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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
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