Down on the farm

A few weeks back I got a heads up on an event at a farm in lake king. As I had time off, I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet up with some of the great folk I had been conversing with on an internet forum. We left late morning on the Friday and arrived at the property late afternoon. 2 other families were there on our arrival. After a quick introduction, it was time for me to set up camp. When done, we joined the rest for a relaxing social then moved over to the owners fantastic outside area for a barbeque dinner.

The following morning we were greeted by a picturesque foggy morning (after the Major Mitchell alarm clock went off......which needed a 12g snooze button....Lol )

Sporting the repercussions of some red wine that was obviously a bit crook from the night before, I headed out with the others to help lay some posts for a fence that the owner was constructing. When asked who was going to do what job, we all looked at each other. The owner gave us some guidance and we were into it. In the first stint, BJ drove the truck, I drove the hammer and Simon sighted the line of posts for a straight line. Half way through and we all had a bit of a swap. BJ was funny, he put up some sighting posts and left bugger all for the rest to put in.....Simon was going cross-eyed from sighting and I'm sure the owner hasn't noticed the drunken straight line we layed (he will when he lays the wire )

An hour and a half or so and a kilometer of posts were done.


BJ names the property Maralinga. This was due to the fact BJ had battery issues, Simon had rear power socket issues in his new Patrol and I had car fridge issues combined with camper battery issues. A few hours of stuffing around and it was time to sit back for a bit. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the serenity at the party house.

The owners wife had got a couple of roasts for dinner, so the camp ovens were broken out and Simon did a magnificent job on the cooking. The meat literally fell off the bone. We all had dinner in the staff quarters, followed up by the most magnificent toblerone cheese cake one had ever had. And we all celebrated the owners birthday in style. Rural camping style!

Sunday morning came (again with the Major Mitchell alarm clock). BJ got away early, followed by Jack and Leah. I got motivated about 10am and packed up. Spent another couple of hours sitting around chatting and hit the road about 11.30am. I called into Wave Rock on the way home as the little one hadn't seen it before.

 On behalf of my family, can I just put out a heartfelt thanks to Simon for the invite, John and Jess for their unbelievable hospitality at their farm, and BJ and his daughter for keeping my daughter well supplied in lollies and company. We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and feel we owe you all something in return.
 

A few days near Manjimup

Well I got home from a camping weekend on a farm in the wheat belt late Sunday 15/04/12. A repack on Monday and I was off again on Tuesday, this time to the South West. Stayed at "Grandad's" in Nannup on Tuesday night, roast dinner and trifle for desert....couldn't miss that. Took a route via dirt roads from Capel to Cundinup I tried out about a year ago. I wanted to miss the Vasse Hwy hills and give the stone stomper a workout.

Off on Wednesday morn to a spot I thought I could remember just out from Donnelly Mill. I get there and its all regrowth Forrest. So much for the memory. So a bit of a scout around and I land at Greens Island. Same issue here as most other places. Narrow copper logged bays, really unsuitable for soft floor campers. But I reckon I can fit in....Just. Waiting for the rain to stop, I start to set up. My camper is a pita to do solo. My 5 year old doesn't provide enough help as yet. Anyway I start the set up and it rains again. I don the raincoat as I'm now committed. I get there eventually.

By the time I've set up its "beer o'clock" and a relax till dinner.

Thursday is a nice day. Myself and the little one spend the day caching the area.Found and replanted a nice trackable whilst there (kitty Kat of mass destruction). One cache was only 40m from my camp.

Did a very tough bush bashing cache not far from camp. Was overgrown to buggery, tiger snake infested country and had to leave the little one in the car with a handheld uhf. Found the cache which was nice, but backtracking my route in the thick tree canopy was a challenge. Also did a cache at Glenoran Pool

Went out late afternoon via bush Tracks to Donnelly Mill. I really love to take the little one here every time I pass. Whilst I don't particularly like roo's and emu's (Cockies I know keep asking  me to give them a lead injection, sorry if that's outa place) , they have their place here. An ice cream and another local cache and time had beaten us to get out to Willow springs for the other treasures to be found.



The weather turned early Friday morning and we decided to head back to Grandad's (dry and warm). Trying to pick a hole in the weather, I started to pack up. All the gear under the awning ended up on the picnic table provided with the camper cover on top of it. Setting up was a pita, but packing up was worse, especially solo.

All sorted now between showers and a very wet camper to take home. Home via Donnelly Mill again for lunch and a couple of caches at Willow Springs. Grandad wasn't surprised to see us and we had a warm dry bed for the night. Leaving Saturday, I got home about 3pm via the same bush tracks I took on the way in. A quick hose down of the dust off the camper  and I was off to a pre-arranged bbq. I spent Sunday drying out all my canvas, mopping and cleaning the camper. Just over a week and I've chalked up a couple of thousand K's of camping from the Wheat belt to the South West. Now I'm all set again for the next one.....