Saturday dawned with a beautiful clear sky but the chill of an icy wind. The mandatory walk around the camp site, alongside the Loddon River, back to the bridge, up and down several small hills, checking out a couple of dam like pools created by the river, soon warmed us up. We soon discovered the purpose of the little trailer we had spotted on the Friday – constant tea and coffee – even biscuits and spoons – the urn was powered by a tiny solar panel, with a top-up push button pump mechanism, complete with water strainer, all connected to a 30 litre plastic container on the front of the trailer A frame. The only thing you had to provide was your own cup and chair. It wasn’t really a morning or afternoon tea session but it could be an all day session if you so desired.

The day was spent in the usual CMCA type discussions, where had you been, where were you going next, what had you done to your motorhome, exchanging recipes and ideas and more.

Bob soon met a kindred music spirit in Jan, whose fifth wheeler even had provision for a large keyboard. They were even more delighted when Jan confessed that she sometimes brought an organ along – an EL90 (100 kgs!) – just the same as Bob has at home. They compared ”notes” for hours.

Jan and husband John had built their fifth wheeler, converting it from a mobile milk bar. They proudly showed us photos of “before” and invited an inspection of the “after”.

The Bushwackers have a reputation for another extreme – doggy friendly. Nearly every vehicle of the 17 attendees had a four-legged friend – mostly small terrier sized and our border collie Rex was a giant in stature in comparison. To the amazement of many humans, he was readily accepted into the doggy hierarchy and made friends with Meg, Zoe and Tessa in particular.

If you could find a spot out of the wind, then the crystal clear creek made an idyllic backdrop to sit and read. There was no signal from either phone, CDMA or digital, unless you climbed the nearby hill, where CDMA got a mere two bars to touch base with civilization. Our four legged friends had no problems scooting up and down but their human counterparts had to take a bit more care and at least one person was seen sliding down on his bum, after losing his footing on the rocky track. Oh yes - he had a sat phone in one hand (for a while that is!)

Sunday morning also dawned with a clear blue sky and considerably less wind. The Bushwackers have a tradition of bacon, sausages, tomatoes and eggs with toast for Sunday breakfast for the princely sum of $2.50 per head. The fold out BBQ at the end of the trailer soon was covered with bacon and sausages. The drift of the cooking smells enticed occupants from bed. Someone donated mushrooms the size of a gent’s palm. The record for the BBQ cooking simultaneously was 4 kg of bacon and 84 eggs last Easter!!!

Treasurer Gloria was in fine form, collecting the weekend fees, breakfast dues and selling the raffle tickets. Everyone brings a prize for the raffle, wrapped in “fancy” newspaper. That way when you win, it is a surprise at the contents. Once you win and choose a prize, if one of your other tickets is drawn out, it is a redraw, until everyone present wins a raffle prize. As is typical of our luck in these areas, we were the very last ticket to be drawn.

After lunch, unfortunately the camp gradually broke up, as there are quite a few people still working. We experienced the camaraderie so often found at CMCA meetings and left with many invitations to visit our new friends at their homes and to attend any Bushwacker weekend when we are in the area again.

Thank you to all the Bushwackers for a wonderfully peaceful weekend.

Chrissy Eustace