Clean Up Australia at Gleesons’ Landing ...

In attendance J. C., Terry & Gill, Bruce & Jill, Andrew & Sarah, Paul & Barb, Tony & Sandra, Rick & Cindy, Rob Roy, Paul C., Perry & Deb, Bill & Doreen, Visitors (John, Aaron, Laurel, Dale and Holly).

Cindy and I arrived at camp at 9pm Friday night to be greeted by an obviously near exhausted trip leader. JC had been fishing and drinking for the past week with his firey mates, and was showing the effects of trying to keep up with the younger ones. After a couple of customary circuits of the large campsite, and ignoring the advice of Tony (good campsite around the bend) we settled on a camp with esplanade views. The clubs marquees’ were full of the early birds enjoying a quiet drink and chat.

  Saturday morning was relaxing affair, some trying to catch fish for brekkie. Paul C. RobRoy, Perry and Deb, and later Paul and Barb arrived. The Wanderers’ camp trailer community is growing at a rapid rate. We have recently acquired a hard floor campomatic (a pleasure to set up), whilst RobRoy last month bought himself a cavalier type trailer (trying his hardest to entice his lovely wife Maggie to join him on one of our trips). JC had his Taj Mahal set up, complete with generator so he could run his microwave. Does this happen to all of us as we get older?

Andrew and Sarah had the equivalent to the Adelaide Hilton set up with their twin double bed setup and humongous living areas. Perry and Deb set up their ever reliable 15-year-old trailer. Bruce and Jill had their comfortable caravan there to remind us of the next stage in our lifes’ journey.

The morning’s entertainment of watching Paul and Barb set up their Giraffes tent trailer was worth the long drive here. The cussin and fussin of not being able to drive pegs into the ground had me sniggering to myself, making sure Paul could not see me, as I’m sure I would have copped a share of the abuse directed at Barb. After moving to a softer spot, the erection was completed with minimal fuss.

Bill and Colleen visited for a few hours after staying the night at The Warooka Hotel. Mid afternoon we all went down to Gleesons beach to try our hands at catching a few fish. A keen tussle between Barb, Perry, Tony and Cindy was fought out for most fish caught. A few sardine like fish were caught under the windy conditions, with a tub of freshly harvested seaweed amongst the catch.

Unfortunately the southern beach tracks have been barricaded by the council as dune buggies and motorbikes have been damaging the vegetation & encroaching on private land. We headed north along the back tracks searching for rubbish for our collection the next day. We cleaned up too well last year, as there was no rubbish to be seen. Paul C. was itching for some sand driving, but JC was obviously slowing down after a week’s partying & looked a beaten man as he declined to lead us on to the southern beach tracks. After last years exciting drive we were well aware of what lay ahead.

Paul led Cindy and I, RobRoy and the newbies Andrew and Sarah. Tony decides he had better come with us in case the going got too tough. After lowering our tyre pressures, we proceeded along the soft and winding beach access track. It provided a great challenge to get through, with most vehicles needing quite a few attempts and tyre adjustments. It was a lesson that Andrew and Sarah thoroughly enjoyed and their gleaming smiles when they conquered the track would have provided Colgate with some great advertising. RobRoy is waiting for Peake and Dorado Downs to improve his sand driving skills so as he can join the rest of us on the 'Other Side'.

The short drive proved such a challenge, we decided to head back and leave the southern beach drive for another day. Headed back to camp to participate in a competition of Bocce’. Teams were divided into the 'Uglies and the Ugliers'. Never seen so many people admitting to being just plain Ugly. This provided some hotly contested competition amongst the members, with some dubious scoring in one group deciding the heat winners. The Finals were to be contested the next morning.

Happy hour was once again an extravaganza of delicious munchies. Some people had no need for dinner, as their bellies were full. Another wonderful night discussing the environment, life in general, future trip ideas & enjoying a good drop of wine or two. Paul & Barb were the first to go to bed (apart from Bruce) & JC recognized the chance for revenge. As Paul has done to a lot of people in the past, JC shook the Giraffes tent trailer, & scared the living daylight out of the amorous couple. Gill & Jill surprised everyone & themselves with their ability to outlast the group to retire for the night.

  The Bocce’ final was played Sunday morning with JC and Jill being the surprise victors. The rest of the morning was spent collecting rubbish around the camping grounds. With the numerous council rubbish bins adjoining most campsites, the area was reasonably tidy. A very large carpet square was dragged up from the beach and joined the accumulated rubbish in the trailer. Deb had found a pair of brightly coloured jocks and was pondering whether to wash and keep them for Perry. Paul and Barb found a tyre and a box, which they placed on their roof rack. With the large number of volunteers, we collected a full trailer load of rubbish to make this great camping site even better.

  All had a relaxing time and we enjoyed doing our bit for Clean Up Australia.

Rick.

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