ALONE - MEETS BEAR GRYLLS - MEETS JONNYG

Post 26 - July 27th 2023

Living off grid is not for everyone. Ruth and I have decided to give it a go, we are at Green Hill Lake in Ararat with not much more than the bare necessities. We are tackling life without the mod-cons city life has provided us both over these past umpteen years.

Camp Green is all set and we are living life without many of the life comforts. And we are doing ok. We are coping and surviving. And dare I say, we are really embracing the idea as we get into this new lifestyle.. 

The television series Alone has nothing on us. Bear Grylls has nothing on us, Davey Crockett has nothing on us, you get the drift. Seriously we are in the zone, just Ruth, me and the wildlife of Ararat.

This journey of mine with Lewy Body Dementia is a challenge, yep going ok, as I generally report, some areas are tough, yet some areas are no different to how life has always been. It is what it is. So, we will just continue to plod along and follow the adventure highway and see where it takes us.

And as you can see that darn highway led us here to Green Hill Lake at Ararat. But that is so good, this is wilderness heaven, nature and the cold and the wet and the cold and the rain and the cold and the wind and the cold. Yeah, I know, really cold so I ask the same question as to the one you are thinking, why do this at all and why do this in the middle of Winter?

I'm guessing there is no answer. Ruth and I both love camping, we both love being out and enjoying all of the beauty God created so this stay here fits perfectly.

Oh, and Geelong is not far up the road so a couple of home games for the Cats is on the agenda and horse racing has a part to play. On Monday our bloke Eureka Storm ran at Ballarat so yeah, we travelled the 92km up the Great Western Highway to Dowling Forrest and had a day trackside.

And we may get another day of racing, see how things go in the next week or so.

Not that the footy and/or racing influenced our location here in Ararat for this off grid time, no, not at all. Mmmmmmmmm. Just pure chance really that we are very centrally located in the amazing, yet cold, Grampian region of lovely Victoria. What would the odds of that be?

But how has this wilderness excursion sat with the LBD issue. So far so good.

I mean, this journey is complex at times regardless of where I am geographically so to give this a go was never really a big issue at all. 

The strategies that I have been able to put in place to help minimise any health impact that the LBD presents will be in play regardless of where I am living.

Being out here is no different really to being anywhere else. Life is a touch crazy these days and that is how it is, that is the future. However, go with the flow and we manage fine.

Yeah, sure some things I need to be more careful about being in the wild as you would imagine but while this LBD journey is still generally going as ok as can be then I'm thinking why not just go do it. Life can serve up lemons, we all experience that at times so getting bogged down can be a real dampener.

Sure, it's easy to say just make the best of what you have but in this case with LBD then really you do have to just move forward. Enjoy things, laugh lots, have fun, pee, pee lots, try not to pee your pants, try to remember what you're doing, well for most of the time and really then this is all not so bad.

Sure and steady is a good understanding of what needs to be done and that is going just perfect. So far so good. And being here at Camp Green then we are sort of living the dream, the wilderness dream, the off-grid dream.

We plod on, Ruth and I, we are both embracing Camp Green life but did I mention the cold? Wow, it can get cold in the Ararat wilderness.

The cold aside, you wouldn't swap this place for quids. Great location, the views are to die for and we have a menagerie of critters and wildlife that come to visit.

We have been lucky with the rain, just one night we had some steady rain but really no biggie and by the early hours of the morning the clouds were gone, and the stars were back out. Then a touch of rain one afternoon but again nothing major and once the clouds lifted then the rain disappeared.

So, really, middle of winter in Ararat living off grid then the weather has been ok. Just cold sometimes, like really cold. Say, 6 degrees but feels like 2. Mmmmmmmmmm. Now, question without notice, what does that even mean? Like, is that saying the temperature is something different to how it feels? Apparently, using that thought then it does. Surely whatever the temperature is, then that is what it actually is. Not feels like something different. Seriously, who came up with that idea in the first place? Not even the Global Warming idealists could be so silly.

But hey, Ruth has really worked on the cold idea here in Ararat. As we all know, she is a dedicated follower of the weather forecast, you know, checking temperatures, checking the rain fall, the snow, the wind strength etc. She has her own personal thermometer and barometer to keep track of the likely and actual weather conditions by keeping them close to hand.

But, what Ruth has discovered here at Camp Green is that when reading her thermometer, if she in fact moves it closer to the bonfire then the temperature rises very quickly and it might be 6 degrees but for her, it now feels like 12. Simples.

Yeah, so for all of that this time spent in the Ararat wilderness is rolling along ok. Plenty of food, great campfires, lots of relaxing moments, cold, wildlife a plenty, fish to catch, plenty of trees outside the camp fringe to piddle on, isolation, cold but just down right off grid living at its best. 

Now, lots in that little update, but that's it for this post, it is all penned, pics added and now it is posted online. Thanks for checking-in, for the record the JohnnyG Remembers blog now has over 11,800 views so I am very grateful to all of you for following my LBD journey.

The footy, is a touch ordinary this season but we keep the faith, Go Cats ... and if you are a Power fan, what a season for you guys, just can't tear you apart hey, congratulation, you actually got to be June Premiers in 2023. Big improvement from April Premiers of the past. 

Ok, going now on that note, but, as always, I will leave you with a JonnyG funny, enjoy and hey, thanks again for reading.

Ruth asked me how is the best way to start a campfire ... I told her it was as simple as rubbing two sticks together, and then I added but of course just make sure they are the same ... Ruth asked why do they have to be the same? ... and I simply said because that way you would have a match ...

More wilderness, off-grid living pics will be added as the days roll on so if you wish and have time, log back in and check them out.

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Camp Green - Greenhill Lake in Ararat Victoria

Off grid living, now that's what I'm talkin' bout ... how good is this set-up, we are kicking goals Ruth and I ... totally off-grid, no mod cons at all ...

And this was the blank canvas we started with at Camp Green ... we carved our existence in the forest from what nature provided and look at what was achieved ... wilderness living at its very best, perfect ...

We really do have views to die for, just brilliant, morning, noon and night there is always a scenic look to take your breath away ... Green Hill Lake at Ararat definitely offers up the views, far too many to show here, sadly ...

(photo credits to Ruth with the wilderness view pics) 

We have our own water supply, not connected as in running water but we do ok ... just takes a few trips each day to the lake for re-fills, so yeah, we are kicking goals with our water supply ... and if we are in the zone with water, then we are super well catered for with our toot, you know, toilet ... men can piddle on trees but the women folk, nah, not going to happen ... so we have a deluxe-loo, perfect for wilderness living and we do have the luxury of Sorbent bog paper to wipe the bottom ...

Green Hill Lake is full of fish ... Redfin, Trout, Brim to name a few, so many fish, huge numbers and even some yabbies, just perfect ... so, Ruth and I have spent time fishing with both a lure and bait, it goes well ... living the off-grid and wild game food gathering dream ...

Wash day is tough here in the Ararat wilderness, head down to the lake and use the cold water to wash all the off-grid gear ... it is tough, hard work, just the elements and dirty clothing ... but someone has to do it ...

Wildlife, it is everywhere here in the wilderness ... this possum who we named Peter has been a campsite regular, comes each evening for a feed but on about day 6 he/she showed up with a baby, so Peter is now called Peta ... he/she loves his/her food, sausage being a favorite, he/she also loves apple and Anzac Biscuits, yeah go figure ... the Wren is a multi-colored wonder of nature, lots of Wrens visit us but this one here in pic 2 is most striking ... and embracing this lifestyle means dealing with the odd wildlife emergency, here I tackle a 16-leg MONSTER spider that was trying to eat its way inside, but JonnyG adopting a catch and release policy for vicious predators that invade our space means I set this MASSIVE creature free (Ruth thinks it's dead, but it's not, although when she reads this I may well be dead for not taking the spider to the gallows) ...  

Despite this off-grid existence Ruth and I did head down the highway for 92km and had a day at the famed Dowling Forrest racetrack at Ballarat ... our bloke Eureka Storm ran at the meeting but was ordinary and ran fourth ... but as always we had a great day on track, was so good to catch-up with the ownership group ... 

I add this pic to honor my dad, Jimmy Green ... he was the DIY guru, well his idea was a bit of wire fixes everything and anything and when it came to building, his back yard structures were legendary, he would have made it big on The Block ... the wood shed on the back fence at 132 Nookamka Terrace built in 1962 was a work of pure art, pure genius, one of the seven wonders of Barmera architecture in that era ... so, this pic, this is my off-grid Camp Green take of the Jimmy Woodshed, and yes, for the record, it is wired down, Jimmy would be proud of his boy ...

Oops, not what you want to see at any time but especially when you are so far from home and living in the wilderness ... yep, that's the Motor being taken away on the Tow Truck ... a blown motor means a rather large repair job, Ruth had driven down to Melbourne last Friday to have lunch with her friend Ruth and on the way back, BANG - CLUNK - SMOKE and the car died, 31km out of Ararat on the highway ... bummer, but things are back on track, the car was dropped off at our wilderness off-grid site by the RACV and sat for a few days while a recon-motor was arranged, the car is now off to Stawell for the re-fit ... yeah, double bummer and double oops ...

How good was the footy at Kardinia Park on Saturday night ... Ruth and I ventured back on the road and took the two-hour drive to Geelong to watch the Cats tear the Power apart ... great night at the footy, Ruth had a pic shoot with her Cats idol Gryan Miers, and wow, how good was his game, just brilliant and Ruth gushed a few times as her boy did some phenomenal things to get the Cats over the line ...

A couple more footy pics from the Cats v Power at Kardinia Park on Saturday night ... that is the 2022 Premiership Cup in the first pic, what a great season that was, Cats too good ... and we had a great footy experience last Saturday night, perfect night really ...

Another raceday adventure from Camp Green at Ararat, this time across country for a 2-hour drive to Bendigo to watch Eureka Storm run at The Nursery Of Champions ... no success on track but as always it was a very good day with the ownership group, met a couple of members for the first time, just the best ... the Cumani stable team headed by Nik Plant looked after us, lots of pic opportunity and chances to have some time with our horse ... a trip well worth the effort ...

Friday we were back on the road again for the drive to Pyramid Hill, another 2-hour trip inland from Ararat ... we spent the night with Sarah and Andrew and the kids to help celebrate Riley's 14th birthday, that was so good, great family dinner, a movie for some and footy for some, Cats, bummer ... the time with the Fergusson family was just the best, always enjoy the company, they look after us so well, it was just a super time ... we headed back to Camp Green on Saturday afternoon after having time watching Carolyn play netball at Newbridge and after we shared a great lunch ... will miss the guys now that we are back in Ararat but thanks team for a really good time ...

Living off-grid at Camp Green has meant some changes to the food intake ... without an oven as example it has not been possible to cook some meals that would otherwise be cooked at the home base ... however, when in Rome, or Ararat, do as you must do, make the most of the change in cooking conditions and come up with wilderness food ... not like roast possum, or fried rat but seriously good food cooked under off-grid conditions ... Ruth had a go at Damper, mmmmmm, yeah, well, it was fine, very good dear ... eggs and chips are eggs and chips wherever cooked, ok potato cakes from Serpentine on a road trip away from Camp Green were just the best, baked spuds done in the coals on Ararathenge had a few takes and were oh so good and that burger in the last pic, well, if I'm adding this as a ring-in to off-grid food, pub food on another road trip, that day was to Ballarat ...

The Camp Green possum, we named her Peta, originally Peter but as explained earlier when she showed up one evening with a baby in her pouch, well naturally the name chance was required ... anyhow, Peta was a regular at night, she came for a feed and she loved all the tucker we put her way ... the night Ruth discovered that the baby possum was in the pouch was special, unbelievable really, nature at its best but a few nights later and Peta came with her baby on her back. wow, how cool ... that is normal for possums (thanks Google) and the young travel on Mum's back for a few months after venturing out of the pouch ... it was such a marvelous sight though to see the baby on her Mum's back, we were blessed by the possum visits at Camp Green ... thank-you Peta and Peta 2 ...

And that's a wrap, after 31 great and very enjoyable days the Camp Green time is done and dusted ... the car is packed, and we head back to SA ... will miss this wilderness time and both Ruth and I know we will be back ... thank-you Camp Green and Ararat for such a marvelous stay ...