Usually, I’d never leave home without a scourer- scourers don’t grow on trees, you know. But on this occasion I did. So, I found myself at risk of a ruined morning coffee when the baked-on remnants of my scrambled egg wouldn’t budge from the same vessel I needed to boil my coffee water in. I tried chux and fingernail scratching to no avail.

I’m in the middle of the scrub. With nothing to scrub with and no shop to pop into to. Luckily, as it turns out, scourers do grow on trees. Nature’s supermarket has an entire aisle dedicated to scourers. I suspect the mysterious thing I found wasn’t designed for scrubbing, its purpose is probably for seed dispersal and is a very well known Australian native with a name, but I found a scratchy, spiky thing I don’t know the name of and it saved my life.

Coffee ruiner (this photo doesn’t do the grime justice)

Spike Milligan

Spinikins gets to work

Some tasty debris

My life is back on track

Then I remembered the exfoliator glove I washed my face with minutes before… After having procured Mr Spiky. Probably would’ve been easier… But just shows how one-track our minds can be. Definitely wouldn’t be trying out Spiky McGee on my face, though. On the other hand, my feet could benefit… Also, I could have just asked one of the other campers to borrow a scourer. I clearly just wanted the self-satisfaction of being ingenious and resourceful…

Nature’s Supermarket: Scouring supplies aisle 1