MSR Porepunkah Christmas Camp, Mt
26th
Dec 2009 to 2nd Jan 2010
It has been a few years since I have attended the Chrissy camp with the club. The last time the temperature was around 40C every day and being a Real woman of generous proportions, I could do nothing much other than sit on my chair in the river whilst all the other non-riders rode pushbikes into town or participated in other activities. So I vowed never to return.
Little did I know that over the next
three years my life would dramatically change. We sold the farm and moved to
By Christmas day I had managed to
lose another 15 kilos and was riding my pushbike for two hours a day and felt
very fit. On the afternoon of December
25 we packed the car and loaded the bike trailer with Cliffy’s motorbike, our
tent and both our pushbikes leaving
When we lived on the farm it would take us around seven hours to drive to Porepunkah. Now it would take us only four hours, most of the time cruising along the Hume. Cliffy drove for about an hour and half and was starting to feel tired so I took over and drove to McDonalds near Wangaratta where we stopped and had our traditional Macca’s lunch. We met Julie and Ron Johnston there. Cliffy took over the reins and followed Ronnie the rest of the way.
We set up the tents and unpacked the car and found that Cliff’s pushbike had a flat tyre so that put an end to any pushbike riding for that day. Other Club members started to arrive. Finally Gavin and Carol arrived and set up their tent next to Ron and Julie’s. We helped Ben and Julie with their tent. As it got closer to 5pm, I could see the excitement building in Cliffy. He was itching to do the first nightly run up Mt Buffalo.
Sunday
27th
5.30 am and I get up, make my coffee and get ready for my first pushbike ride of the day. No one was willing to accompany me, preferring to remain tucked up in bed, sound asleep. I headed off around 6 am and rode along the rail trail for an hour (Cliffy measured it to be around 12 kms), turned around and peddled back to camp. Everyone was up and we all had breakfast. Over the next few days, Katrina, Carol, Gavin and Cliffy joined me on the early morning ride, once each. I think it was too early for them.
Ben turned up with Julie’s pushbike, the gears not working properly, so he and Cliffy fixed it so Julie and I could ride into town. Isn’t it wonderful having mechanically-minded husbands (saves us getting our hands dirty, right Julie?!) Mind you, if I put my mind to it, I can pull a motor out of an old car, replace any part and put it all back together again. But don’t tell Cliffy that!
Okay, the bike’s fixed and the Club’s
riders have gone on their first ride. I am excited about riding into Bright
with Julie W, Julie J, Carol, Gavin, Katrina and her two boys. What a lovely
ride it is, with not too many hilly parts. The only problem is that it is very
popular and busy as
With tonsils lubricated and talk dwindling, we took off again. Once in Bright we parked our treadlies and walked to a coffee shop. After the ride back to camp, the rest of the day was spent swimming and relaxing.
Monday 28th.
On arriving back at camp after my early morning ride at around 8 pm I met Cliffy on his treadly. So both he and I headed along the road towards Mt Buffalo. Not sure how far we went but I was getting hungry and told him I was heading back. He continued but I don’t know how far he went.
After the Club members left for their day ride, Julie Warden and I rode to Bright and met Julie Johnston at another coffee shop. We had something to eat. It was really lovely sitting there talking and checking out the eye candy. Cliffy had forgotten to bring his chain oil so Julie Warden suggested we go to the hardware store and get him some. So we walked there and then to the supermarket and then we rode back to camp.
On the way back we both started singing. One particular song was sung over and over again during our rides (sometimes in my head). It’s an oldie but a goody: the Pushbike Song. After getting back to camp we headed to the river for a well earned swim. Whilst there, Craig arrived and we invited him to join us the next morning on our ride to town.
That afternoon Cliffy came back early from the ride and he, Julie Warden, Katrina, Jared and I drove to the trout farm where we met Julie, Ron, Carol and Gavin. The fish were very hungry and it wasn’t long before we had all the fish we needed for tea. Cliffy cooked his and my fish on the BBQ and it was absolutely beautiful. Thanks Cliff. Maybe you should have been a chef ?
Tuesday
29th
Craig Morley and Suzie Pollard joined Julie Warden and I on our ride into town. Craig, being the male of the group, entertained us with his riding skills, and proceeded to do numerous wheelies along the way. We visited another coffee shop, the best one so far I reckon. Later Julie J, Gavin and Carol joined us.
After returning to camp we found out that Ern had crashed his bike. That thought is always at the back of my mind whenever Cliff is out riding. Most of the time I can’t relax until I hear him returning home.
Peter Feistl and Cliff drove to collect Ern’s bike while I just hung around the camp.
Wednesday
30th
Today is a family day for the Peters’ family. Danny, Katrina, Noah, Jared, Carol, Gavin, Julie, Ron, Cliffy and I head to the maze and mini golf. A game of mini golf between Katrina, Jared, Danny, Cliffy and I resulted in Katrina winning by two shots from Cliffy. Cliffy was the only one to get a hole in one and I was the only one to have over 20 shots on the first hole. (I have never played it before and that is my excuse.)
We had lunch at the maze and Cliffy drowned his sorrow of not winning by eating a very large piece of sponge.
On the way home we spied some hang gliders and pulled up on the side of the road and watched them for about half an hour. We were hoping that one or more would land but none did, so we headed back to camp. Fun was had by all... great food and fantastic company made for a wonderful family day.
That evening Julie, Ronnie, Carol, Gavin, Ben, Tony, Cliffy, Katrina, Danny and boys and I went up to The Horn to watch the sunset. Nearing the top, the sun was shining on the windscreen and, at times, we were unable to see the road. I was unable to climb all the way up to The Horn (not as fit as I thought, and my knee was feeling the pressure) so I watched the sun set half way up. I only just made it back down to the car before the darkness surrounded us. On the way down the mountain we spotted a huge wombat. Cliffy said that it was the first he had seen alive.
Thursday
31st
Spent the morning and lunch with Gavin, Carol and Julie touring around in a nice, cool car and enjoying the scenery. We had a lovely lunch at one of the bakeries in Myrtleford before visiting the Berry Farm on the way back to the camp. I just hung around the camp that afternoon listening to the thunder and wishing it would go away.
That night, at around 1.30am, there was a very loud clap of thunder which woke me. Lucky it did because I noticed that the tent was moving and was on the verge of collapsing on us. I woke Cliffy and we spent the next hour trying to get rid of the accumulated water that was threatening to collapse the tent.
Anyone who knows me, knows I hate lightening. For me, being in a tent is the worst possible place to be, so I hopped into the car and tried to get some sleep.
Friday
1st January
This morning Cliffy, Gavin, Carol and I ride our pushbikes into town and visited another coffee shop. We were met there by Julie and Ronnie who had driven into town. Cliffy and I rode back to camp together whilst the others had a look at the shops. We were trying to decide if we would leave today but the weather seemed to be okay so we decided to stay.
Carol, Gavin, Julie, Ron, Cliffy and I headed to the deer and emu farm for lunch. We sampled deer steaks, emu steaks and goat sausages. I liked the deer steak but not the other two. Then we all walked around outside looking at the animals. Carol hand fed some and Julie had her hair chewed by a baby goat as she sat at a picnic table. On the way home we visited the Berry Farm and bought some goodies to take home.
That evening we decided to pack anything we wouldn’t need that night before heading to bed. Around 1.30 am I woke to hear thunder in the distance and decided to head to the car before it got worse. Boy did it get worse! The thunder and lightning is the worst I have experienced outside the safety of a house. I once read the safest place to be in an electrical storm is a car. I was hoping it was correct. Well, I didn’t sleep much. Watching the rain stream down the windshield was frightening. I have never seen rain like that before and it didn’t take long for a lake to form around the car and tents. Cliffy told me later that our tent was actually floating and so was Carol’s tent.
The storm stopped and three or four car loads of flooded campers from down by the river arrived. Other people started to congregate at the toilet block, looking at the lake that was surrounding us. Eventually they all went back to their respective abodes and not long after the storm started again.
It rained most of that night. Once I had to phone and wake Cliffy because the tarp we had over the tents was filling up with water threatening to pull the tent down again. Thank goodness for mobiles!
Saturday 2nd
We survived the night and upon waking, all went to look at the river in flood. Awesome! Then we packed up, booked our site for next Christmas and drove to McDonalds for breakfast. After saying goodbye to Cliffy’s sisters and their hubbies, we drove home, all making it safely.
I had a wonderful time with family and friends. Thank you to Julie Warden for your company on the bike rides, chatting over coffees, hanging out in the river and for getting me to laugh so hard I almost crashed my pushbike. I am sure other people thought we were nuts riding along singing at the top of our voices. But hey! Who cares, right? We had fun and that is the main thing.
I also finally got to enjoy the company of Pina a couple of times over the week. After reading about her in the magazines over the years and from what Cliffy tells me about her, I am in awe of her riding. She has inspired me to purchase a motorcycle later this year and pursue a dream that I once had when I was in my early 30’s. I hope that I can become half the rider she is. Pina, you rock!
I am looking forward to next year’s camp but hope that we do not have those storms again.
Barb
Peters