Canberra Camp 2018

We departed slightly ahead of schedule, despite some light drizzle falling as we were packing buses and saying our goodbyes. A mellow start to the trip with all passengers settling well into the long haul. The grey skies followed us with showers accompanying the convoy throughout the morning. There were naps, music and games undertaken as we started to eat into the long day of driving.

Morning tea at Lake Bolac saw persistent drizzle and a reasonable chill factor. However, with sufficient shelter to keep everyone dry, a variety of home baked goods and mass produced factory samples ensured that the campers were adequately fed and ready to launch into the second leg of the journey.

It is a public holiday being held on the eastern side of the border, due to some equine running event, so there was a bit a traffic on the road. Unfortunately, our regular luncheon venue was all fenced off with renovations to the playground and park, and the much needed toilets were locked. A number of people demonstrated surprised, among other, facial expressions as we raided a service centre up the road to utilise the facilities. It didn’t take too long to get about 100 people in and out of the lavatories and be back on our way again.

The aforementioned running of the nags took place whilst we were in transit, with Max, driver of Bus 1, and owner of Gambier Coachlines, claiming victory in his office sweep (seems all a bit dodgy to me). The sun made a couple of welcomed guest appearances in the early afternoon, however the drizzle and grey persisted to stalk us and dominated as we made a dash for the loo mid-arvo at a refreshment stop.

Our arrival at the Great Aussie Holiday Park was not a pleasant one. It’s as if Mother Nature waited for us to pull into the long driveway before releasing a torrential downpour that saw all participants make a mad dash from the bus to the safety of a common room. Some flash flooding and hail followed, preventing us from getting our luggage from the buses and having to make tactical navigations to find a suitable path to our dorms.

There were some well folded linen corners on the beds of a few, most saw sheets thrown over a mattress, or at least an attempt to, and then there were a few that tried to avoid the process completely. Long story short, the made beds don’t look pretty but I’m sure they will do the job.

The precipitation did ease for an hour or so whilst we enjoyed a classic outback Aussie meal, barbecued meat and tatters. Salad was on offer, and predictably, the majority of it remained once the main meals had been consumed. Despite the moisture that lingered in the air, ice-creams for dessert were definitely well received.

Some time was spent finding out the various groups everyone is split into before we were treated to a brilliant thunderstorm and lightning display, along with more monsoonal type rains that sent most into their dorms for cover.

With the excitement of the long awaited camp finally being underway, and the lack of opportunity to rid themselves of some excess energy, there were quite a few chirpy campers as they hopped into bed. For some, it wasn’t log until they were catching some zeds, whilst others took a bit more persuasion and encouragement to get them to close their peepers, relax and allow themselves to drift off to the land of nod. 

The wake-up call for tomorrow is 6am so it will be interesting to see how well all have slept and who is ready to function after what will be another early start. We’ll keep you updated tomorrow!