Unyoked - Freja
UNYOKED - FREJA
Unyoked sent me out bush as a field correspondent, and here’s what happened.
My second Unyoked adventure! 3.5 hours west of Sydney in a country town called Rylstone. We broke up the drive by camping for a night in the Blue Mountains which felt like a huge cheat code! From the Blue Mountains onwards there are loads of cute rural towns that we did “blockies” in – just to suss the vibe! Kandos and Rylstone are winners!
Freja is marked as a ‘spicy’ adventure level cabin, I would give it a mild-medium compared to Tilda in Tasmania (that may have something to do with the fact that I arrived at Tilda alone, in the dark, without reception, in the rain, and wading my way uphill through sludgy mud, missing the turn off to my cabin, finding myself accidentally at a vantage point perving on a dude enjoying a cuppa in front of his campfire, before giving up and retreating to my car, but finding the turn off to Tilda just in time to stop the menty B in its tracks). When Unyoked tell you to arrive in the daylight, trust them.
We arrived at the turn off to Freja at 14:59 for a check in time of 15:00, having learnt my lesson from my last nature fix. It was a beautiful sunny winter afternoon. We packed our wheelbarrows and said farewell to Maverick the Mondeo before a very pleasant walk to the cabin. Being so close to winter solstice, the sun was very low in the sky, giving us a beautiful golden light filtering through the gum trees. Freja sits next to a lake, surrounded by gums, but with an uninterrupted view of the bird life that lives on the lake (we counted 11 bird species - a standout was watching a pelican eat a fish from the lake). There is a picnic table and a campfire to encourage outdoor dwelling, but also has a heater, and a hot shower (as Victoria Ratliff says in her heavy southern accent - “I don’t think at this age I’m meant to live an uncomfortable life”).
On night one, we got the fire roaring red hot, with the tangiest, creamiest blue cheese we could find and a bottle of shiraz, we set ourselves up in front of nature’s TV, until our faces were dry, and our eyes were sore. But we weren’t done yet. We had s’mores to make. A Whittaker’s milk choccie block, a packet of McVitie’s plain digestive biscuits, and the jumbo white powdery marshmallows that look like they are made from plastic. Liam found us the perfect two-pronged marshmallow stick, with just the right amount of bend, while still being robust. I don’t want to tell you how many we ate.
With the fire out, we headed inside for a hot shower, and hopped into bed. We fought the urge to watch an episode of The Night Agent, having promised ourselves that phones would be on airplane mode from the carpark onwards, and read our books instead. I was asleep within four pages. We slept uninterrupted for a full 10 hours.
Up at 06:30 to a scene straight out of Pride and Prejudice, low set mist, rolling across the lake. We went for a short stroll around the property, and watched the kangaroos hop around, before heading back inside to make banana pancakes and coffee. We spent the day saying things like “I could totally live off the land” and “this is so nice, we should do this more often” while collecting sticks for.. you guessed it.. s’more s’mores (haha).
I cooked Sarah Glover’s delish ricotta shells recipe over open fire, and marvelled at how much better it tastes all smoky!
The next morning it was BUCKETING rain. Drenched within seconds kind of rain. Not wanting to tug two wheelbarrows full of belongings back to the car kind of rain. Alas, we had no choice. We legged it back to the car, all the while cackling at how funny we looked.
I genuinely believe that doing nothing is what’s best for you at an Unyoked cabin (hence the searching for ‘good’ sticks, making friends with a tree, and reading a grand total of eight pages of my book). We sat in silence, watched the birds and stargazed – “good boredom” as Unyoked calls it.
If you get nervous or scared being alone in the middle of nowhere with no service (understandable), you might find solace knowing that Freja shares a property with ‘Nikita’ and ‘Matteo’, so there are people near enough if you needed them! I used to be afraid of camping/travelling alone. The more you do it, the less scary it becomes. I now LOVE a solo getaway - especially in the middle of nowhere on private property - safe as houses! or.. cabins!
My new mission in life is to tick off as many Unyoked cabins as I can. Watch me go!
Stray beautiful,
BEAR.