Colac Colac Rally
Report 3rd - 7th March 2022 Lawrie and Alison Gaylard "Come when you can, leave when you must." |
Corryong Rally.
Thirty Seven U3A Wanderers members travelled the 440 km to Colac Colac (pronounced Klack Klack ) Caravan park 6 km outside of Corryong Vic.
About half of us stayed in cabins, including Rally Leaders who, due to mechanical issues with their caravan finished up hiring the “honeymoon suite” equipped with spa and a supersize bed so they could celebrate their 52nd Wedding Anniversary. For the curious, Lawrie had a “headache”, ( courtesy of Alan Aston’s bottle of “Ruffled Feathers “ red.)
On Friday a few adventurous souls followed John & Bev to the Cudgewa Bluff Falls, which were pretty, though the area had been devastated by the bushfires two years ago and the bush is slowly recovering. From the Falls, we were then to visit Pine Mountain, which is supposedly a monolithic rock 1½ times the size of Uluru/Ayers Rock. This part of the excursion was led by Lawrie, who some will remember has the ability to memorise maps and still go astray. As usual, he took a wrong turn, which, luckily turned out to be a more direct and scenic route to the destination. However, the Pine Mountain lookout could only be accessed through private property, (something the tourist brochure didn’t mention) and rather than upset a farmer by having 8 or 9 cars go up the driveway and annoy his cattle; we aborted the tour and went into the township of Walwa for lunch. On returning to Colac Colac, we enjoyed views of the picturesque Murray Valley from a couple of vantage points.
On Friday evening we drove 6 km to the village of Cudgewa for dinner at the pub. We were ushered into a special dining room set aside for the Wanderers and many of us stayed for much longer than we usually do at such functions. Because the hotel is slowly recovering from COVID closure, staff shortage meant that some of our folk had to wait a while for their meal. Brigitte being the last person to receive a meal. Apart from that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially when a couple of us won the Cudgewa Footy Clubs’ Friday night meat raffle.
Saturday came and the weather report was not all too promising, the tail end of the Northern “Rain Bomb” was coming our way. We had organised a tour to Tumbarumba via the unique Braymont Gardens and the Paddy’s River waterfall. The Braymont Gardens were a surprise, having only been planted out in 2013 by the owner Chris Brayne. She has done a marvellous job, and done most of it on her own, 6 acres of well designed lawns to wander about in and view the garden beds, sculptures and little notice boards containing humourous sayings and observations
Fortunately, rain held off long enough, when it came, we were under cover, being entertained by Chris who told us the story of how the garden was designed and laid out. What a remarkable lady!
With the rain abating we then proceeded to the Paddy’s River falls, a lot more water than the Cudgewa Bluff falls, then on to Tumbarumba for lunch at the various cafes there.
On leaving the heavens opened up, driving back was very difficult as visibility was down to less than 100 metres.
After dinner on Saturday, Anita & Russell entertained some of us with a sing-along, ably assisted by Peter Wilmot, Judy & Geoff Miller taking turns with Russell’s “Lagerfone”. Anita sang a song by Paul Kelly, “Sleep Australia Sleep” which is very meaningful for our times and an ominous warning to us all. You can watch it on Youtube here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hY1w_c7nO4
On Sunday, the Caravan Park management put on a morning tea for the U3A members, this was done in recognition of the support the U3A Wanderers had for them by paying for “virtual campsites” during COVID lockdown. The remainder of the day was left for Wanderers members to “do their own thing” up until the communal BBQ was held that evening.
The BBQ turned out to be another good night of fellowship and fun among friends.
Alison and I hope that all enjoyed themselves, as far as I know the only downside was that Brigitte didn’t get fed on time.
Lawrie
"Come when you can, leave when you must"