"hey cow" yelled Will out the window to no avail. Two minutes later he was yelling "HEY SHEEP!" And this time he did get a lovely response. A giggling Ruth turned to her phone to document the day.
9 of us assembled at the sheds early on Monday morning, uni well and truely done josh with a spare day and Luke with a day off the scene was set. With not quite enough crew for st pats we headed for the Meander, clubs new favourite river apparently.
The trailer packet and cars ready we locked up the sheds. three cars and three blues we were ready for a day. We drove through the highlands, making good time towards the meander.
At the get out bridge we left the van and all headed for the get in. With rafts pumped, all dressed and the rafts carried down the hill to the the get in josh gave a lovely safety brief and we were off. All three senior guides guided the boats safely down, a collective chill and fairly tame run with n
o swims. We then did an only slightly dodgy car shuffle before picking everyone up and leaving the van back at the get out to repeat.
Boats deflated, around the fence reflated and down the hill and we were ready to roll again. With trainee guides on the stick everyone decided we wanted to wrap and hit all the rocks possible.
In my boat, Luke talia and myself, Luke took not wrapping rather seriously as talia played dot to dot with the rocks, “eddying out” on top or a fair few.
Josh swam on flat water with his famous no sense of balance. Liam attempted (and failed) to surf just about every wave while I talia caused carnage and flipped foes. Oopsies. I don’t know if Luke’s little push helped or hindered them. Josh demonstrated that he has learnt how to swim with a paddle and Rhys frankly showed off a career in surflife saving as he did the roley swim into the Eddie. All I saw, is that in most cases josh therefor chooses to throw club gear down river when he can just hold on to it. Interesting.
Then I jumped on the stick and first followed Talias lead, as i try to do in all my life, making Luke doubt his nomination of me to guide no doubt before performing perfectly.
In a large flat pool Liam BJ and Will all practiced their flips, claiming it was “on purpose” and not just them being silly they all eventually got back in and continued down the last section.
All back at the end and boats as not Sandy as possible we all decided two laps was a good amount and the drive home was calling. We sent drivers off and expertly rolled rafts before packing the trailer with our friends back and heading to meander for a snack. It was here that we waved goodbye to BJ and Talia as they camped the night and did a walk the next day.
Josh was in disbelief when I first wanted to go to the salvos and then ordered a sandwich. What bad behaviour. After my best apology we were on the road again. The long drive home was pleasant with a quick stop to stretch the legs and admire the lakes and pencil pines.
Conversation on the way home only mildly damaged some friendships as most long drives do. Will showed us his deep connection to farm animals and his love for screaming while we all laughed along.
The sheds pack up was very efficient after Rhys was only mildly scared to cut into the zoom lane but after a lot of peer pressure (most me) he agreed and we were at the sheds in no time. Erin joined us here, and we were very efficient in our pack down.
A lovely day with a lovely crew on slightly smaller water. Thanks Josh!
Cheerio,
Ruth!