The Young & The Restless | The wilderness is a theme park

Instead, we heard the bangs, stopped chewing on our homemade Kevi burgers for a second as our eyes met and our brains registered what and why, and then continued devouring our meals without concern.

The crystal clear water ran by our riverside table, birds chirped, and bugs buzzed in the ever-encroaching forest that threw the best kind of shade at us with its lush green canopy.

I’d been going to take the kids to Funfields at the weekend for probably our last opportunity before the season ends, but my persistently weather-checking 16-year-old announced the mercury wasn’t looking like rising above 15°C until 2pm in Whittlesea on Saturday, so we made a last-minute decision to head into the predicted higher-temps in the hills instead.

We quickly ducked down to Kmart for some inflatable tubes, filled the esky with ice and refreshments, stopped by the servo to fill up and headed towards Bonnie Doon, singing “We’re going ta Bonnie Doon, we’re going ta Bonnie Doon…”

Well, that last bit might’ve been just me, sadly. The kids weren’t so sure what I was on about and didn’t question it. (Maybe I’ll explain through cinematic illustration next movie night.)

My weather-checking learner driver got us to the vicinity of the Kerrigans’ holiday home, collecting good experiences on winding roads past Euroa in the process, then swapped seats with me for the final hour to our destination.

The pub was quieter than I’d seen it; luckily for us, the staff let me know, as they scolded me (in a friendly fashion) for not making a booking. (So book in advance if you go!)

Once our food had settled and we’d had a good look around, making sure to pet the two puppies in a pen on the pub grounds, we jumped back in the ute to explore the area and find somewhere to cool off.

A little further on from Kevington, we found Bains Bridge.

There was a vehicle crossing there shallow enough to pass without a snorkel (we tested this out by walking across the river first), and seeing as I haven’t yet had a snorkel fitted and we’ve never driven through a river before in our car, of course, we drove through it. And then back.

And then through it again.

We parked on the other side and unloaded chairs and inflatables, drinks and fishing rods to take down the hill to the ice-cold water for the afternoon.

We propped our chairs in the water, dropped in a line, floated downstream and waded back, skimmed rocks, built meditative stacks of rocks, and chased the same frog for a photo that we shockingly came to learn a snake was also chasing (but, for more sinister reasons) and swam.

Then, as the afternoon grew old and shadows lengthened, we loaded back up for one last river crossing before making the trek home via Mansfield for ice-cream.

It might not have been a theme park with rides and waterslides, but we got our thrills driving through a river and seeing a snake. We cooled down in pure, unchlorinated rapids that didn’t sting our eyes, and we saw wildlife in its natural habitat.

None of which we had to line up for or share with a crowd, and all for a much smaller price tag than a day at a theme park for a whole family (just half a tank of fuel and lunch, which could’ve been cheaper again had we packed a picnic).

We are so lucky to live where we live, for in any direction you travel, you only have to drive two hours before you find yourself in any one of several different landscapes, be it the city, the beach, the outback or the mountains.

The wilderness is one big, wide-open theme park waiting to be enjoyed for free.

It’s also open year-round, 24/7, even on Christmas Day.

And each one of its four seasons brings an exquisite new change of theme to activities.