We set off reasonably early and reached Lyndhurst at about one o'clock. We had had a much better day because we only had about 200 km to go rather than the 360 km we did yesterday.
When we reached Lyndhurst we had to stop at the servo to ask the way to the Golf Club which was the site of Pip'n'Mell's gathering. After setting up the Motley, we had a long chat with Pip and Mell before we moved to the club bar for drinks.
Keryn and Robin turned up in time for happy hour. They had stayed on at the CMCA rally to observe the shenanigans resulting from a rift in the board. Nothing of great moment was revealed. We drank copious quantities of booze and had a very "happy" happy hour.
We spent the evening watching TV.
I was up late and didn't get to morning tea until ten o'clock. The Lions Xmas Cake I took to morning tea went down very well. Chat went on until about one o'clock. I had to do a minor repair on the awning which had lost a pop rivet. I found that the pop rivets and the rivetting tool had been left at home so I had to do a temporary repair with a self-tapping screw.
We had lunch and veged out in the Motley until afternoon tea time. Happy hour was, as usual, very amusing. We met a couple of caravanners who had befriended Pip and Mell at Canowindra recently and had been invited to join in the fun. The fitted in very well though Denise remarked that though they wave to all caravans and motorhomes on the road, only the caravanners wave back. No wonder motorhomers have a reputation for being snobbish. We will try and show them that motorhomers like that are really a minority of those of us on the road.
At sunset we went back to the Motley. We had a light dinner.and settled in to watch a bit of TV.
The weather had taken a turn for the worse with extensive cloud cover. The forecast for the next few day is cool and showery which will put a bit if a dampener on the proceedings here.
After breakfast I cooked some corned beef in the Dreampot so we will be eating well for a few days. I went to town to do a little shopping and had to go to Mandurama for the supplies I needed.
Another couple turned up during the day. There was lots of chatting and much drinking. Happy hour was bigger and lots of fun. We were driven back into the Motley by a few spots of rain. John and Vicki Samin arrived from Forbes as we were sitting down to dinner.
It was overcast again but not raining. After morning tea I did a test flight of the kite I use to fly the Amazing Parachuting Bear. I found that the main spar was missing so I couldn't fly. I decided to go to town to buy a new spar.
When I got to Blaney 30 km (18 miles) along the highway , I found the hardware store but they didn't have any suitable material. I went on to Bathurst, another 40 km (25 miles) and found the Bunnings store. When I had finished my purchasing, it was raining something fierce and I got soaked getting back to the car. I forgot to buy a tool I needed so I called into the Mitre 10 shop. When I got back to Mandurama, I stopped to but some milk and found that I had lost my wallet in Bathurst. My phone wasn't working so I drove back to Bathurst. When I got to Mitre 10, they told me that they had found my wallet and had taken it to the Police Station. When I reached the Police Station, I met a guy who was carrying my wallet. The copper checked my drivers licence to confirm that the wallet was mine and I got my wallet back. People said "How lucky you were" but my reply was "No, it wasn't good luck, I just proved my belief that 99% of people are honest and will do the right thing". It had been a productive afternoon even though I had had to drive about 280 km (170 miles) just to get a new spar for my kite.
Another low weather day. I tried to get the big kite flying but had some problems with the spar joiners so I will have to do some more repairs before Sunday.
More people turned during the day so happy hour got pretty big.
I had been asked to talk to the assembled crowd about Eco-Camping Australia. I had a sympathetic audience and my presentation seemed to go down well. I had 5 requests for certification, two of them re-certification from the old scheme and three new ones. I had to get into the boiler suit and climb under the vehicles to do the tank measurements. I sympathise with the inspectors who have been doing this for the last two years as I pulled up pretty stiff.
In the evening we had a barbecue dinner in the club with music from Pip'n'Mell. Sadly Mell had a bad case of hay fever and couldn't sing but we enjoyed the guitar music and Pip's singing anyway. We also had poetry recitations by the Australian Champion Bush Poet and by a lady who had joined the ""family" recently. I have to say that I did my bit to keep the audience laughing. Some locals had brought their little kids and let them play very noisily behind where we were sitting so Jean and I had to leave early.
I went to Mandurama to do a bit of shopping and spent most of morning tea time talking about Eco-Camping Australia with a guy who had missed yesterdays meeting.
In the evening we had dinner in the Golf Club. The food was delicious and the grog ran copiously. After dinner, Mell had me run a short Trivia quiz which went down well. I had bought a children's trivia game to avoid hard questions but they still didn't get them all correct. To add a bit of a challenge I followed up with an "Easy" Quiz I had on the MacBook and they seemed to do well on these trick questions.
Daylight saving had kicked in so we had to forgo an hour in the morning.
Most of the people left early and some of those who hadn't went to town to the market so morning tea was only a few of us.
In the afternoon we had a lively happy hour in the club and, as everyone was leaving early in the morning, we made our farewells..