My  dad,  my  sister,  and  I  went  camping  in  the  blue  mountains  of  Australia.  I  was  nine years  old  at  the  time,  and  it  was  in  the  summer  between  4th  and  5th  grade.  My  mom  was  the  only  one  in  the  family  who  didn’t  come  due  to  her  blood,  which  is  famous  among the mosquito community.  I was slouching down, playing on my only source of entertainment, being our twenty questions game. We  had  been  in  the  car  for  quite  a  while,  so  I  was  wondering how  much  longer  it  would  be  until  we  would  arrive  at  the  camp site.  My  sister,  Sara,  gave  me  an  answer  despite  the  fact  that  I did  not  express  my  question  orally.  “Look,  we’re  there!”  she  exclaimed  with  sarcastic  enthusiasm  in  her  tone, pointing out her window.  Sara  had  the  same  mosquito  issue  as  my  mom,  so  the  only  reason  she came  was  her love  for  saving  the environment  and  nature  in  general.  I  looked  out the  window  on  her  side  of  the  car just to verify that she was not bluffing,  but sure  enough,  I  could  see  the  blue  mountains  300 or so yards away from us.

This  was  going  to  be  my  2nd  time  here,  and  I am  quite  sure  that  nobody  had  much  fun last time we came there, and I wished for a different experience this time ‘round.  Our  car  was  tilted  as  we  went  up  the  mountain  toward  the  campsite,  my  sister  swaying back  and  forth.  When  we  arrived,  we  set  up  our  tent  rather quickly, and  went  to  the  main  lodge  to  pick  up  some  firewood.  Following  that  would  be  roasted  marshmallow  time.  Roasted marshmallow  time  is  the  main  reason  why  I  even  go  camping (along with breakfast).  While  we  ate  the  marshmallows,  my  dad  told  Sara and I  the  creepiest  story  either  one  of  us  had  ever  heard  to  date.  It  was  called  “The  Golden  Arm”.  Afterwards,  we  all  brushed  our  teeth  and  headed  straight  to  bed,  expecting  to  sleep  deeply through the night  as  we  all  knew  what  breakfast   would  be  when  we  woke  up – BACON.  We  all  slept  well (or  at  least  I  did) until  around 3  A.M.  when  Sara and  I  coincidentally  woke  up  at  the  same  time, both of us dying of thirst.  The  water  was  in  the  car  so  we  had  to  wake  up our  dad  up  because neither I nor sara knew where the key was.  Although  displeased,  our  dad  got  up  and  walked  over  to our  car  with  us  to  get  the  water.  He  opened  it  with  ease  and  we  chugged  all the  water  we  could  squeeze  into  our  stomachs.  Next,  we  started  back  toward  our  tent.  When  we  got  there,  we  opened  the  flap,  only  to  find  half  of  Sara’s  protein  bar.  I  inferred  that  the  other  half  was  somewhere  in  the  digestive  system  of  the  Koala  bear  right  in  front  of  us,  seeing  as  the  small  mammal  was  nibbling  on  it  right  in  front  of  us.  “Look!” said Sara as astonished as I’d seen her since last christmas. “There’s a koala there!”

“come on, daddy, take a picture of it!” she ordered, pointing at it. Unfortunately, my dad listened to her and squatted down to take a picture of it. Scared by the sound of the camera, the young bear scurried back into the forest.

The next  morning  we  all  got  our  bacon  as  promised.  Unlike  Sara,  I  tried  to  savour  every  bite of   it.  We  then  packed  up  and  left  for  home  again.  At  the  time,  I  did  not  know  that  this  would  be  our  last  time  there.