I can’t believe how long it has been since I was last up at Little Duna!! Somehow months had gone by with the last visit being the end of May, so I was a little nervous as Stu and I rolled up the driveway last Friday night… what would we find? Would the Shed be ok, would the doors still be shut? Are the caravan’s still there? Had a tree fallen on them? Had the place flooded???
So much could have gone wrong in the months since I was last up there….. luckily everything was exactly as I had left it 🙂 Just a little more leaf little around the paths and man was it green!
Anyway, as you will have guessed this weekend was a boys trip to Violet Town. Due to some poor planning… unfortunately Paul was only able to join us for Saturday night, but Stu and I managed to make the most of what was an awesome weekend to be outside.
We arrived about 9:30pm and quickly setup the camp and got a roaring fire going. Was a little cold, but soon enough we had settled in for a few cans.
Next morning we woke to the birds singing and the sun shining. Wasn’t hot, but wasn’t exactly cold either!! We setup the pergola and cooked up a feast of bacon, eggs and sausages on the BBQ.
After breakfast, I informed Stu we had a little housekeeping to do before we could just “chill out”. First job was to fix the quad bike!
If you can remember back to Easter, I had spent some time fixing the missing bolts on the wheels only to have the suspension snap again. Luckily Paul (Kate’s boyfriend, not Paul who was at this stage late to a boys trip…) had offered to have a go at welding it back together. The job he did fixing it was sensational and it came up better than new!!
Still took Stu and I a good hour or so to change it over. Once done, it was time to ride… I jumped on, turned the key and pressed the electric start and….. nothing!
Hmm… must be a wire I said. Was while I was checking for loose wires I realised that I had left it in gear to prevent the kids from being able to accidentally start it…. feeling a little foolish, I slipped it into Neutral and wirr, wirr, wirr… over the engine turned…. wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr…
Hmm… still won’t start…. again feeling a little foolish, I checked to make sure the bike had petrol…. yep, sure enough, bone dry. I filled the tank and tried again…wirr, wirr, wirr… over the engine turned…. wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr…
Seriously?? This was getting tiresome!!!
Was at that stage I remembered that I had also turned the fuel tap off to prevent the kids accidentally starting the bike…. hate it when I do the right thing!!! I flipped the tap to on and wirr, wirr, wirr… over the engine turned…. wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr, wirr…VROOOOOOM!!! The engine roared into life!!!
Next job was to test the suspension for strength, so I did that the only way I know how, tearing off down Little Duna lane (AKA the driveway) as fast as I could. I bounced and rumbled my way down to the gate, swung the bike around and flew back up the lane to where Stu was standing by the shed “All good” I grinned, now time for the next job.
Job number two was to plant a fig tree that Aunty Pam had donated. I was under strict instructions from Dad to plant it over near the front dam, somewhere it would get water, but not too moist. We loaded the tree, the auger and a shovel into the trailer and I drove down in the pathy as Stu zoomed around the block on the newly fixed quad bike.
Found a good spot in some not too hard to dig ground, sank a quick sat with the auger, refilled it with some rich soil and planted the fig.
Was as I was putting the tree in the ground that I realised we had no way to water it, so I asked Stu if he could race back to the van to get my 10L jerry can. He raced away and I had just finished planting when I heard the quad bike heading back. He was just passing the shed, so I knew he wouldn’t be long and sat down on the edge of the trailer to wait…. and wait…… and wait!!!
After a few minuted I turned around and burst into laughter as I could see Stu filling the jerry can from the water tank!! I had great pleasure in pointing out the dam full of water right next to us when he finally arrived!!! See I wasn’t the only one not thinking straight that day!
We gave the freshly planted fig tree a good drink before heading back to camp. Stu took off on the quad bike (I think he was enjoying himself) as I slowly drove off the little mound of dirt to do a u-turn… unfortunatly I couldn’t see what can only be described as a pond hidden beneath the grass until it was too late. By the time I added power to the wheels I was stuck!
Even when I shifted into 4-Low, the car and trailer wouldn’t budge 🙁 Luckily I was able to reverse just enough to give me the run up to power out of it, but as I arrived back in camp, the car and trailer had a good spray of mud!
Last job for the day was wood cutting, including the tree that had fallen and nearly taken out the van back in May. Having the chainsaws we made light work of it and even managed to find a nice red gum hollow log that would make a good chimney for that nights fire.
Well that was our must do jobs done, so we settled down around the fire for a coffee to wait for Paul who we figured must be getting close… was about 3pm by now.
After a cuppa with Paul still not in sight, Stu and I decided it was about time to shoot some bullets, and spent the next 2 hours and about 200 rounds. We modified the targets a little as we went, and increased the distance and angle to make it a little more challenging. By the end we were master marksmen (well in our heads anyway!!).
Out of rounds, we gave the .22 a clean and put it away, and it was about 10 minutes later as we were discussing dropping the yabby net into the dam overnight that Paul finally arrived, right on dusk. Paul had come the back way up through Yea and learnt (as I have before) that the single lane highway (with trucks) and winding roads does not make it a faster trip!!
Anyway, we raced over to the second damn with a raw beef sausage as bait and dropped the yabby net in the water, tying it securely to a nearby tree. Meanwhile behind us a magnificent sunset was unfolding . The following photo I name “Sunset at Lake Little Duna” (can say that this time of year, in Summer it would be “Sunset at Little Duna muddy puddle!!).
A breath taking scenery and Paul managed to get a similar photo from a different angle that I also liked and so stole it off Facebook to post up here…
Next stop now Paul had joined us was the Violet Town Pub for a counter meal and a few beers. We also realised we had better call home before our families forgot who we were. I was sitting out the front chatting when I saw a dog that kept jumping up in the window. Obviously his master was inside having a drink and he was keeping a close eye on him!! Only in the country!!
Back at camp, we did what boys do when camping and built a roaring fire using the hollow red gum log as a chimney…
With the fire climbing high, we danced around it like drunken cavemen until the early hours of the morning… or at least I’m sure that’s how wives envisage the night and why spoil it for them!!
Unfortnatly, Paul due to his poor planning had to hit the road at 8am the next morning, and all Stu and I could muster was a grunt from our beds as he left. We woke at a more civilised time and cooked our breakfast. Had to finish off the bacon and without Paul there we had a big plate of yummy heart stopping bacon with a couple of little eggs and a sausage on the side.
We ade sure to take a picture and send it to Paul so he understood just what he was missing out on!!!
Now as I was starting to cook, Stu jumped on the quad bike and went to check the yabby net. I wasn’t there but Stu claimed that as he pulled it in, there was a small gabby clinging to the side, but it jumped off and disappeared under the water with a flick of its tail… at least that means there are some in there 🙂
Stu reset the trap, but unfortunately a later attempt to retrieve the trap ended up with a broken string… will have to wait until summer and see if we can reclaim the yabby net.
All in all it was a great weekend, and I was a little sad as we packed up to come home. I really enjoyed getting away after not being up there for so long… I think another trip may need to be planned in the near future 😉
Until then keep an eye out and I’ll give you a Gardening Challenge update soon… been a few developments on that front!!
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