Trip members - Sonya, Ben, Thomas, Hannah & Jasmin, Kym & John, Sarah & Andrew, Debb, Dean, Chelsea & Caitlin, Alan & Ineka, Eric & Shelly, Cathy & Gary, Shazza & Graeme, Jill, Bruce & Alicia, Fred, Lyn & Bronwyn and JC
Wasn’t it a Lovely Day----
The day we went to Clayton Bay. JC arrived at about 2.30pm Friday and strenuously set up camp in on-site van No. 9. While he was doing so he noticed a large number of discarded drink cans in the bins provided. All seemed to still have their ring pulls intact, this intrigued him.
Fearing the possibility of mayhem and carnage on the road he didn’t ring either Ben or Andrew but decided instead to take a wait and see attitude. Ben, Sonya & family soon arrived and while the campervan was being erected Hannah & Jasmin quickly gathered the ring pulls from those empty cans.The remainder of Friday’s arrivals came in dribs and drabs. Around evening meal time the skies started to shed a few drops of rain and by early evening it was light but steady. I offered my caravan verandah to our campers but it was rejected for Ben & Sonya’s annex because my caravan was a bit to far for them to walk, about 50m as the crow flies.
Ben had a you beaut remote controlled fluro lamp which he was continually was flicking on & off. As usual the banter & b--- ---t was in full force when Ben’s light went out again. After receiving a large amount of abuse Ben confessed that he hadn’t turned off the lamp but in fact its battery had gone flat.
Rather than sit around in the dark our marathon athletes actually found the strength to make the long journey to my verandah. I had raced ahead, turned out the light and made out I had gone to bed but the ruse didn’t work. The night and rain continued on for some time before we called it a night.The Sailing of the First Fleet
Both Chris and Dean had brought along their fishing boats and at first light, (well fairly early Saturday) they sailed out into the unknown. As they went dragging Ben and his crab nets behind them you could hear a discussion on whether the world was in fact flat with some serious concerns on maybe falling off the edge of the earth. The rest of us waited for Saturday’s campers with most of them arriving early.
We had lunch and by that time the First Fleet had returned, still debating, was it flat or was it round. With a small catch in the boat’s live fish tank, they debated on whether there was enough fish to bake for the main meal --- no, so the catch was released back into the lake. All the carp they had hooked had got away before landing them, or that’s what the intrepid crew claimed, with wild stories about the ones that got away.Goolwa Bound
We were soon off to Hindmarsh Island, the Murray Mouth and Goolwa. On the island we looked at the unusual shapes and colours of the homes in the marina, then we went and looked the river mouth from the island side.
Then it was off to Goolwa Beach for some of us to visit the Murray Mouth from that side, while the rest of us went back to the Currency Creek Winery to taste and purchase some of their wares. Back at Clayton and after several hours the Murray Mouth crew arrived back with all sorts of stories on their adventure with finally the truth was told, of soft narrow sand on the beach and some useful skills used that had been learnt on earlier training skills days. When we returned to camp Fred, Lyn & Bronwyn had finally arrived.Red Faces
After happy hour and our evening meal it was time for the Red Faces concert commenced with JC in a silly hat and glasses comparing the show.
After listening to his corny jokes and hearing some funny life stories from most of the crowd Jill W delivered the first act. The judges (Shelly, Shaza & Fred) who were on the night very hard and unkind, thought Jill’s costume was okay but they didn’t like the act. Next were Chelsea & Caitlin with musical accompaniment by Alan doing the classic ‘A Home among the Gum Trees’. 2 of the judges weren’t too bad but the 3rd was again harsh, but they were in the lead. The 3rd act was Alicia who sweetly and clearly delivered a song unaccompanied which brought great applause; the judges were still harsh but a little more generous, Alicia was in front. The 4th act was Bruce W with Andrew B as his assistant, it was an illusion act with Bruce trying to outwit Andrew and he was up to it and wasn’t fooled. This wasn’t the judges’ favourite with Alicia winning the completion ---- well done.
After most had gone to bed Ben remembered he had written a ditty for the concert, but he was a bit loud and woke up a judge who didn’t like his effort at all, but the crowd that remained thought his rendition had some merit. It was bed time at last.It’s Goodbye Clayton for Another Year.
Thank you all for company we all made our departures very leisurely.
JC with photos from the Van Harskamp clan
Disclaimer : please note