Boys in the Bush

For a long time now, Stuart, Paul and I have been saying that we should have a boys weekend up at Little Duna. No kids, No wives, No dogs…just us 🙂

So last weekend after talking about it so long, we finally made it come true and headed up for the weekend. Stuart and I left from my place about 6pm Friday night with the caravan in tow, while Paul having been caught up at work didn’t leave until about 8:30pm and agreed to meet us there.

Stuart and I arrived just before 9pm after stopping for Maccas in Wallen and for Ice in Euroa, and quickly setup the campsite, getting the fire going to welcome Paul who arrived around 11pm(ish).

First night was spent exactly how a boys weekend should be spent, enjoying a drink around the fire until the early hours of the morning…

So Saturday I was the first out of the bed (surprise surprise) and was joined shortly after by Paul, however Stu did not look good at all when he woke…was it a virus or just a bad scotch the night before? I’m not sure, but Stu spent most of the day Saturday asleep in the van with the air-con keeping him cool as the mercury climbed to 38 degrees.

With nothing else to do as we waited for Stu to sleep it off, Paul and I cooked up a feast of Bacon and Eggs on the BBQ, then headed into Violet Town so I could show Paul around town…that took about 10 mins!!! We stopped at the cafe for a “real” coffee and I introduced Paul to their awesome fried chicken…Yum 🙂

Back at camp, Stu hadn’t moved (actually I think he had rolled over), so we decided to have a crack at installing the water pump for the tank. During the week, I had purchased what is my new favourite tool, a petrol powered Auger. Man is this thing worth every cent… no more breaking my shoulders digging holes, I can drop a 1m deep hole in about 10 minutes. Previously I would have given up after about 30cm to worn out to continue!!

We dropped a hole next to the water tank for a post to hold the tap, then installed the pump which I had bolted to a piece of wood back at home.

Next, we added four posts to hold the roof on, and connected up all the plumbing… must remember to take plumbers tape up there next time as some of the fittings still drip… found the tape where I was preparing the pump when I got home… Doh!

Anyway, my original idea for a roof was to simply have another board on a slight angle. Just need to keep the rain off, so it didn’t have to look like much and I was trying to keep it simple. As we were planning how to attach it, Paul made the comment that a sheet of tin would be better… I jumped up in excitement and found a tin sheet left over by the builders on the ground behind the shed…”will this do?”

Perfect!!

Turned out better than I thought it would, I was so proud of our effort. What do you think, looks like a bought one!!

Well almost anyway!!

As we were finishing and admiring our handy work, Stu finally surfaced looking and feeling so much better. As we saw him approaching from the campsite, I quickly setup the realistic rubber snake I had next to the water tank…

Paul and I, trying very hard not to laugh invited Stuart to look at our handy work… “umm” he said “is that a snake???”

“Where?” I replied innocently… “There by the water tank” he said”…is that real, no can’t be, how would you have been working without seeing it… its fake… or is it…”

“Well if that is fake” I said “then pick it up!!”

“Nope” exclaimed Stu stepping back.

“Ok, then I will…. I’ll grab its tail and just flick it and crack its neck” I said leaning slowly and cautiously towards the tail.

“Don’t be stupid” exclaimed Stuart as I reached down, grabbed the tail and flung it in the air towards him!!!

Not sure he thought that was funny at first as Paul and I pissed ourselves laughing, then he saw the funny side and we all had a good laugh. Hehe…wouldn’t be a boys trip without a few practical jokes!! At least I didn’t leave it next to him while he was asleep in the van… that would have been funnier, although Paul convinced me he might throw up!!!!

Anyway, job done we retreated to the cool of the shed (was only 35 degrees in there) for a cool drink before Stuart and Paul took it in turns exploring the block on the quad bike.

We also managed to do a bit of shooting using cans and paper targets on the makeshift range. Must have gone through about 50 bullets by the time we had finished, and the targets were littered with holes.

A hard day done, we freshened up, rang home to check in and then headed into town for a meal and a few well deserved beers at the Violet Town Pub.

 Violet town’s best were out on a quiet Saturday night, and we saw a group of 8 very young boys (aged around 16 to 17) sit down on the tables out the front drinking bottles of Jack Daniels and Coke they had bought with them. Didn’t take long before the were chased away by the owner. There were a few curses from the group before he cut them off with a “Hey none of that now… go on, on your way” and they wandered off into the back streets to cause trouble elsewhere. Guess in a small town you can cause too much trouble as everyone knows everyone else!

We also saw another bloke take his top off, swing it around his head showing off to the ladies before throwing it onto the roof of the pub. He then stood there trying to look like he meant it before climbing up the ice machine and across the roof to retrieve it. Not sure how he got away with it either as was only a few minutes later the owner came out the front to collect empty glasses.

As I said, the finest Violet Town has to offer!! LOL never seen that type of behaviour up there before, guess we just got lucky!

Anyway, after dinner we returned to Little Duna, lit the fire and settled into some hard core relaxing. We did really well at it, right up until about midnight when it started to rain!! We packed up the chairs just in case, but it was so slow you didn’t even get wet standing in it!! With not much else to do, we put the fire out (really well due to the total fire ban Sunday) and headed to bed. Heard a little bit of rain overnight, but never more than a sprinkle.

Again Sunday morning I was the first out of bed, and I fired up the generator to put the Air-Con on in the van before grabbing the .22 and heading to the range for a bit more target practice while the boys enjoyed a sleep in. Was only about an hour and a half later before Stuart and Paul surfaced, so I once again cooked up a feast of Bacon and Eggs and we had a very slow start to our final day, no one keen to start packing up.

Was actually a very civilised meal for a camp breakfast!!

As we were sitting there eating, Paul noticed that the back wheel of the quad bike was missing two bolts, with the last two about to fall off as well! We jacked it up using some wood and did a bush mechanics repair job on it, but I might need to get some new bolts for the next trip.

After breakfast and showers, I mentioned that I wouldn’t mind refilling the tanks in the van before we left so they were ready to go for next trip. We estimated there was about 2000 litres in the rainwater tank after the downpours of early January. Only need another 8000 litres to fill it, although that won’t take long through winter!!

I had purchased 100m of drinking water hose for the job. We had talked about it the day before, but after installing the water pump we simply couldn’t be bothered and thought that would be a good job for next trip. However the next thing you know, the three of us were running out the hose from the pump to the van, and installing a water tap.

Was great to have a couple of extra hands helping, even if it was heading back to the shed for the things we had forgotten. Paul was always very happy to ride the quad bike to collect stuff… I think he actually liked it!!

We sunk a shaft about 1m deep, dropped a post in it, installed the tap and an hour later we now have onsite water at the camp site!!

We filled the tanks, then hooked the hose directly to the van and confirmed we can run it as mains connected water…when the generator is powering the pump anyway!!

Pressure was good too 🙂

Job for next time will be to run power up from the generator and install a pole, as well as running it back to the shed for the pump. Really need to sink the hose too as it won’t last long sitting above ground in the sun. Might need to hire a trencher for the next trip 😉

Anyway, fun done and the day heating up, we slowly packed up and headed home. I think the boys had a good time, I know I did and I really appreciated the extra help to get a few jobs done… Can’t wait for the next trip and we will even have to convince them to bring the families up, the kids will have a ball.

Cheers