past events

Jackass Fern Gully weekend meet

 

 

Jackass Fern Gully

Victorian members meet

held over the ANZAC long weekend from Friday 25th April until Sunday 27th April 2008

 

    The Jackass Fern Gully meet was held on the ANZAC long weekend Friday 25th April to 27th April 2008 at Jackass Fern Gully picnic spot in Cobobboonee state Forest. Cobobboonee State Forest is an area of 27000 ha with the southern boundary about 5 km from Portland and the eastern boundary 7 km south-west of Heywood. Used mainly by locals for day trips and horse riding groups. It is also part of the Great South West Walk.

    Thursday saw Paul head off and be all set up by early afternoon to watch the arrival of Bob & Ann in their T-van, Bill & Mary in their Goldstream caravan and Robert arriving about 5 pm with his Cub Camper. Leanne arrived just on dark to see Robert just finishing off setting up and the rest already around the fire enjoying the mild evening. Roland & Holly arrive in the dark and quickly set up their Coromal caravan.

    ANZAC day saw Dirk & Trent arrive very early with their prototype camper. The rest of the day saw Dave arrive with his hiking tent, Mark with his Camp/o/matic Ranger, Kevin and the girls with a very slow set up of his Southern Cross, David P with his X-trial minus family due to illness, Doug & Jeannie with their Ultimate and finally Dale & Linda with their rooftop tent.

    Once everyone was settled in, there was much to catch up on with new and old faces around the fire with camp cooking, a few glasses of red and much laughter and stories told. Some snuck off to bed at a reasonable hour feeling rather tired after a long day in the car.

    Saturday we awoke to cooler weather and the very serious threat of rain. Mid morning we received a phone call from our invited friends just wondering how much further up the dirt track they had to go. By the tone of Barry's voice all was not good and so Paul set off to the rescue, to find two very muddy, dirty bikers who had come off the Harley - both uninjured thank goodness. After righting the Harley and the jack knifed camper trailer, Paul hitched the camper trailer up to the 4WD, put Marianne in the car and Barry followed very slowly, arriving in camp looking a bit worse for wear but to a very warm welcome and willing hands to help them set up.

    Walkabout was planned for 11am Saturday but due to the rain it was postponed until 2 pm where everyone had the chance to view everyone's set up and to spy any great innovations - of which there was plenty, so walkabout took quite some time to get around. The rest of the day was spent chatting and relaxing.

    Saturday night was spent around the campfire again with much discussion happening on both sides of the fire. Plans for extended trips were being plotted, that naughty word 12 volt somehow got mentioned and there were even motor bike stories swapped. People drifted off to bed over the evening leaving the diehards to it.

    Sunday we woke to beautiful sunshine for a short time but the rain came again just in time to re-wet everyone's canvas after almost being dry. Everyone pitched in and helped those who needed it and by early afternoon Kevin finally left after getting everything almost dry to only get saturated just prior to folding up the trailer.

    Sunday night saw Bill & Mary, Bob & Ann, Barry & Marianne, Robert and Paul left to enjoy a showery night alternating between the fire and shelter.

    Some highlights of the weekend were:

- Jeannie introduced a new word "shoogle" to everyone. All us females understood but I think the men are still trying to work it out
- Robert's forecast of snow! Yes it was cold
- Watching Mary decide exactly where the shower tent should be placed. Was that 1 or 2 hours with a sit and think in between?
- After making my gluten free bread on Friday, woke on Saturday morning to find that some creature had had a lovely feast over night
- Talking of creatures, Kevin was blaming them for pinching his beer - or was that Dirk?
- Someone relocated Roberts's landing strip so maybe he got lost on the way home and found Kevin's stash of beer!
- Someone camped very close to the fire, also apparently needed to be pointed in the right direction home on Saturday night. Most of us had gone to bed by this stage and didn't witness, but that is the story
- Some yummy food was cooked and shared over the weekend. Thanks to Dale & Linda for those cinnamon scrolls - yum and I did make the traditional batch of Dream Pot scones to have during walkabout. Thank you to all the kids who so patiently cooked marshmallows. Trent not sure how you managed to cook them all gooey and soft without burning them!

    Paul and I would like to than everyone who came for making it such a memorable weekend. Thanks to Bob and Doug for bringing their chainsaws and to everyone who helped collect the firewood. There were a lot of laughs shared and stories told. Despite the cool and sometimes wet weather it was still a great weekend. The thing that I notice most of all though was how everyone pitched in to help others pack up, hitch up or whatever was needed. There were always willing hands

    We very much look forward to the next one.

 

Paul and Leanne

photos

photos by Leanne >>>>>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photos by Rolande >>>>>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

robert's photos  jackass album in photobucket

dave's photos  jackass album in flickr

 

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