Sandy Shores - October 2007
After storms the night before we were relieved to wake up to a beautiful, clear morning. We all met up at T&I pumps at 7:45am where we met up with our Trip Leader, Steve, along with Michelle, Natalie, Kelvin and Nev. After introductions, a brief run-down of the trip and delegating (sorry, requesting) volunteers for fines, trip report, etc. we were on our way by 8am.
Wendy and Mick joined the group at the Hay Point turn off and we continued over the Sarina Range and onto the old Sarina Marlborough highway. Once we left the old highway, storm damage from the previous night was evident and we had to stop several times to move trees off the track. We stopped near Murray Creek to enjoy smoko and get to know our fellow campers (whilst Ryan got to know some prickly bushes).
After a brief stop at the property owner’s home, we made camp at around 11:15. Due to the number of trailers, we were unable to camp at ‘Sandy Shores’ however the area we camped at was nice and shady with a nice large waterhole just down the bank. We were promised a swim at nearby ‘Sandy Shores’ later in the day and were looking forward to that as the day was pretty warm. We were also briefed on some of the local attractions of the area, including the ‘jiggy jig bench’!
After lunch we let the kids paddle their blow-up boat in the river before heading off for a drive around the property. At the end of our drive we all enjoyed cooling off at ‘Sandy Shores’. Some of us were fortunate enough to see a family of Emus wandering across the track on the way back to camp.
We arrived back at camp after 4 and discovered Ian and Tracey had now joined the group. They had received storm damage the night before and had spent the morning cleaning up. The fire was started and happy hour commenced soon after. It was great getting to know everyone over a few drinks and nibbles’ around the fire. After dinner, we all returned to the fire where the kids shared some glow sticks around before they went to bed. Tales continued to be told around the camp-fire until midnight.
We all enjoyed a Sunday sleep-in and slowly organised breakfast. We left for another drive at around 10 which included a stop at a Mustering Hut. We had a look around the site and a few collected (and some sampled) bush lemons from a nearby tree. On our way back to camp we stopped for another swim, in slightly cooler water than the previous day. We arrived back at camp at around 1 and enjoyed lunch whilst slowly packing up camp. We were on our way home by 3 and soon after said our goodbyes as groups set off in different directions.
Thank you all for welcoming us into the club. We thoroughly enjoyed our first trip and look forward to many more.
By David, Melissa, Dana and Ryan Christensen