Easter rain...

Rain it seems, is not quite as alien to Queensland as I'd thought. I'd go so far as to say that we probably have more of it than the UK, although I've not looked at the figures for exactly HOW much we get here. It FEELS like we get a lot, and so probably the major differentiator in weather terms is the ambient temperature. This last week or so it's been cool enough to put on a fleece, but its not normally something that I'd think about at this time of year.

Last year you may remember, we went to a campsite in Norther NSW at a place called Tweed Heads. Its a good site (or as a couple of NZers that came this year said "It's a good pozzy") positioned as it is on a river, and with a small and cute little harbour with a boat ramp. We got the exact same position as last year, but this time we were surrounded by mates. We had 8 families, with kids of all ages, and four boats. During the weekend, we all had visitors too, so at times it was really very busy.







Our tent is the grey and green one on the right... and all the tents you can see were in our group.





But the bugger was that the rain was very present for most of the time. We arrived on Thursday and pitched the tent in the rain, and our tent became a rather elaborate shanty arrangement of tarpaulins and ropes tied to trees and the Ute... (the pegs were not staying put). Luckily Andrew had a spare tarp for us to put on the ground of our 'outer tent' area shanty bit, but we were aware that the water was building up under this tarp as the ground felt very soft under it from Friday morning onward. All the tents had similar arrangements, but most of the others were more professional looking than ours... being more used to the vagaries of Queensland at Easter than I. Entrances all began to look reminiscent of the Somme by Saturday, and waking to yet more rain on Sunday was very depressing. Having armies of kids tramping mud from outside to inside is trying.. to say the very least.

On top of this, when I tried to start my little boat on Friday morning, it sputtered to life, only to stop again immediately, and refused to start, or even sound like it would start. (I hadn't managed to finish off the larger boat that I've mentioned here before, and which I'd been repainting and rebuilding. I had pretty much got it done, when the rain stopped me painting it, and when I did get a dryish spell, it rained on the new paint immediately after...rendering my work pointless. So I left it) The problem with the small boat was that rain had found its way into the fuel, and subsequently the carb. Moreover, the fuel, once mixed, has a relatively short life before it gets 'stale' and gummy. I'd put a six month old mixture into the engine. Once I'd cleared the carb and replaced the fuel, I started up, weighed anchor and set out of the harbour. I got only a few hundred feet before it conked again. I paddled back to the side and took out the carb... but was unable to actually get the jets, where I suspected some of this gummy fluid was. I blew out the thing as best I could and had another go. It seemed fine and we did some runs up and down. The more we did, the better the thing went. Finally, with 5 kids on board, it suddenly packed up completely and we drifted down river. Maddy (Carlene and Ian's 14 year old daughter) had finally condescended to be my spotter, after several promptings, only to be served up the embarrassment of an ignominious breakdown and subsequent rescue by one of the other boats. (A spotter's job is to let the driver know when the person on a ski or tube falls off, and it's law that you have one... that's 12 or older)

Despite all the weather, everyone was in high spirits, and we had a good time.









Phoebe cut her feet on oyster shells...



The mud was a real irritant as the weekend wore on, but everyone just made the best of it. This is a picture of the mud that was under our floor tarp after we taken it all down.



On Sunday I tried to do Wake boarding. I didn't even manage to get up out of the water. It's really hard to do it.

James and Matt made it look really easy. They grew up with a power boat...and learned as kids. Here's some pics of them. This is James...



as is this...









This is Matt, who was in the blog last year too...



...bit close this one!





Wa wa wa wa wipeout!







Here's some pics of Nigel on the tube. The boat is James's and it's VERY fast, but despite Matt's best efforts, we were unable to flick Nigel off this thing. I can attest to how difficult it is to stay on the tube, as I was flicked off it 3 times in probably less than 2 minutes, by which time I was wiped out. Nigel hung on for more like 6 or 7 mad minutes! Good lad!







All of us were aching A LOT from the exertion the next day!

This is Hilton and Cindy's boat, with Daile on doing the spotting. The lad on the knee board is Quentin, their eldest boy, who stood on ski's for the first time later that day.









Wet, but good cos of the people... bit like anywhere I suppose!