Author – Sandy Gorman
Gotta love the weather – temperamental at best! For the few of us that arrived Friday afternoon, the day was absolutely PERFECT. Lou and I headed out for a quick ride to Flowerdale Estate before Linda arrived, however the wine and conversation meant we were a tad waylaid and didn’t make it back to the clubhouse until around 6.30! Linda enjoyed a short ride and the obstacle course in our absence (we actually only had one wine, a quick paced ride and a Long conversation!) Couldn’t have asked for a nicer day.
Saturday was our Working Bee and golly! There was blood, sweat and tears this month – I pricked my finger on a blackberry thorn.. Blood. It was 30 plus degrees .. Sweat. We actually had a ball and laughed until we cried.. Tears. (Maybe that was Steph’s fault for not “breaking” anything when recounting her back fracture story). It was hard going in the heat, and there were plenty of jobs to do. But the old Homestead and grounds came up a treat.
It was certainly all hands on deck and great to see so many people show and give their all for the job list Brian set us for the day. I’d like to say we went through four x 500 litres of spray in the two tanks… but honesty is the best policy and I know we didn’t quite finish the tank before refilling and heading back out to spray. But a heck of a lot of blackberries were sprayed in the 60 acre paddock. Two spray units, two backpacks and a WHOPPING STEEP HILL! The rolling out of the hoses to reach the many blackberries was hard going – but trying to walk uphill with a backpack was a killer. I tapped out after about three trips, Steph was a machine and lasted until stumps. Tanya, Kirrilee, Brian, Kim, Bek and Steph did an AMAZING job.
Jo, Lou and Michelle worked on splitting, stacking and cleaning up the wood pile. Linda, Bek, Jo, Mick, Kaye & Gaelyn did weeding, gutters, removing wasp nests, fencing, cupboard cleaning, too many jobs to mention. Jo prepared a fresh lunch of roast chicken and salad and we filled the rolls to sustain us – there was still plenty to do after lunch!
It was a long day, and drinks and nibbles at our return to the clubhouse were well received. Tales of the day were recounted around the kitchen table – we do get loud! Bek filled our hungry bellies and the drinks flowed. An extremely satisfying day and it was great to fall into bed and rest the aches. Besides, Sunday was RIDE DAY!
The “Temperamental” part of the weather reared its ugly head throughout the night. The wind picked up and as we were organizing our ride Sunday morning, the thunder rolled. We enjoyed a filling breakfast of Chia puddings and Bacon & Egg muffins and watched the black clouds blow across the sky. Riders were light on – Brian had no pony as it was either tow the float or tow the spray unit – that’s Working Bee commitment! Steph was on cleaning duty so hadn’t brought Pep. Linda had left early due to the storm. Kim, Michelle Lou and I however, we figured we could get in a quickie before the rains and saddled up for a reverse ride to the Flowerdale Estate. Plan was to come in through Upper King Parrot road, across the creek and back via Flowerdale/Strath Creek road.
It was actually quite muggy after the showers and we were quite warm riding out. The skies were still black with promise of rain, but Kim quickly shucked her drizabone. It was ten minutes up Upper King Parrot road when Bluey pulled up lame. Kim and Lou returned to the clubhouse. Michelle and I continued on for perhaps another fifteen minutes and were practically to the back of the Flowerdale estate when Vegas wasn’t behaving like himself and we too turned back. We tried. Maybe we were lucky we had no Brian – there would have been no returns (Ride or Die could well be his mantra – we do love you Brian!) – We all managed to dodge the rain and make it back with time to pack away the splitter, mower, harrow paddocks and generally make sure things were squared away before heading home.
As far as Club Weekends go, this last weekend was more about the Club than the riding. It was friends working side by side achieving more than we dreamt possible. Our Clubhouse looks fantastic and we all helped it sparkle. We are AWESOME! And if there’s some months before we need to do it all again, then there is a God!