Past Events

  Atkinson's Dam weekend

 se qld
 atkinson's dam weekend

Saturday 7th to Monday 9th June, 2014

 

The South East Queensland meet on the June Long Weekend was to be hosted by Greg and Lisa Miller who had to hand over the reins to Robyn and Lindsay due to the fact that Greg was unexpectedly working in Rockhampton. We were lucky enough to catch up with them for a day visit on the Saturday as Greg flew down for the weekend but unfortunately the caravan was still at Rockhampton so no camping for the weekend for them. Greg forwarded to me the phone contact details for the scout camp and I was to contact them with numbers.

The organising started off well with Robyn and Lindsay getting a message on the home phone the weekend before with Kylie ringing to tell the group that there was no watersking allowed on the dam on the weekend. Robyn contacted the Scout caretakers to be told there was no Kylie there but there was an Irene and that there was definitely no problem with skiing on the dam. I said I am sure the message was from Kylie but then I put two and two together and realised a certain limping Matt Stone was back in Queensland after having the screws out of his broken ankle and I had been set up big time. Did I feel silly or not. Payback will be good one day Matt.

The weekend had two day visitors plus twenty one members for the weekend camping in tents, camper trailers, crossovers and caravans. A lot of the campers brought something to use on the water from kayaks to canoes and one port-a-boat. I think there may have been more watercraft than canvas on the weekend.

Shane and Nikki plus baby Indie had an interesting trip to the camp on the Friday, with a lunchtime stop that was a bit of a drama with a small child in nappies while having their lunch and followed by urgent call on facebook for Robyn to ring if I saw the message as they were broken down with a flat tyre and no socket the right size to change tyre. Very luckily I heard the ding on the phone and had a look while sitting chatting around my camp. Rob and Lindsay to the rescue.

Luckily lots of members brought along timber as the nights were cool and for the large number of people for around the fire we had three fires on the go one night. The main fire on the ground and two above ground fires. A non foldable brassier and Chris Rogers brought out her flat pack Easy Burn fire pit and it worked well.

We were given a great display by the birds and pelicans on the dam and in the air with us seeing an eagle flying over with freshly caught fish to feed its young. Cameras were always out and about but more so with John and Greg strutting around with their big lenses. Everyone headed to the shore lines to catch a picture of the fantastic sunsets and sunrises we had on the weekend.

Greg and Kerry had their first trip with their new double kayak. Greg will always remember his solo run trying to put in red claw traps and having fishing rods with lures and trebles still on board. This is his own words “The lure on my fishing rod was bit close and snagged on my right sleeve. After a while of trying to unhook my sleeve, I got a bit impatient and decided to just pull the treble hook through the material. Bad move! It snapped back and hooked my right thumb. Yes barb and all. So now my left hand is connected to my right sleeve. After a bit of stuffing around on the lake with tools at hand, I decided I needed help and paddled with one hand back to shore and called for help. So my friends came down and helped cut the treble off the lure and then the painful bit, pulling the hook, barb and all back out of my thumb. How embarrassment!” Fishing techniques continued on the weekend with a number of men trying to learn how to fly fish. Peter and Wim were the experts and were showing them how to do it. Lots of practice continued with many trying to get the hang of casting.

Most people packed up and left by early Monday afternoon with just six camps to stay for the Monday night. An enjoyable game of Finska was held late in the afternoon with lots of laughs at the game with some people saying they were going to use the pins for firewood. There was plenty of room around the one fire for our last night.

We had a very enjoyable weekend and I hope all enjoyed their weekend camping as well. Looking forward to catching up some time soon.


Robyn and Lindsay.

 

photos

 

photos from Robyn>>>>>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photos from Greg>>>>>