we called it an early night.

On Sunday we had another slow start - we had no rush to pack up and leave as we had access to the park all day.  We had breakfast and started to pack down our camp.  Around 11am we went for a walk to see if the tube slide was open.  It was:

After sliding for an hour or so, we decided to try the last activity that remained - disc golf.  Like a game of golf only throwing a frisbee instead of hitting a ball.  The kids were sure they wouldn't like it but we all had a ball (well a disc...) and it was a great activity to finish the trip:

The map

 

The end scores were pretty close (of course I won, or else I wouldn't be putting the scores up...):

There were 9 holes each with a par 3, so the par was 27.

Keir - Red Frisbee:  3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 = 35
Elise - Purple:          4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 = 36
Daniel - Pink:          4, 4, 5, 6, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4 = 36
Kris - White:           4, 7, 8, 6, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5 = 48
Sally - Yellow:        4, 5, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5 ,6, 6 = 49
Alana - Cyan:          4, 6, 9, 7, 5, 4, 10, 4, 4 = 53

Tomas - Blue:         5, 6, 9, 7, 6, 5, 6, 5, 6 = 55
Cameron - Orange: 7, 5, 6, 9, 5, 5, 7, 5, 6 = 55
Logan - White:        6, 7, 7, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 10 = 55

Despite the weather, it was a fun trip with good company.  Fun to get out and about again and get the Adeline back into action.