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| Click here for enlargement of the above photo |
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Our Rally
for July was held at the Lagoon Beach campgrounds that lay within the
Chain of Lagoons on the east coast of Tasmania, to be amongst the gum
trees, in pleasant and colourful surroundings, as well as hearing the
crashing surf some 200 metres away is something to be experienced. Our
fire technician Wayne and our Hosts Greg and Margaret proceeded to our
Rally site the day before the main Rally and proceeded to erect our shelter
and start off the huge log fires that we were to experience over the weekend. |
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| Lagoon Beach & Lagoon | Campsite amongst the Gum Trees at Lagoon Beach |
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| Greg, Margaret and Wayne were on hand
to welcome us as we arrived on the Friday and by late afternoon all
of the participants had arrived in time for happy hour, once again our
President welcomed all and outlined the programme of events for the
weekend. |
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| Campfire at Night | Happy Hour Friday Evening |
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Friday
evening passed rather quickly with all the discussions and some continued
on with the happier hour under the guise of security watch for the rally
site. During the night we experienced a little rain though we awoke to
a nice sunny day. Saturday morning was a hive of activity with those entering the Annual Damper bake off competition attempting to find out each others secret ingredients, some elected to go with the Island Wanderers Cook Book for in the past the recipes contained within have been sufficient to win the competition. |
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| Camp Ovens cooking Damper | Dampers awaiting judging |
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With the rain during
the evening it made the wood wet and though our fire technician Wayne
worked hard it was difficult to get the coals that was required for the
camp ovens, due to the coolness of the day as well we had to place the
majority of the camp ovens in amongst the fire and coals, others elected
to use heat beads in their own fire pots. A few people commented that
those using their own fire pots would have an advantage which turned out
not be the case. Our judges spent considerable time weighing up who they thought had produced the best damper given the differing types of dampers that had been produced. Some had beer, bacon, herbs of many variety and other secret herbs and spices, it was great watching the judges sniff, pull apart and taste all dampers. |
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| Judges at work in the Damper Competition | Michelle the winner outright of the Damper Competition with the Perpetual Trophy |
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We all
had a taste of the various dampers and it must have been hard for the
judges to decide the eventual winner, though Michelle deserved the win
given the time and effort that must have gone into the preparation of
the damper. By this time it was lunch time and our host Margaret had made
several types of soup ( the ingredients were provided by the members at
the rally)to go with the damper. The soups were excellent and there was
a lot of dipping and tasting of the many dampers. |
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| Host Margaret serving Soup | Host Margaret & Greg (in background) serving up soup |
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After
our beautiful lunch we all rested for an hour and then it was time for
the gum boot throwing competitions, both Men's and Ladies with the umpire
Jim; to the many boo's and jeers showed how it was best done to reach
the furthest distance, as the day was getting late it was best of two
throws to decide the champion in the Men's and Ladies and then the Grand
Champion. Well, what can we say the gumboot went up straight up into the
trees on more occasions than not and the throwing stance was something
else to behold .Though the distance covered by most was amazing. |
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| Competitors lining up for their throw | Brian in action before going into trees |
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It was
hilarious to see where the gumboots were going even behind the starting
line it was not safe to stand however, Dennis and Mary were winners in
their respective sections. In the throw off between the Men's and Ladies
winners for the Grand Champion the judge announced that this would be
a handicap throw off. He immediately placed Dennis 20 metres behind the
starting line, then the respective throw off was judged as a tie, so Dennis
and Mary were crowned joint Grand Champion winners. Just as well the judge
had stated there was no room for appeals or it could have made for a long
afternoon. |
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| Was this lady trying a new dance step? | Dennis & Mary winners
of Men's& Ladies & Grand Champions Gumboot throwing |
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What a busy day were
having for it was time for the Surf fishing competition where there were
many entrants, however the surf did not lend itself to fishing for it
was pounding in and with the undertow was sending the lines straight back
onto the beach so it was decided to abandon the event until next year
when hopefully the conditions are better. |
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| Avid Fishermen return | Two Fishermen persevere as seas drop off |
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With
the fishing competition abandoned it was time for our evening meal, our
hosts for the weekend Greg & Margaret had prepared a surprise for
us. Greg being a professional fisherman had bought along 40 kilo of Flake
which was to be prepared for our evening meal. we were to have curried
Flake bites and grilled Flake on the chapter's barbecue with every one
supplying their own side dishes. What a wonderful meal it was with plenty
to go around and some came back for seconds. |
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| Preparing Curried Flake bites | Grilling Flake on Chapter barbecue |
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There wasn't a soul that didn't enjoy
the evening meal, and after as we sat around the huge campfire it was
time to talk about our travels again. On this occasion members were
asked to describe their favourite camping or holiday spot in Australia,
there were many tales to be told and many present were able to rekindle
their thoughts on the many places of interest that were discussed. It
was off to bed and we didn't take any rocking for it had been an enjoyable
day with so much packed into it. |
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July |
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Rally Happenings of previous month/s click on month of choice |
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