Queen's B'day trip to Bonnie Doon
9, 10, 11 & 12 June
VAT CAMP ATTENDEES
BRAD, NICKY & TRAVIS
80 SERIES
SHANE
75 SERIES
SIMON
75 SERIES
STEWART, NAT & DANIEL
JACKEROO
JASON & KATE
4RUNNER
ROB, DANNI & KIDS
HILUX (PUS)
MARTY, CHRISTINE & KIDS
MWB
CRUISER
The trip started with most people arriving at the house that we
had rented for the weekend on Friday evening. After checking out the house,
unpacking the vehicles and working out where everybody was going to sleep we set
in for the evening.
The evening was going well until a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle was found and some
a@#*hole decided it might be a good idea if we give it a go! This ended up being
the main piece of entertainment for the weekend.The rest of the evening was
spent playing table tennis on the balcony, doing the jigsaw puzzle, playing with
the fridge magnet letters (don't ask) or just lounging around the fire. The
night ended up being a late one, even for those who went to bed early, with the
last person going to bed at 4 am.
Saturday arrived with most out of bed and tucking into breakfast by about 9 am.
With the winter road closures already in force due to the early snow falls Stew,
Nat, Daniel, Jason & Kate headed off for a days driving in the Jamieson area.
Jason tells me he had an interesting day in the passenger seat with Kate putting
MYTTUF through its paces, even having to use the winch once or twice.
While those who went fwding were doing so, the rest of us spent a little more time doing the
puzzle before heading into Mansfield to have a look at the bush market and have a counter lunch.
When we got back Brad decided he'd take Nicky and Travis for a bit of a tour out on the dried up
mud plains of the lake and as you have probably already guessed he didn't get far. With no trees
to winch off I decided to go out towards where he was to help recover him. Of course I took a
different line to Brad but this ended up being worse and I was bogged a good 250 metres from
where he was stuck. The winch was called upon and after half an hour winching I was driving
again and trying to work out how we could get Brad out.
We decided to go back to the house and get Simon's vehicle and set up a combined effort to
retrieve Brad's 80. In the end we had to use two winches, a winch extension strap, two snatch
blocks, a drag chain and a snatch strap to get his vehicle out.
Once all vehicles were out of the mud we decided to head back to the house.
With everybody back from their days activities we all talked about what we had done until tea
was ready. The plan with tea was that everybody would bring up a meal of some sort and then
share it around. I brought up home made pumpkin soup, Kate brought spaghetti bolognaise, Nat
brought lasagne, Nic brought sweet and sour chicken and Simon brought apple pie and ice-cream
for dessert. All meals tasted fantastic with everybody quite full by the time they had finished
dessert.
Rob, Danni, Marty, Christine and kids all arrived early in the evening and joined us for a
drink once they had set up their tents and swags. Danni and Christine headed straight for
the jigsaw puzzle and couldn't leave it for the rest of the night. Once again the night ended
up being a late one with the last person getting to bed at 4 am.
Sunday morning brought with it some sad and sorry heads and after breakfast one group headed off
towards Mount Skene for a play in the snow, while the other group toured around the lake having
a look at all the historical homesteads that were out of the water.
Once again the evening was a late one with some of the more adventurous going for a night tour
out on the lake while the others had a drink back at the house.
With Stewy and myself keeping up the status quo, the night didn't end until we went to bed to
about 4 am.
Monday morning was spent cleaning up the house so it was left in the same state as when we
arrived.
Once the vehicles were packed one group headed off down the Jamieson-Woods Point road towards
Mount Matlock and on towards McAdams Gap while the rest headed off home via the Melba Highway.
A good weekend was had by all whoattended Vat Camp with the same trip likely to be on again
next year.
Cheers,
Shane
Damage Report
Broken rear axle
( done on boat ramp)
Clutch
2 snatch straps
Radiator
2 Tow pins
Tonneau cover tie-down clips
AM Aerial
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