We arrived at Gordon Country just after lunch on Saturday afternoon. We were instructed to sign in at the office on arrival, so that is what we did. After that we proceeded to camp to find we were the last family to arrive. So, with that comes writing the trip report. The funny thing was Ollie and his family had only arrived 10 minutes before us, but we didn’t see them sign in at the office.

The camp area that we were occupying as a group was well setup with all the caravans and camper trailers in a big circle with a substantial fire pit in the middle. As we setup our tent a few club members headed out to collect firewood. On their return and after unloading the firewood we headed out as group to explore various tracks in Gordon Country. After a short drive we decided to head back for happy hour and the lighting of the fire for the nights entertainment.

Around the fire the night progressed well with plenty of laughs, jokes and the consumption of various drinks, some more than others.

As the night wore on it was eventually time for bed. This is where it started to go downhill for us as we thought we had packed plenty of blankets, we were wrong.

We rose the next day after not getting much sleep due to the cold weather. It was great to see members of the club offering extra blankets for the next night after hearing our sob story.

After breakfast Craig lead an interesting drive on various tracks exploring Gordon Country. During the drive we visited a couple of lookouts and a few of us had the opportunity to branch off and tackle more challenging tracks along the way, whilst still staying as a group. On the way back to camp we collected more firewood for the camp oven cook off.

After a cold night and a big drive, we decided to pack up and head home late Sunday afternoon, much to the disgust of our children.

Thank you to Adri for organising the weekend.

Now I will hand it over to Ollie and his family to finish the trip report that they should have started.

The Lanes

As the Lanes headed off, Ollie and I took over the trip report as we were the second last to arrive. This had nothing to do with the fact that we didn't sign in upon arrival, and just beat the Lanes by 10 mins.  

By the late afternoon everyone had prepared their 'camp oven cook-off' meal. People carefully tended to their cuisines by turning around camp ovens, distributing the coals just right, and adding secret ingredients. 'Double, double toil and trouble; 

Fire burn and caldron bubble.’

When it was time, all the meals were placed on the table and there was a variety of dishes from curried sausages to 'the proverbial in a pot'. 

Next came dessert and by this stage we were all very full. Later in the night, some tried to relieve the bloating with cider, others with hot tea, with not much success. 

After dessert, came the all-important task of voting for the best camp meal. Each couple was given 6 tokens to distribute to their favourite dishes. 

The winners were Graham and Kerry with their delicious lamb roast and pumpkin soup. Second place went to Sylvia and Warren with their ?????? Coming in third were Jackie and Craig for their curried sausages, damper scones and delicious chocolate custard. A big thank you goes to Adri for organising an interesting array of prizes, some of which included camping recipe books, a bottle of rum, and various camp oven accessories. 

The rest of the evening was spent with laughter and banter around the bush telly. Nothing worth noting until Graham could see a 'man wearing a hat, drinking a can' in perfect scale, shaped out of the firewood. At this point we all wished we could have whatever he was having, until a couple of us had a look and could see it too.  The group believed somebody must have put some special 'herbs' in their camp dish that affected us all. We all agreed it was most likely Ollie. 

Upon arrival of our last morning, we awoke to cloudy skies. Besides Brian and Jill who stayed another night, most of us were packed up and ready to leave by 11am. Ollie, myself, Bill and Jan headed to Sylvester's Lookout, Main Range National Park to check out the view. 

Overall, it was a lovely weekend, thanks to all who attended.

Natalie