well now, just where does one start
oh, at the beginning you say..........................
Lorraine, Katherine and myself set off on Thursday morning about 10am to head up to Toodyay Caravan Park & Chaletes
- why so early you may ask?, well, there is camping to be done and the sooner the betterer
so anyway
we arrived and proceeded to set up camp in "Wandoo" one of several camp areas we had "booked" for usage,
after my usual "ginning" around, finally got everything setup and sorted
a little while later - not sure on exact time as :-
1) dont wear a watch
2) camping - who cares what the time is
3) the Sun was shinning, so it was day time
Ropes and Tracey arrived and proceeded to set up their Camper / Trailer / Taj MaRopes
I was quickly drawn to how much different they have evolved over the years since I last had a camper trailer
DANG what a piece of kit
anywho, after they had setup camp, we sat around for a bit to decide the plan of attack on this Camping thingy
first priority - we needed wood for the fire, as the load for the cookup was not arriving until the next day
silly me went and brought a bag of fire wood from the Park ($18 for 8 pieces of wood - supposedly it was 20kgs........)
I also picked up a heap of branches laying on the ground for added measure
once back at camp, out with the trusty Makita 18V rechargeable chain saw
to the derision of Ropes, who said it didnt sound like a real chain saw - but it cut up the bits we needed, so I was not too fazed by his rude comments about it.
after the fire was lit, and the sun was going down, we sat around for awhile to soak up the "ambience" of being in the semi bush setting of the park, and natter about the little important things in life.
in the morning it was the usual "getting ones act together"
some time "mid" morning, Budds made his appearance, and proceeded to setup "Hotel Budds"
a little while later, and the fire wood appeared near on lunchtime (as promised) so a "communal" wood chucking was commenced.
a little while later, and Budds mate Jason arrived and then setup
then BillSTS and his lovely wife Lisa arrived in the late evening
even later still arriving was Tim & Sara (was dark when they arrived, and they chose to be in the "Heights" section with their 30 second tent (that took half an hour)
so a lazy evening was had around the fire, contemplating our navels as well as yabbering about the next day, and listening to Budds, Ropes and JJ reliving their past glories in the Senior Service (Navy)
Saturday erupted with rain from about 3.30am - and it was quite heavy for awhile,
Bill was quickly out with a shovel, to try and do some earthworks around Ropes setup, as the river was flowing through there
but seemed to slow down by about 8.00am when everyone was slowly dragging themselves out of bed and towards their morning coffee's
the fire was re-lit, and talk was about Ropes bringing the rain, as he now owned the Gold Patrol the "RainGod Patrol"
various people did various things during the course of the day - which I dont remember much about, not even what I was doing, but we were all having fun anyway
DavesGQ and his lovely wife Ruth turned up about lunchtime and proceeded to setup their Camper, as well as AB and his kids, Kinang and his lovely wife Tiala and even Macca and co arrived for awhile, but I think everyone trying to get cuddles and smiles from the little one overwhelmed him, so unfortunately they had to disappear again, poor Bub and mom were knackered
anyway, to the night..................
well, we had some superb dishes - if I got the naming wrong - sorry
AB - Chicken Soup / stew
Bigcol - Satay Chicken & Rice
BillSTS - Potato Bake & Apple and Caramel crumble
Budds - Roast Pork & Apple Crumble
DaveGQ - delicious Stew
JJ - Beef Stew
Kinang - Roasted Lamb
Ropes - Tai Chicken Curry
Thowe - Chicken Curry
while I had a spoon full of everything, I was full as a goog and could not finish my plate
as far as I know, everyone had a great time, enjoyed themselves and pigged out on the amazing dishes on offer
more fun and laughs after dinner around the fire was had by all,
I dont remember who was lucky enough to do the trip report, but
thats my version of events, as I recall
if I missed anyone out - sorry................
please add anything else (and pictures) if you want to
