We drove straight to Northam and into the rally. Despite my request to be parked with the big rigs, we were given a space near the main marquee with some other little big rigs.
When we had settled in, I discovered that I had left our chairs at the last camp site so we got in the Little Motley and headed for Toodyay. On the way there, we got a phone call saying that someone had seen our chairs, rescued them, and that they were now outside the Motley. Being part way there, we went into Toodyay town for a look and a cup of coffee.
When we returned, we went looking for the rest of the "family" and found them parked in what is euphemistically called Site 3. This is an empty field about half a kilometre from the rest of the rally with no facilities of any kind, no water, no security, no lights and an aboriginal encampment across the railway tracks.
During the afternoon, I spoke to Royce, the Rally Co-ordinator, about the problems of those parked in Site 3 and he promised to do what he could about them. When I said I'd be prepared to move to Site 3, he said he'd appreciate it if I would as he needed all the spaces he could get in Site 2.
We drove to Site 3 for happy hour, giving a lift to a couple of Highway Wanderers who came to the Motley looking for the chapter happy hour. While we were relaxing in the afternoon sunshine, the Rally Co-ordinator visited with the town CEO to assure us that he was putting in place fixes for all the problems, a night security patrol, a water tanker, a toilet, and a shuttle bus between Site 3 and the rally proper. I was impressed that he had listened to me and that he had made these arrangements in response. I plan to move the Motley to Site 3 in the morning.
After we had dropped the Dunns off at their motorhome in the middle of Site 1, we had to stop several times to meet and chat with various friends from our time on the road.
We moved down to Site 3 after breakfast. During the day more big rigs came in and by happy hour time there were thirty odd parked up.
I spent the morning preparing for the chapter AGM which was scheduled for 2 pm.
The meeting raised a couple of difficult issues.
One member was upset because she had not heard through official chapter sources about the drama in another members life. She expressed a view that the chapter should be a more caring and cohesive organisation. Much discussion ensued and everyone seemed to want SOMETHING to be done. In the end, it was resolved that Anita, the Scribe, was to receive all reports of dramas (and good news) in members lives, confirm that the members in question were happy to have the news widely broadcast, and then email all members who have email addresses registered with the chapter. Those members are expected to broadcast the news to other members they are in contact with.
We also had a little trouble with a guy who had been directed to us by Alan Tesch, the head honcho of the CMCA. He wanted to organise motorhome safaris throughout the year using paid leader and follower (which he of course could provide) to attend all manner of events.
He also wanted to set up a motorhome park in WA on land leased at a peppercorn rent and he wanted the club to sponsor people to assist the Bush Aid Society.
At the end of his presentation there was a deathly silence, I thought because everyone was stunned by the ideas, but someone tried to get discussion going by moving a motion the a show of hands be taken to find out if there was any support for the last of these ideas. The motion took more discussion than the idea but in the end a show of hands revealed that some people were interested in the idea. The guy was invited to happy hour to discuss his ideas in more depth with interested members but he didn't show up.
We went into town to eat and arrived at the local Chinese Restaurant just as four other Highway Wanderers turned up so we shared a table and had a good evening. Jean accused me of pontificating but the others just thought it was a lively discussion.
In the morning the chapter laid on an alfresco breakfast which was well attended and much appreciated.
Jean went into town to have a haircut while I attended a training session for Disk Bowls Umpires and Scorers. This last was nearly more than one could stand and indeed one guy left in high dudgeon because the experienced people kept on arguing with the Tournament Director and the rest of us were left confused.
We went back into town to pick up the gas bottle, to buy some food and to have a cafe latte in the quiet of the shopping precinct - well we did chat for some time with a friend we had not seen at the rally.
Happy hour was pretty lively with three couples choosing to join the chapter because of the good vibes.
We took the opportunity to do the tour of a local boutique winery called Avonbrook. The wine was quite good but not good enough to encourage us to invest in a CMCA dozen. We did buy a bottle of sparkling Pinot Noir made in the traditional champagne method by a skilled French lady winemaker. We also bought an unusual Zinfandel which has an intriguing spicy character.
The bus didn't take us straight back to the rally but to an Emu farm where we stroked emus and chicks, collected feathers and bought emu oil to see if it really works in the relief of aches and pains. (My shoulder, which had been giving me some pain over the last few weeks is much better since I started using the oil.).
I had been volunteered as a Disk Bowls Scorer and turned up promptly at 10 am to do my duty. I officiated in each round of the morning session because there were never many officials available.
The afternoon was a half lay day.
In the evening we went into town to buy fish and chips. It was OK but we have been spoiled on the way here and it has to be pretty good to rate well.
Jean wanted to hear the presentation on the Casino Rally due in May next year. They have called it "The Rally of Surprises" and that may be because they have no idea what they are going to do. I suppose we'll go when the time comes but my present attitude isn't enthusiastic.
This was open day and also disk bowls day but the weather wasn't good with some wind and intermittent rain. I did my duty at the disk bowls again and got quite wet and cold so the afternoon was another half lay day.
I picked up the doco on Telstra Mobile Internet which is the on the road internet connection via the CDMA mobile phone. It seems that there is an accelerator for web downloads which works by compressing the html and serving it from a special server. Sadly the instructions only admit of IE4 and Netscape 4.7 so I'll have to work on a solution for my iCab browser. I don't see insurmountable obstacles but we'll have to see. I don't see why I should be forced to use someone else's preferred browser.
Apple have invited me to subscribe to the new Mac.com and I thought it would be a good idea as it will relieve the pressure on my ozemail disk allocation which somehow has increased from 5 Mb to 20 Mb but still isn't big enough for all the Motley web site. I'll have to do some rearranging and that will give me an opportunity to speed up the downloading of the "Journey across Australia" index which has grown into something of a monster. There's always something to do!.
The weather was rough overnight and while the wind dropped by the morning, the rain continued on and off all day.
I spent much of the day preparing the chapter newsletter and the minutes of the AGM. Keryn is off tomorrow so she will have to do the printing without my help - again.