The Dying Days

We have now entered a new year, 2009. A short while ago, while at camp, I reflected on that fact and came up with some scary thoughts. For all those who remember the Y2K scare, who said "Party like it's 1999" and the impending millennium, that was all 10 years ago. The last year of the 20th Century was 10 years ago. I know that centuries, decades and millennia begin on year "1", but it's not every year that the 4th digit changes. In fact it's only once every 1 000 years. Still, for people like me who remember the millennium hype, it's hard to believe that nearly a whole decade has passed.

Most of this post and the next few posts will be devoted to my camping experience that I have just returned from. There are still some matters I wish to report on however that did not involve traipsing about the Australian bush.

The first is a not entirely pleasant event in that I had to escort a patron out of ACTTAB's Dickson facility. He has been verbally abusive to staff in the past and I have had 1 run-in with him. I let him say hi to some of his friends before walking him out the front door. He'd been around many times and at first was quite nice, if a little quirky, but lately, his behaviour has deteriorated into banging on furniture and swearing at staff. I was also tasked with giving him a letter which explained that we were worried that he might have a gambling problem and that we want to help, but he refused to accept it. We have been told not to serve him until he contacts ACTTAB to explain the situation. If he does have a problem, we can help, but if it's just a bad temper, he has to learn to control it. Whatever the case, I hope he gets some help.

On Christmas Day, Fenner Hall provided a wonderful buffet lunch of lamb, chicken, assorted vegetables and desserts. The day was perfect, 30C and sunny. I ate well and then played a game called lawn balls, similar to lawn bowling, except that you throw heavy steel balls instead of rolling them. I ended up winning the little tournament we got going and received a plastic stocking filled with chocolate. Because I left for Sydney later that day, I didn't eat any and it's still on my desk, untouched --- tragic.

And now to begin the story of the camp. I left on the evening of the 25th by bus to Sydney, but just as we left the station, bus broke down. It didn't actually stop, just that 6th and 7th gear weren't working meaning we couldn't go at highway speeds. We were delayed by about an hour as we got a replacement bus and then sped on to Sydney. Luckily the bus was half-empty (or half-full as I joked with the driver) and we made it to Sydney without further incident. We watched The Terminal, a very enjoyable movie. I arrived around 23:00 at the Burak's house in Coogee, getting off the city bus with my packed backpack and walking past all the beach revellers. I fell asleep as soon as I could, eager t rest for the next day's journey.

We set out the next day, bound for Lake Canobolas (kah-NAW-boh-lyss) near the town of Orange west of Sydney. Alex Burak drove me-sen and his 2 sons who were attending the camp as well. We passed through the Blue Mountains and made it to the camp site by early afternoon. I made my way down to the scout camp and set me-sen up in the cabin provided for the instructors. I met my "work mates" and we quickly got ourselves organized. The following day, we would be hiking through the bush and we needed to be prepared.