Ratty. That’s how I’d describe my mood this morning. For the second or third night in a row, neither Claire or I have had a decent night’s sleep. The night before last, we suffered an slow-puncture in our airbed. So slow was the leak, that we didn’t even notice until the following morning when we awoke in the back of our car lying directly on the folded-forward seats and boot space. We spent the day complaining of bad backs.

Several hours of driving and one bicycle puncture repair kit later, we bedded down on our newly air-tight mattress for a decent night’s kip in the Blue Mountains. Unfortunately, one inconsiderate Aussie camper decided to conduct a telephone call at two o’clock in the morning at the top of his voice and our night’s slumber had been broken in two. To the campsite populations’ rescue, an outraged tenant put a stop to the caller’s shouting by, erm, shouting louder.

It was only after listening to several other frustrated campers unzip their tents to make a run across noisy gravel track for the communal toilet blocks, that we realised just how ruddy cold it was. It’s funny how it’s possible to sleep all night long in a hotel room with ensuite bathroom without ever feeling the need to use the bathroom until morning, whereas in a camping environment it’s a near certainly that everyone on the site feels the need to relieve themselves part way through the night (including us). It’s also funny, just how loud the zippers on sleeping bags and tents become after dark. Certainly loud enough to keep you awake just as you were drifting off since the last zip was opened. I digress.

It was freezing. It had been very hot during the day and, although at slight altitude, we hadn’t seriously considered that it might get cold at night. So cold was it, in fact, that neither of us got another wink of sleep that night. We were cuddled in sleeping bags which are supposedly rated down to minus sixteen degrees Celsius, wearing thermal pyjamas, socks, gloves and woolly hats and we were freezing.

We spent the rest of the night listening to drunks argue in the street.

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