Ninghan Station

• Date - Saturday 4th June-6th June 2005

• Trip Leader - The Terry's

• Tail-end Charlie - 

• Trip Notes - Lizzy  & Rick

SATURDAY

All have gathered by now at Dalwallinu Caravan Park after arriving at different times the previous night. Last ones in were the Ellis’ at around 10pm. The morning topic of conversation was how much sleep we all got. It appears that not many of us got much sleep due to the continuous thunder of trucks during the night.

Some headed to the townsite to the buy morning paper and top up of fuel and other supplies. The Hansen’s had stayed at a friends farm not far away and they met us at the caravan park and we left around 9am. It was a leisurely drive as we only had a couple of hours to go to our destination at Ninghan Station. A brief stop at Wubin and we were soon back on the road again arriving at the station around 11am. A discussion with the station owner provides a number of camping spot options, and we settle on Warrdagga Hill. It is a huge rock about 20km in. This did not take too long as the roads on the station are in good condition and a reasonable speed was maintained.

Camp was soon set and not too much longer before a fire was underway. This is a popular camping spot so not a lot of firewood was close at hand. Tony offered the use of his utility and this was soon piled up from not far away. A very lazy afternoon passed with some opting for a walk up the rock while others “pottered” and some took the opportunity to practice their damper making expertise. The youth amongst us were diligently building a bonfire to be lit on the last night. As the afternoon rolled by, a number of camp ovens started to collect around the fire with all sorts on the menu for the evening meal. A light shower of rain around 6pm did little to damage enthusiasm and after dinner an enjoyable happy hour continued onto the evening. 

Rick

SUNDAY

Everyone had a good sleep after the dreadful Friday night at the Dalwallinu Camp Ground with all the road trains all night. Leisurely start to the day with most people having a big cooked breakfast. This began a big day of eating. Lizzy started yeast going for cinnamon buns, and then we all went for a big walk up the rock behind our campsite. Some of the gnamma (holes in the rock) were filled with water (and aquatic creatures), others with miniature Narnia-type forests. We walked over to the big overhand, then up another wave-type rock and along to the creek with the tadpoles and the sound of frogs croaking all around. Only Jade found a tiny 4mm black frog--so 'cuuuoooote'. Nikki had a nature lesson from Stella about the sundew plants. Lizzy went back to punch down the dough and the rest wandered back for lunch. Luke and Daniel experimented with damper ready for the big Damper Bake-Off to be judged by the women at 3.30 pm. We had six entries from Terry and kids, Rick and Blake, John, Richard, Tony and the boys. The competition was fierce, and secrets were guarded! The men paced around the fire and checked often on their little treasures--I don't think John ever felt so tense! Finally time was up so the judges left the scene to discuss the criteria for judging--Creativity-5; Presentation-5; Taste-10. After much deliberation runner-up was: THE BOYS with their creative scroll design and filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and marshmallows. The first prize went to our great leader Terry for a fantastic truly edible yummy damper. This was not rigged and he thoroughly enjoyed his Xanadu. Some dampers were eaten up and others went into the fire. Then preparations were made for the evening meal although no one felt much like eating. Lots of games of frisbee and rugby.

The Terry's and Malcolm's walked up to the top of the rock to watch the storm roll in. It looked like it was going to miss our campsite but in an instant the wind blew, the heavens opened and down came the rain. Everyone grabbed their stuff and deck chairs and ran for shelter. We estimate the winds were at 100km and awnings collapsed in the ensuing chaos. The roar of the water pouring down the rock behind us was impressive, and gave us some understanding of how flash floods occur. I was so glad I'd chosen to make cauliflower soup in the Jayco rather than make a big dinner in the camp oven. However, in an hour we could go back to the fire and continue with our evening gathering.

Luke and Daniel were desperate to get their bonfire going so at 7.30 PM we traipsed over and watched Luke do his best but the wood was just too wet. Malcolm and Richard felt for them so they brought over two shovels full of hot coals from the campfire and Malcolm managed to get it going with lots of little sticks collected by the kids. Wow! It finally 'took' and the blaze was huge. We brought our chairs over and enjoyed the heat. Terry picked a fight with Luke and Daniel when he dragged logs away to his fire. This was not acceptable to the boys and they all had a huge tussle on the ground and gathered some more war wounds. We will not say who won. (Let's call it a draw). It was a late night for the kids but a great day was had by all.

Lizzy