Location: Robinvale, Victoria
Event: Camp Visitor
Date: 2009
Hi my name is ****. We had an unforgettable experience and I just Googled around to see if others experienced something similar which is where I stumbled by AYR.
Anyway, I was reading about your 2004 Robinvale experience, and it was very similar to what happened to us. Here's the story...
We just got back from a camping trip up near Robinvale just off Happy Valley. We camped along the riverside about 500m-1km away from a plaque that marked where a man died after a tree fell on him. We didn't think much of it at the time...
Anyway, we arrived on July 31st and left on the 3rd of August. There were 6 of us camping there with 3 cars. Half the guys slept in their cars and the other three slept in tents. Dad's friend was on the far side of camp and I was on the opposite side of camp, sharing a tent with my girlfriend. Set up next to my tent was a tent for our food and a table with the eskies near it. One of our friends brought along a makeshift light using a bulb some wiring and a car battery which he left on all throughout the night.
Right, so on the first day we arrived at around 11am and had set up our tents already by noon. We went fishing and I cooked dinner for everyone. The sky was clear, the stars were plentiful and the moon was near-full. The moon was so bright that on countless occasions I would go wandering around without a torch light to pee. So anyway, I went to bed at around 1am that night... since I drove 5-6hrs from Melbourne, I was exhausted and slept like a rock throughout the night.
So I woke up at 10am the next day (day 2) and the rest of the guys were already down at their campfire fishing n having coffee. I got up and made brunch at my camp fire which was located a couple meters from the rivers edge. I was usually with my girlfriend at our campfire where as the rest of the guys were at campfire A, which was about 50-100m down from ours. It was fun, fishing and eating all day, very relaxing.
Since our campfires were so far apart, we didn't talk to them much. Thus, I was unaware of what happened that night. What happened was that someone/something was walking around my friends tent during the night. He said he heard the twigs around his tent snapping and as the moon was so bright he could see its shadow from inside the tent. Then it attempted to grab his feet which at that point he yelled "GO AWAY!" and started to pray (he's a practicing Buddhist).
From this point he had not heard from it for the rest of the night. He said he told the other guys the next morning but they thought he was faking it... They were sleeping in the car and I was sleeping like a rock on the far side of camp, I guess nobody heard him shout.
So anyway, During day 2, four cows came up to their campfire. We have gone camping in that area several times now and there has never been cows around.
Two of them were grazing on the reeds in near the river side, one of them was just standing around and the other had its eyes fixed on me the whole time. I know this since i walked up and down the campsite and it always had its eyes fixed on me. I guess it was just looking out for threats. Anyway, I didn't think much of it, and before dark they left n began walking back down river.
My girlfriend and I went to bed at around 1am that night, again i was exhausted and was fast asleep within seconds of planting my head on my pillow. During the night (around 4am i guess?) my girlfriend woke me up n asked me to take her outside to pee, i was sleepy and disorientated and said "Can't you go by yourself?" so she agreed and made her way outside the tent and that's all I remember of that night.
Day 3.. another great day in the bush, I woke up and made brunch as per usual, then went to town (Robinvale) to buy some groceries for dinner and got back by 5pm. Dinner was ready by 9pm and the fellas had no luck fishing all day so they decided go to bed early and wake up at 4am to try their luck again. My girlfriend and I however, were at our campfire down near the river, watching movies on my laptop, listening to music n doing some fishing.
All i had was a small portable-stove-gas powered lantern and the campfire as a source of light (my torch had run out of batteries). The skies were clear and the moon was full, so there was plenty of light to get around without the need of a torch. You know that feeling you get when someone is watching you? I had this feeling the whole night! But I didn't have a torch, so i couldn't investigate my surroundings... So anyway, the fish were on the bite at around midnight, my rod-bells were ringing, but the fish never took the hook, so i was pretty eager to stay up that night. We eventually gave up and decided to go up to the tents at 2:30am.
We went up and I went to pee before going inside the tent, again with no lights since the moon was so bright. As I was saying before, I was still oblivious as to what had happened on the first night. When we got into our tents, I got the baby wipes out and began to wash myself. At this point, we heard twigs snapping in the direction of dad's car and my friends tent (approx 20-30m away). It was slow and the footsteps were consistent. I knew for certain that it wasn't any of the other guys as they were asleep when we went up.
I was chatting with my girlfriend about it and jokingly said out loud "OI GO AWAY" then whacked the inside of my tent a few times. I guess I did this just to give my girlfriend some peace of mind. I didn't think much of it and just wrote it off as a nocturnal animal and went to bed. After all, there are animals in the bush! Despite my efforts, the footsteps continued, however getting weaker, suggesting that it was walking away, but again, still at the slow and consistent pace. Also noting that the direction it was walking to was where the plaque I told you about earlier.
So the next morning is where it really gets freaky... the guys told me about what happened on the first night. Adding to that, dad and two of the other guys had heard the same noises i did, but at midnight! However, dad got his torch out on two separate occasions to investigate the sounds, but on every occasion it turned out to be nothing. The sound of twigs and leaves snapping would continue on moments after he went back into the car.
With all these stories now reinforced by separate accounts by different people. There is no logical explanation as to what happened during these four days in the deep bush... Yowie? Ghost? or just wild animals? Nobody really knows...
I don't think camping in Robinvale will ever be the same again. I for sure won't be wandering into the bush to pee at night without a torch... and a weapon!
I think I might set up the campsite with trip-wires and bells next time and maybe a generator to run floodlights throughout the night!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed my recollection of those 4 days.
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