CAPITAL CAMPOUT - EASTER 2008.
Wow – what a long drive it is to Canberra! We left before lunch on Wednesday, stayed overnight in Wagga Wagga and made it to Queanbeyan around lunchtime on Thursday. So it was very pleasant to have someone greet us at the gate and help us to find the Registration Office and a suitable area to camp.
The campground was pretty full by Thursday evening
and there was a good crowd at the first Happy Hour, with much catching up to do
and some discussion about the trip options, after some people had already been
out on the tracks. I have to say that free drinks and nibbles go a long way to
creating a very friendly atmosphere! This despite the fact that we found out
that our portable shower had bitten the dust and there was only one shower each
available for males and females at the campground – amazingly, I managed to
walk straight in every time I went over.
Friday dawned with a newsletter under the windscreen
wiper and time for the trips to begin in earnest. This part of the event was just
one aspect that had been well organised by the NSW crew, with comfortable
departure times, clear signs to line up at, pre trip chats and lots of
information from the trip leaders. Driving through the Brindabellas afforded
some spectacular views, this partly a legacy of the 2003 bushfires, with many
areas where the forest was only starting to regrow. Getting up to the tops of
the mountains (especially Mt Coree, where we were told to expect 360 degree
views over Canberra and the surrounding ranges from the fire lookout on the
peak), proved to be somewhat disappointing when we were shrouded in fog and
could barely see each other!
We found out that the trip plans had been in constant change leading up to the event, as the rangers closed some tracks and graded others that were originally fairly challenging - as a by product, helping to make it even more dusty. In the end, they managed to come up with a good variety of trips and some pretty challenging driving, particularly around Mushroom Rock and along some of the powerlines tracks.
Other trips included a run through Talleganda State Forest, which was a totally different environment – damp and sub-tropical. We saw some massive trees and stumps in here, as well as old mining ruins including a functional water wheel and some old boilers. The walk to London Bridge was also enjoyable, with views of the natural bridge not visible until after you had crossed it and walked down and around the corner. It was certainly a good opportunity to get of the car and stretch the legs for a while.
Saturday night was party night, with some very
nervous ‘volunteers’ taking to the stage for ‘Jackaroos have talent’ contest,
in the middle of a two part quiz night. The NSW entry was, apparently, fairly
well rehearsed, with four men dressed as ‘The Giggles’ and performing a medley
of Wiggles and AC/DC tunes. An unfortunate mix-up with the music CD meant they
most of the time jumping around the stage to AC/DC! Despite this, they were in
line for a good score until one of the Giggles decided to remove his shirt in
front of the judges, hoping to gain extra points – that helped turn a score of
6 into a minus 6!
The Victorian entry attempted to gain points from
the ‘cute factor’, using some of the young children from the club to sing a
number of songs - displaying some genuine talent in the process. Again, this
appeal to sensibilities drew harsh criticism and low scores from the judges.
SA, courtesy of some very hard work from Michelle Hardy, sang a version the old hit “I’ve been everywhere, man”, using names of places and people from previous tri-state events in place of the traditional lyrics. Needless to say, despite performing without any rehearsal, we were brilliant and won the night!
The quiz part of the night was another great success and was keenly contested, with over $50,000 in prizes on offer. It came as no great surprise that the ‘big money’ was in the form of Scratchie tickets (encouraging gambling, no less!) and that none of them turned out to be big winners – as far as we’ve been told, at least!
Sunday morning brought the traditional Easter egg hunt and lots of fun for the children. Sunday afternoon saw “The Giggles” on tour throughout the camp site, providing impromptu performances of many of their well known songs.
Sunday trips were severely restricted so that we
could have the traditional competition afternoon. I have to admit that,
despite our best efforts, SA could only manage second in the tug-of –war, with
NSW having the services of “Big Phil” and being pretty much unbeatable! We
also managed second in the wheel changing-rolling-replacing relay competition,
which was won by NSW – (ed SA did manage to make it a clean sweep in the photo competition taking out 1st place in all three categories) - can you see the pattern developing here? Sunday night
came and Happy Hour was followed fairly quickly with the formal dinner. We
enjoyed generous servings of catered roast, followed by desert and coffees.
Most participants made the effort to dress up in ‘Capital’ themed costume, with several kings and queens and some lovely prizes awarded. Amongst the speeches was the drawing of the final raffle, with most of the major prizes on offer. The new Waeco fridge went to Michele and Rod from NSW, while the four day ‘Far and Wide’ camper hire prize was won by Richard and Wendy from SA. The now famous “Giggles” shirts were also donated and included as raffle prizes. The young ladies from Victoria, who had provided such fierce competition for the Giggles on the previous evening, were overjoyed to be able to take this prize home.
The annual trophy was won by NSW, despite the record number of attendees from both SA (9 made it) and Victoria (16) to an interstate event (NSW had 39!). We’ll just have to do better next year.
We were able to provide some initial information
about our plans for hosting the 10th annual tri-state, which will be
based at Merna Mora in the Flinders Ranges, next year. It will be more of a
back-to-basics event, with some pretty basic camping facilities and some great
4WD opportunities.
(South Australian Club).