We had our second outing under the new format of four nights, five days at the Cangai Campground, Mann River, running from Tuesday 03 to Saturday 07 March. Many already had other commitments for some of that time, so stays varied from five nights to one night, but, hey, that is what it is all about, isn’t it – enjoy the time when you can. We finished up with 17 units and 32 people coming at various times through the week. It was almost like a caravan park, with 16 other units already there when I got there, so it was quite packed.
By the way, it was HOT, DAMN HOT, humid and cloudy. Even the Mann River was as low as many people had seen it, and quite tepid, so not as refreshing as hoped. The only fish biting were turtles, so there were no seafood barbies.
Friends of Neil and Shirley, Stephen and Dorothy, were so keen to come to the outing they rang CMCA to join the day before they came. Unfortunately, Stephen wasn’t feeling well (did I mention it was HOT, DAMN HOT), so they were able to stay only three nights before they had to go home. We hope to see them again soon, and get to know them better. June had an appointment with her heart pacemaker team, and had good news, so that is great. Don T and Yvonne’s bus let them down with all batteries failing, so after getting a jump start, they had to head back to town after only one night.
Many hands made light work of erecting the chapter marquee on Thursday, and it was quickly occupied by the card and game players, and the jigsaw puzzlers, and others who wanted to chat had to chase the shade around. (Did I mention it was HOT, DAMN HOT).
Terry and Marilyn were delayed getting to Cangai, and then their fridge couldn’t run without LPG until Terry sorted that out, so the first game on the venue of the bean bag toss was deferred to another outing. The grocery grab was a very busy time, with Helen and Chris both winning first place. The club bbq was used by those who needed it for a hot meal.
On Friday and Saturday, Anna had a very good turnout for her Tai Chi sessions, before it got too hot.
On Friday Terry and Ray set up the Cangai Croquet field, and those who braved the heat (did I mention it was HOT, DAMN HOT), whacked away with their mallets, dodging rocks, clumpy grass, and sand, until the winners were sorted. With some confusion with the scoring, Ken and Ray were declared tied winners, with scoring from 26 to over 60 occurring.
Carla had her craft session, with a couple of eager fans making suncatchers. We held the raffle in the afternoon, and it decided that this was the time it was going to rain, so we all tried to stay dry under the marquee, but not really succeeding. We had over 10mm of rain from then until after tea, for which Don M cooked the chicken kebabs and onions on the bbq, and the rest of the catering team made the salads to go with the tacos. We have to give a special thanks to Nola to keep on providing us with beautiful meals time after time, even without our own fridge.
On Saturday, we had to wait for the marquee to dry out before putting it away, but some campers decided to stay until Sunday, so things weren’t rushed.
Regards, Don Brackenreg (Secretary).