It
was an early morning start with Greg and me arriving at Meningie just after
10.00 a.m. to meet up with Len, Gerry and Chris and Dianne. Not bad,
considering the meeting time was between 10.30 and 11.00. After the compulsory
Bakery visit Greg and I went on ahead as we were travelling slowly with the
van. Gerry also left to take a diversion around the lakes. The others waited
for Len’s Brother Bill and his wife Francie.
We set up at Kotgee which is a lovely sheltered campsite
with tables and a communal area and a toilet nearby. After Happy Hour and
dinner it was time for the night’s entertainment. Greg led us up through the
campsites to a little sand hill to look for and give us a good view of
McNaught’s comet. We stood there gazing into the sky having difficulty finding
it. When someone finally looked in the right direction it was a spectacular
sight with the brightly lit comet and its huge curved tail. After the viewing
we headed back to our camp and sat in our chairs where we were able to continue
to gaze heavenward at the comet. Thanks for the exercise Greg! Just when we
thought all the excitement was over we heard a rustle in the bushes and we were
visited by a large wombat. They told me it was the same one Dean heard on the
last trip that pin
ched
Len’s dartboard.
Australia day morning we were ready to leave camp a bit
after 10.00 a.m. and Gerry decided to secure his site by leaving a piece of
paper staked to the ground stating that the site was reserved for the ORVC. We
had a great day travelling to the end of the park at Carpenters Rocks. The trip
along the beach was interesting as the sand was soft and we had to hope that the
car in front kept their speed up so that we didn’t slowly sink. There was a lot
of debris on the beach, with planks of timber with nails sticking out causing a
bit of concern. Much of the other tracks were a bit like the skiing mogul and
at the end of the day many of us were pleased that our heads were still attached
at the neck. Lunch time proved to be an exciting time for me. Greg pointed out
some abalone shells and I picked one up only to find a small snake underneath
it. The trip back along the dirt road was awesome with too many wind turbines
to count. There were many heaps of gravel where more are to be placed and some
huge blades close to the road waiting to be erected. 
When we arrived back at camp Gerry was surprised to see that his reserved sign had worked. David had thought how considerate we were to reserve him a place but thought it strange so he pondered on the situation for about an hour and then he erected his tent in the spot. Ian and Wendy and the youngest club member Lachlan had set up camp in a site a couple of minutes away. They also had Jamie and his daughter Jordan with them. We had another pleasant night around the picnic table. When it started to rain we put up Gerry’s new rain shelter. Although it was windy the shelter stood firm as it had guy ropes going in all directions and a couple attached to solid pine rails. It worked. The rain stopped.
Sunday we were on the road at 10.00 a.m and didn’t get back
until 6.00p.m. We travelled from Beachport to Robe. We had a pleasant day with
the beautiful coastal scenery and the sand dunes. There were plenty of
challenges for the drivers with the soft sand. One hill Len and Chris managed
to get over but the remainder of the party had to take a deviation around it.
Bill who had not driven in sand before decided to take yet another easier
alternative. It was like a bapti
sm
of fire for him as there was a lot of difficult driving. David had a bit of a
surprise when he came over the crest of one hill and found Bill stuck in a
couple of ruts on the other side. At one point Len said we had a choice of 2
tracks and he decided to take the high road. Diane made the sensible choice of
taking the low road and the rest of us followed. Seconds later we heard Len
complaining that he was stuck and the situation ahead looked worse than where he
had come from so he had to reverse out, and eventually joined the waiting party
at the huge Robe rubbish tip. We reinflated the tyres on the outskirts of
Robe. Greg learnt that his tyre gauge is not accurate, in fact when he thought
his tyres were at 18 they were actually at 21. Typical, buying things for a 4WD
is never finished. Next he will want a roof rack!
I have never seen so many 4WDs in the one place before.
Some convoys appeared to have about 15 in them which would be a bit of a
nightmare. Then there were a few
bikes to avoid as well. Surprising with all these people around there were
still quite a few vacant campsites in our area.
Back to camp, along the black top. Some of us felt our age and needed a restful Happy Hour before thinking about dinner and the pretend campfire.
Sunday morning was time to pack up and go. We left early and when Greg realised that we didn’t have turning lights on the car we pulled into a parking bay. I was on the handheld giving reports on the malfunctioning lights when Gerry pulled in to help us. The hazard and horn fuse had blown so it was easy to fix.
Thankyou, Len for leading us on an interesting trip.
Leonie Young
