Saturday, 5:37 a.m.
Me and Bruce pulled up to the front of Johnno's house. Bruce was driving, so I hopped out and ran up to the front door. Knocked twice. Nothing. Rang the doorbell a few times. Nothing. I turned and looked at Bruce, who was impatiently leaning out the window. I shrugged my shoulders, even though we both knew that Johnno had probably just slept through his alarm like usual.
Bruce blared the car horn through the quiet neighbourhood. I shot him a look but he just threw my shrug back at me. It worked though. I heard sounds of movement inside and a moment later the door opened to reveal Johnno in all his glory.
I'd been mates with Johnno since high school so the sight of him starkers didn't phase me, even if he was sporting a good half-mongrel of an erection. He looked at me bleary-eyed, then quickly went to fully awake as it dawned on him.
"Fuck. The camping trip." He said.
"The camping trip." I smiled back at him.
"Are you packed mate?" I asked his retreating arse as he ran around like a mad chook trying to get all his gear together.
"Yeah yeah, I'm just-" Johnno's words were cut off by the blare of the car horn.
"Fuck off Bruce!" Johnno exclaimed, slipping on his thongs, grabbing his rucksack and keys and bounding out the door.
I followed, picking up a pair of footy shorts off the armchair as I went.
Johnno jumped into the back seat, uttering a thousand apologies. While a bemused Bruce and I just sat and watched him. Eventually, again, realisation dawned on his face.
"I've got no clothes on." He said, looked down then up at us.
I laughed and tossed him the footy shorts.
"These should do you. At least put them on before we get brekky." I laughed as we took off down the road.
Saturday, 9:04 a.m.
We rocked up to the entrance to the park and saw a jeep waiting for us with the ranger sitting inside. As the jeep door opened we all hopped out of the car. Johnno had looked through his bag and found a hat and singlet to complete his last-minute wardrobe.
We shook hands with the ranger, introducing ourselves as we went.
"I'm Barry, nice to meet ya." He said, grasping my hand firmly.
"Ollie, nice to meet you too mate." I replied.
I have to admit, Barry was a pretty impressive sight. The bloke was six foot two easily, with a shaved head and a really fit, muscular body. You could see his ranger's uniform was struggling in places, and if he'd popped a bicep he probably would have torn his shirt. I'm no slouch in the physical department, but this fella left the rest of us for dead.
Barry went over the ground rules with us- whatever we take in, we take out, the park had designated areas for camping and it was just us in there for the night, he'd come by and check every so often, etc. The usual crap. We signed some stuff, hopped back in the cars and followed Barry's jeep to our campsite.
Saturday, 11:31 a.m.
Barry had left us to set up our stuff, and now the tent was up and the beer was flowing. It was getting pretty hot and Barry had told us about a billabong near our sight where it was safe to swim, so we loaded up the esky and stumbled the half km from camp.
When we found it we were blown away, the billabong was a beauty. Quick as a flash we were all naked and in the water. No need to be shy with just us lads around. Plus we'd all seen each other a thousand times in a hundred different situations.
After a bit of splashing about in the water I needed a piss, so I hopped out and ducked behind some nearby trees. As I let my stream splash onto the base of a blue gum I heard a twig snap near me. I spun around and saw Barry.
"Jesus mate! You gave me a scare!" I laughed.
"Sorry big fella, used to just having me in the woods!" he laughed back. Then things went quiet as he scanned me up and down and I remembered I was naked. I tried to cover myself but Barry shook his head and held up a hand.
"It's fine mate, nothing I haven't seen before. In fact I usually skinny-dip down here this time of day myself. Would it be weird if I joined you guys?" he asked.
"Nah mate, more the merrier. Just follow the dress code." I laughed.
"Way ahead of you." Replied Barry, who had already started unbuttoning his shirt.