Well, when John and Kym are leading a trip you have to go. You just don’t know what to expect and I wasn’t disappointed. I got exactly what I didn’t expect. I was told to be prepared for a muddy couple of days so packed my wellies, spare clothing, snatch strap etc and headed off to meet everyone in Gawler on Saturday morning.

I met up with John and Kym, Eric and Shelly as well as Shane (a visitor for the day). After introductions and a quick chat we headed off for Clare. We hadn’t travelled very far when trip leader John asked everyone to pull over to the side of the road. He had just realised that his car does not run on air and his fuel gauge was either broken or he was very low on fuel.

We had morning tea while he went to fill up. On his return we resumed the scenic trip to Clare. We passed through some beautiful countryside and at some point rounded up some sheep that had strayed onto the road.

We arrived at the private property of Kym's parents at about 2pm and proceeded to have a tour of the place. The property is very hilly with some steep grassed slopes which are a bit of a challenge to negotiate, especially when the grass is a bit damp. We chose a campsite, set up camp and started a fire.

Having done this the men decided to go for another drive while the ladies watched the fire. John decide to break some new tracks around the perimeter of the property to help with fence maintenance. On the way back to camp John had some problems with his new roof-rack which had somehow moved back on one side of his car. We refastened it and went back to camp for tea.

Toyota Bill had arrived while we were away and joined us for the evening around the fire. Shane and Bill didn’t stay the night but Bill returned the next morning for a drive around the property.

While driving on Sunday morning Eric was unlucky enough to have a rock cut a huge hole through the sidewall of his new tyre. Ouch on the wallet. We had lunch and then headed in to the town of Clare for a dunny stop.

While driving through town we heard a familiar voice on the 2 way. It was Garry and Cathy who happened to be travelling along the main road as we drove past. We stopped and had a quick chat with them before heading off to Geralka for the afternoon tour.

The tour was excellent and included a ride on a wagon pulled by 2 horses as well as a ride in a really old bus which has been restored. After the tour we had some coffee and a chat with the tour operator/caretakers of the property. It was starting to get dark so Eric, Shelly and I decided to head for home. John and Kym stayed an extra night in Clare so did not travel back to Adelaide with us.

Thankyou to John & Kym for organising the trip & to Kym's parents for letting us use their property.

Chris

P.S. Still looking for the MUD !!!!!



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