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Several
of our members travelled to the Oatland's rest area
for Thursday evening before moving onto our Rally at Campania on the Friday.
The weather was very cold indeed with a terrible southerly wind; though
this did not deter us from catching up on recent events, nor strolling
around Oatland's admiring the convict architecture of the Town. Moving onto Campania on the Friday morning we were to travel through farm land that no doubt was in a period of severe drought, several were to comment on the lack of feed for sheep or cattle, the paddocks looking so dry and barren. We finally arrived at Campania and were met by our hosts Herb & Sue. After registering we were parked up by John very quickly. It didn't take long to renew our friendship and take in the old time values of the area. Campania being an old Railway village has many convict buildings that have stood the test of time and are today still in good order and pleasant to view. |
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Convict
buildings Campania |
Bronze
statues near school |
Old building
with mountain back drop |
We were
to wander in groups around the village admiring the many old buildings
and talking to the local people who were very friendly and only to happy
to discuss with pride the village life and the outlying countryside. This
included the many apricot, cherry and apple orchards we were to see just
outside the village boundaries. Our Rally site is set back from the road
and backs on to the railway embankment and though trains were to go past
during the day their speed was slow which limited the noise factor. The
trains going past in the early hours of the morning did not appear to
faze anyone. |
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Parked
up near railway line |
Happy hour
in session |
President
Graeme talking to Carol-anne |
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Before we knew it happy hour had arrived and we all
adjourned to the hall where President Graeme was to officially welcome
all members and visitors. Graeme then presented our interstate guests
with a visitors certificate and indicated that they should avail themselves
of the social offerings in the same manner as members. |
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Doug &
Bob playing music |
Dorothy
spinning jokes |
Our Chapter
Poet Peter |
We were
to hear jokes from Dorothy and a couple from from Dick, Peter was to regale
us with some of his wonderful poetry that was acclaimed by members present.
Then it was off to bed more than satisfied with the evenings entertainment. It was to rain very heavy during the night though at dawn the sun was shining again brightly, there were several trains pass through they they didn't seem to cause a problem. Saturday dawned and members were out and about early with many electing again to walk around the village admiring the old architecture and a few were caught buying and others eating beautiful scallop pies and pastries from the bakery. Both disc bowl rinks were set up and there were many who were playing, of course with the mandatory laughter and shiacking taking place. |
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Examples of the village architecture
and general store
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Our disc
bowlers in action |
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Playing
Tennis |
Craft session |
Completed
Craft Item |
Margaret
was to tackle knitting flowers for her craft session and they looked quite
life like, then happy hour arrived and as usual our Sheriff was to berate
us for many alleged misdemeanors and fined us twenty cents to go to the
Cancer Council "Relay for Life" fund raiser. President Graeme
was to read out the many Birthdays of members which lead to singing Happy
Birthday in a boisterous manner. Our hosts Herb and Sue purchased some
beautiful cream and chocolate cakes to celebrate the birthday of our Chapter
and was enjoyed by all. |
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Woollen
flowers by Margaret |
Hosts Herb
& Sue with Cakes |
Were they
enjoying chewing bones? |
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After our happy hour we retired to prepare
for our evening meal at the local hotel. Come 6pm we wandered up in small
groups admiring the old buildings, we settled in and a fine country style
meal was enjoyed by us all. Of course the opportunity to have a joke on
Brian could not be passed up and it wasn't long before a bowl of gravy
was delivered, Brian took it in good jest and indicated that it reminded
him of what occurred twelve months ago. We were to wander back to our
Rally site and a few settled in to watch the first AFL Football game of
the year with others going off to bed. Needless to say, Collingwood was
convincingly defeated by Adelaide. |
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Members
dining out |
Quality
meals being enjoyed |
Brian with
his gravy soup |
Sunday was
sunny with few clouds and everyone was milling about waiting for the Farmers
market to open at 9am. The first item they sold out of was the cherries
at $4 a kilo, our members were to purchase not one kilo; four kilo or
more at a time. The stall holders had to go and obtain more cherries from
the local growers and the next lot sold out quickly as well, though it
would be true to say the locals had a look in on this occasion. The stalls were well stocked with produce and nick knacks and other products and did not close until after 2pm. Carol-Anne was to have a stall to sell her range of hand made ear rings and donated all monies collected from the sale totaling $105 to the Penguin Cancer Council "Relay for life" fund raiser. Well done Carol-Anne! |
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| Sunday morning Markets alongside our Rally Site | |
When we
were all marketed out, so to speak, we returned to our Motorhomes and
soaked up the sunshine and had a chat to friends. Others were to use the
tennis court again with hilarious results and our avid disc bowlers could
be heard disputing ends amongst much laughter. Were they serious? Yes they were; for there were many ends that were decided with a ruler checking the closeness of the discs to the kitty. Dick made a couple of sets of disc bowls which were offered for sale to the highest bidder with the proceeds going to the "Relay for Life" fund raiser. Very generous on Dicks part and welcomed by Brian & Christine. After lunch many were to head for home, others to camp out at other venues and a few electing to remain another night. Again, another excellent Rally and a special thank you is warranted for our Hosts Herb & Sue who did an excellent job bringing it all together and making it so enjoyable. So until our next scheduled Rally take care and we will meet again in about a month at Bridport for the long weekend Rally. Foot note We were to note a farmer feeding his cattle with apples due to the lack of grass in the paddocks on the way north to our various destinations, showing the desperate plight of the farmers. |
February |
May | September |
October |
November | December | |||||||
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Rally Happenings of previous month/s click on month of choice |
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