New Years day dawned wet and cold. Since everyone had been up late it was a late start. Vern, Austin and I drove Carmen and Caitlin Mclean down to the Howell’s place in Mt Eliza down on the Mornington Peninsula. That is where the Mclean’s are staying for their holiday and they invited Carmen to stay as well. With Ellen in Queensland for the YSA convention and a wedding and Marion in New Zealand that just left Vern and the boys. Then on the sixth Vern flew up to Queensland and joined Ellen up there to attend and sing at the wedding of Kaye and Aaron Hettig’s daughter. I was at work that week before a couple of weeks leave so the gang had to entertain themselves. Marion returned from New Zealand on the ninth and Vern and Ellen from Queensland the next day.
On Monday the eighteenth with everyone home we packed up the Kombi and headed off on a camping holiday to Gippsland. The weather was cold and wet and we didn’t leav
e until after lunch. The Kombi hadn’t been running the best and was struggling on the hills. I guess eight people and a ton of camping gear and food didn’t help. A couple of hours into the trip I stopped to let Vern drive and then we couldn’t get it started again. I did a few roadside repairs and we managed to get going again but by the time we reached Sale it was stalling each time we slowed down. We stopped for some groceries and had to push start it. Not wanting to stop again I though we had enough fuel but as we headed further into the hills I knew we weren’t going to make were we wanted to go and back again. With this in mind we stopped at a closer camping and Caravan Park called Echo bend near the Den of Nargun.It was a nice clean camp ground and guess due to the cold only one caravan that was occupied. After setting up camp it was getting dark so while Vern was cooking dinner Carmen and I went for the walk down a narrow trial into the National Park. There was no wind so we could hear the birds and at one point some rustling in the bush next to the track. It was a bit scary as it was twilight but we stopped for a bit to see it we could see what was making the noise but didn’t see anything. We continued on until we could see a clearing up ahead that turned out to be an intersecting track. Carmen decided to take the lead and ran ahead, as she made the clearing there was a loud thump and the sound of breaking branches to her left and a large deer cleared the bush and ran up the track. It gave both of us a start and it was the first time I have seen a deer in the wild in Australia.
The next day was still very cool but sunny, I worked on the Kombi, adjusted the timing and values and it was running better but was still slow going up the hills. Austin and I then went for a run down the road to gas up. I wasn’t sure we had enough fuel to make it so I was happy to come over a rise and see the gas station. We were packed up by lunch and we all went for a walk down into a very sleep sided valley to see the Den of Nargun. On the floor of valley was temperate rainforest complete with vines and at the end of the valley at the base of the cliff is a cave behind a pool that is the home of Nargun, a monster made of stone that takes children that swim in the
pool. At least that is what the Aboriginals believe.From there we drove another hour to get to Angusvale, at the other end of the Park. We have camped here several times before and like it because it is such a large isolated place that very few people go to and you can camp right by the river and the best thing it doesn’t cost a cent. There was only one other group when we got there and we set up in a great camp site with shade and a fire pit with iron fittings. After setting up camp we went down to the river for a swim and tried to dam part of the rapids. I also made a swing and diving board from a fallen log. Vern c
ooked a great dinner and Carmen and I went for a walk before it got dark. This time we saw some noisily black cockatoos and a large mob of kangaroos. There must have been a farm house there at one time since there seemed to be the remains of a chimney and near some large old exotic trees. Before bed they sang songs by the fire and in the boys tent we watch a DVD on the portable player.The next morning it was foggy but that soon burned away and it was another nice warm day. There is a walking track the runs beside the river all the way through the Park. Vern, Austin and I went for a talk on it for a little while. When we got back Austin and I went fishing o
ut in the canoe. We didn’t catch anything but Austin had a paddle around. After lunch we decided to go on an adventure by seeing how far up river we could get the canoe. Dylan, Austin, Carmen and Calvin all decided to come. We pulled the canoe up the rapids and paddled on the flat parts. I don’t thing that canoe was designed to carry five up it did alright. We went a fair way into uncharted territory and finally I had to resist seeing what was around the next corner as the others had had enough. We managed to shoot most of the rapids on the way back so it didn’t take long. I did stop to explore what seemed to be the remains of a man made trail up the side of a very steep hil
l on the other side of the river. There were retaining walls still in place but hasn’t been used for years and I cut up my legs on the blackberries. The cuts turned out to be the least of my worries as I hadn’t put enough sun block on my legs and they were pretty burnt by the end of the day.We took our time packing up the next day before headed but into Sale for a nice picnic lunch by the Thompson River. The plan was to stay at Walkerville that night on the coast in a caravan. We hadn’t been able to get through on the phone and so when we turned up it was book
ed out. Vern wasn’t happy but we had a nice walk along the coast to the old Lime Kilns then we decided to head home. We drove through Wonthaggi since there were fewer hills for the old Kombi to go over.The next day our neighbour brought over Ellen’s mission call since it had been delivered to his place be mistake. Ellen was at the gym so when she got home we all watched her open it. She was very excited as we all were and when she read that she would be going to San Diego Mission, Spanish speaking she burst into tears. I videoed it and it bought a tear to my eye when I watched it again later. She is very happy to be going and learning a language but doesn’t leave until the end of May to be in Provo on the first of June.
We had a Stake Pool and picnic day on Australia Day at the Greensborough Pools. It was a nice day and lots of people came. That day Elder Cook was in town and in the Morning I attended a Temple Workers devotional at Wantirna. It was very nice and in the evening there was a Stake and Ward Council leadership meeting. Our Stake had to look after the car park and for the first time I can remember the Wantirna car park was full. It was another good meeting; Elder Cook seems to be a laid back type of person.
On the twenty ninth Marion turned eighteen. Since it was a Friday we booked thirty seats at a restaurant in Epping. She really enjoyed herself and was happy to see everybody.
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