Mini-Muster at The Rifle Club

This has become an annual event and had got overly popular to the point where we had over 30 caravans attending which, although it was good to catch up there were too many to do that with everyone. It was also unwieldy to organise group activities.

This year too we are acutely aware of the fuel situation, price gouging by the oil companies and panic buying by the people has created a far worse situation than is necessary. Having discussed it with Brad we decided that we would risk it.

Anyway, this year we have had about 10 vans, some people coming and going at different times and it has been good.

We left home in typical Karnup March weather and headed south and stopped for a leisurely lunch at Quindanning. Whilst we were having lunch the wind got up and was quite cold. We had planned to meet up with Brad and Denise at the chosen night stop and they actually followed us into the campsite.

We got the chairs out and gathered for tea in the sunshine about 4 o’clock. As the sun went down it gradually got colder and by the time we got to wine o’clock thicker clothes had been fetched and put on. After another round of thicker clothes, we finally decided to call it a night about 1900. It would have been good to have been able to have a camp fire but they’re not allowed yet. The change of temperature in 200ks is remarkable.

When we were getting ready for bed we realised that we hadn’t packed the duvet!!!!

It was a cold night!

We set out in the morning and stopped for morning tea at The Black Cockatoo in Kojonup and then arrived at the Rifle Club at about 1530. To our surprise the place was packed, fortunately Doug the long-suffering caretaker had reserved spaces for us.

Our first move was to ring our friends in Albany, Ron & Zoe, to see if we could borrow a duvet!!! We went and picked it up with gratitude.

Having settled in we all met in the club house for drinks, nibbles and catching up with old friends, some of whom we haven’t seen for a couple of years or more, in some cases.

These musters are really ‘talkfests’ and it’s surprising how much you can pick up from your friends about camping places, their vehicles modifications and ideas for updates but most of all a catch up and comparing health issues!!!!

Most days are about morning tea or lunch as a group, The Strawberry Farm is a favourite for morning tea.

Friday morning I had to go to hospital and get the dressing changed on my knee. We thought it might take a while but we were in and out in 30mins, amazing. The size of the chairs took us by surprise!

Friday was lunch at The Barrel, a popular restaurant just out of town. They also sell the wines from a winery in Denmark. Last year I bought some Merlot and some Reserve Semillon, which was rather nice. They still had the vintage in stock so I bought some more!

The restaurant was pretty well full and although we’d booked a table to be out of the wind, the wind direction meant that we would have been in a wind tunnel, so we had to move inside, which was fine but we had to sit on bar stools and for some reason I found it difficult to realise they didn’t have backs!! Didn’t actually fall off but came close a couple of times!

Over the weekend Albany was providing a Light & Sound show, which comprised lasers stationed on the hills all along the south eastern side of Frenchman’s Bay a distance of somewhere around 15ks. So we tried to find an observation point that overlooked the display line. Unfortunately, the wind was pretty cold and it rained on and off.

The light show itself was not particularly impressive but we put it down to the weather. The pic above was taken from the caravan park when we got back. We think it was supposed to mimic the southern Aurora.

Saturday we had a rest day, ish!

Sunday we went back to the Strawberry Farm for morning tea.

Later we went to a Chinese for an early tea because we had decided to give the ‘light show another chance. However, having walked down to the water (where there were something like a hundred food stalls!), we were still seriously underwhelmed by the show. It was supposed to be a music and the light show, so we imagined that the lasers might move in time with the music whilst changing colour. Nothing of the sort happened. The music was blaring from the speakers but appeared to bear no relationship to anything in particular!

The only movement was from someone’s private drone which had a green light and performed an erratic flightpath amongst the lasers!

Our Aboriginal friends had produced a display of their own which was pretty good and had the appropriate music playing at the right level.

On Monday we caught up with our friends Ron and Zoe for lunch in Albany. Ron and I had amazing beef pies and mash! The pastry was very good and was homemade on the premises. It came with a pint and of course it had to be Guiness. I can’t remember the last time I had a beer, let alone a pint of Guiness. It seemed appropriate and went down very nicely.

Tuesday lunch was with our friends from Mt Barker (a town about 50ks north of Albany), at the West Cape Howe winery. They make a very drinkable semillon sauvignon blanc which we drink at home. With lunch we had a Chardonnay which was quite drinkable. Barry has had an awful lot of problems but was in better nick today than we have seen for some time. It was great catching up and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to catch up with them in the bush later this year.

Whether by accident or design we have historically been at our gathering for St Patrick’s Day and traditionally we all try to wear something green. This year was no exception and we had a good time with a BBQ and the usual round of Irish jokes, although, with hindsight we should probably not tell that sort of jokes in these supersensitive days.

…………………………and of course, there’s always one……………………………….!

It’s Wednesday and, sadly, time to leave, so those that are left are hitching and going round saying goodbye to everyone else.

We have just one more visit to the strawberry Farm for morning tea with Zoe and Ron, mainly to return the duvet. We hope the nights are warmer on the way down than they were on the way home!

We have decided on Lake Nunijup as our first night stop on the way home. We haven’t been here before so it will be interesting to see what it like. There’s a few vans there but still plenty of space and were set up and ready for lunch. A quiet afternoon and evening.

Thursday proved to be an unusual day. We had targetted Jayes Bridge as our night stop, however, on arriving at the turn-off an illuminated sign advised that the bridge was closed, the other road access was the same.

Part of the route took past a surveyors tree. There are many of these, obviously used by explorers to mark their progress, surveyors for mapping out boundaries, roads etc., so that others could use the data. This one was by A C Gregory a Government surveyor.

So we went back to the map and decided on Trigwell Bridge but on arrival we didn’t think much of the camping area. Next we visited the Wedge Tailed Eagle Retreat only to find it deserted apart from a rather raucus little dog. There are quite a lot of free camp opportunities in the area but in the end we decided on Lake Towerrinning, a place we’ve been to before.

There were a few vans already there but we had the choice of several places and had one with the water not far from the caravan door. We sat and watched the sun going down with a glass of wine and some nibbles and had a quiet evening.

A leisurely start to the day and a very easy drive this morning, saw us home about lunch time.

A very pleasant week with friends, of course much of the discussion was about travel in the near future which might be dependent on fuel availability. Well we’re still looking forward to Darwin, fingers crossed.