Hammock bliss

I have been waiting patiently to relax in my hammock and to capture the moment for this blog. This hammock was not easily acquired. It is made of parachute nylon and I first discovered this blissful way of relaxing back in NSW at the Myall Lakes where some presumably German campers left two hammocks made from the parachute silk/nylon (complete with mosquite netting) at the campsite we were visiting. The explanation was partly in German. They returned to claim them the next day, not that honest as the day is long Andrew would have tolerated me taking possession, he would have handed them in to the ranger.

My interest was however kindled and I made exhaustive inquiries all around Australia as to where I could obtain a hammock such as these. Nowehere was the answer so I went on the internet and lo and behold they had the very same ones in the US so I ordered them. Up came the suggestion that Amazon.com cutomers are not unfamilar with "people who ordered these also ordered........." two straps that protected the trees. So I ordered these also. The hammock and the straps were being supplied by two separate companies but what difference does that make I asked myself. They would not accept an OZ address so I asked friends in the US if I could use their address and they were to send the two parcels on to friends in Australia whom we were to visit in a few weeks.

After my order was paid and processed I received an e-mail informing me that they were out of stock of the hammocks with no known date of stocks arriving. No word about the straps however. But these were dutifully sent to my US friends who kindly forwarded them on to OZ. They arrived and were beautiful but, alas, I had no hammock to go with them.

This story has a happy ending. At a small camping store in Byron Bay what did I find but my hammock, the same brand as the straps, Hammock Bliss, made from parachute nylon, even in the required colour green. I gleefully bought it and I will treasure it, always. My new hammock however has perfectly good strong string with it, unlike the US ones, which come without attached strings according to the user comments and I am not sure when I will use the tree friendly straps. My current hammock strings do not seem to be environmentally lethal.