We waited until the crowd trying to get into the showground had cleared before we made a move.
I stayed with the big rigs and we were sited on the oval near the marquee. No power but a water point nearby.
Caught up with friends we had not seen since Townsville.
There was a call for volunteers to attend a Rest Area Committee. I wasn't particularly keen to get involved but I attended the meeting to see what the people were like. A suggestion that we try to join with the caravaners in lobbying for more rest areas was rejected out of hand because they are "caravaners" and they are not organised. However, in conversation over a cup of tea with the Convenor from South Australia I gathered that everyone was getting on with whatever they found worked for them so my resolve to have nothing more to do with the Committee was set aside.
As the elected delegate to the National Advisory Council, I had been invited to the National Advisory Council meeting. The National Advisory Council is a body of people elected from each Chapter to represent the views of the membership to the National Board of Management.
I gather that each previous meeting had been something of a bunfight. This one was pretty constructive even though the National Management Board behave rather defensively and tended to try to dominate the debate. I would hope that we can move on, in future, to a more open forum with the Board members behaving more like guests.
We spent some time in the Trade Show. Although we both avoid looking in other peoples' motorhomes, we did the rounds of the vehicles on display from the $50K converted utes to the $420K monster. Happily we saw nothing we liked better than the Motley. Even if Jean wins Lotto we probably won't trade up to an Australian Dream.
Chapter skits night and once again we had all been cajoled by Helene into performing. This time she chose a choral piece, The Twelve days of The Rally, which went down very well, much to our surprise. With a perfect track record of two out of two hits, we made it perfectly clear to Helene that she had the Producer/Director job in perpetuity.
Saturday is open day with about three thousand townsfolk coming to see how the geriatric gypsies live. We try to avoid having open motorhome as we have heard some bad stories. If asked we tell people that the latest Winnebagos are on display in the Trade Show.
We had a most pleasant surprise when Bigman turned up unannounced. He had ridden down for the day and had spent an hour looking for us in amongst the 750 motorhomes, including many Winnebagos, spread over several hectares. He eventually found the office and the site map and located us by site number.
We spent a pleasant afternoon with him and he entertained our happy hour with tales of Burning Man. We convinced him to stay the night so he could spend the evening with us.
The evening's entertainment was two very good school bands and a local bush band which everyone enjoyed.
The Annual General Meeting was held in the morning. We were expecting some bitter discussion about the Highway Wanderers decision to spend its share of the Roma Rally surplus on equipment for the Chapter. The Board must have decided that this would not be in the best interest of the club as the subject was not raised.
There was a little bit of angst during General Business. Someone from the floor proposed that all motion be submitted to the Chair in writing before the vote was taken. Some discussion revealed that the meeting was largely in favour of this but somebody argued successfully that nothing could be discussed that had not been put on notice in accordance with rule 'something'. I guess the Board had prepared an ambush for anyone trying to raise anything contentious. I found out that there used to be a Rules Committee but it had fallen in disuse. Clearly it must be resurrected if we are to repair the all damage done over the last two or three years by power hungry members.
The Highway Wanderers Annual General Meeting was attended by about eighty or a hundred members together with the President, Secretary and Treasurer of the CMCA.
It went of very well. The President did a good job of letting people have their say while ensuring that the necessary business was done expeditiously.
The issue of the decision to spend the Chapter's share of the Roma Rally surplus on equipment for the Chapter came up only as a result of my report from the Investigative Sub-committee. The membership were clearly happy with what had been done but the gentleman who had been the Roma Rally Coordinator and who had tried to have the money spent on defibrillators complained bitterly that no-one had talked to him and that we were all out of order. When he all but accused the President of using Chapter funds for private purposes, the meeting reacted so swiftly and so vehemently that he realised he had no option but to keep his view to himself.
In the evening we had all planned a big communal barbecue to celebrate the end of the Rally but a tremendous storm roared through at about four o'clock which saturated the ground and put paid to that idea. The RSL had laid on a courtesy bus so a couple of hundred people turned up there without any warning. They did a remarkable job of getting in extra staff and extra food and everyone had a very pleasant and very cheap dinner by 8.30. In fact I didn't even have time to consume the 'Five Happy Hour drinks' from the Chapter skit which is probably just as well.
We stayed on an extra night at the showground to let the departing motorhomes disperse and to have a quiet small intimate happy hour before our departure.