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Winter has finally arrived
in Tasmania, though did this deter our Chapter Members? Not at all! Quite
a few Chapter Members settled in at the Oatland's Rest Area on the thursday
evening before moving on to our rally at the Blue Gum Rovers "Blue
Haven Tunnack Retreat" which commenced on the friday. The temperature in the early mornings was to be around 4 degrees Celsius and then later in the day sunny, rising to a crisp 17 degrees celsius with a cool southerly breeze. This did not deter us for we were able to enjoy the wonderfully warm fire in the BGM's Club Rooms. |
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| Enjoying the sun at Oatland's Rest Area | Keeping warm by the fire at Tunnack |
The bulk of our members
were to arrive on the Friday with Brian arriving early heating the urns
and stoking up the fire, so after parking up, it was gather by the fire
until the completion of happy hour and then back to our vans for our evening
meal. After our meal we all assembled back by the excellent fire and warm
club rooms to hear from Fred of the Blue Gum Rovers who gave us a most
enlightening talk on the Retreat and how a partnership of Council, Local
Community and of course the Blue Gum Rovers, through consultation, brought
to fruition the excellent facility we enjoyed for the weekend. At the
completion of his presentation Fred was thanked by our President Ian. We were then to enjoy the fine guitar work of our Chapter member "Doug" who entertained us with both his singing and jokes, it wasn't long before we were all joining in and singing along with him. What an enjoyable evening had by all, it was with reluctance we adjourned to our Motorhome's for the evening to watch the final quarter of football or go off to sleep. |
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| President Ian thanking Fred for his talk | Doug entertaining us with his fine music |
We awoke on Saturday
to a crisp frosty morning with our intrepid walkers once again setting
off at 7am to do their 5 kilometre walk, many of us were to hang to the
bed for longer than usual. As the day wore on many explored the village of Tunnack. During the afternoon the ladies opted to knit in the warm confines of the club rooms, of course Geoff was caught holding the wool skein whilst Chrissy rolled it into a ball. |
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Geoff holding
the skein |
Ladies
knitting by the fire |
Out with
the disc bowls |
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There were many that
braved the elements and played game after game of Disc Bowls, there was
much laughter emanating from the area and it attracted others to see what
was occurring. Of course those members were shanghaied into playing the
game which they enjoyed judging by the laughter. |
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| Braving the elements at the disc bowl rink | Geoff looking perplexed whilst assisting Chrissy with the wool skein |
Another happy hour with
plenty of warmth and laughter being the norm. Our Sheriff was with us
again, he was to be at his punishing best to those who offended in any
way our Chapter code or ethics. There is no doubt people dread his wrath
if caught without the C.M.C.A. badge and of course he was at his brilliant
best when remonstrating with any member. This particular Rally was to
be a Saturday evening "Dining in" rally. So it was we strolled
to the local Community Club for our "Dining in" night after
our happy hour. As usual, the local country people made us more than welcome and were most inquisitive about our life style. As is the norm there is always a local character, on this occasion it was 'arold who was to have those of us having pre dinner drinks in the bar laughing at his many jokes and story's. |
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| 'arold finishing his beer before the jokes | Members enjoying their meal |
There is no substitution
for good old fashioned country cooking, on this occasion there was not
one complaint about the meal served. There were plenty of fresh vegetables
and the meat plus fish were all cooked to perfection. Let us not forget
the excellent sweets which were served. Before the meal Doug entertained
us with his music and jokes which he continued on with after the meal,
once again Peter was to share with us his excellent poetry, which can
at times be quite humorous. |
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| Finishing off an excellent meal | Doug entertaining us before and after our meal |
After the meal many were
to adjourn to the bar and mix with the locals and stand by the beaut fire,
Doug came in also and it wasn't long before the guitar was in action and
he had the locals dancing or singing along. There were many requests made
and there wasn't a song requested that he did not know. Not only were the locals enthralled with his off the cuff performance they also booked him to perform at a future scheduled entertainment night in the area. There were many of us that lasted to closing time and then we spread out like brown's cows as we went back to the club rooms or off to bed completely satisfied with the night. |
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| Peter regaling us with his interesting poetry | Locals in the bar with Doug, they enjoyed his musical talents |
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Sunday morning again crisp with a frost on the ground,
our walkers set off again at 7am though one did not last the distance
blaming the night before for his hangover and lack of walking prowess. |
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