MOOMINS M.C.

Yes I know I've been a slacker in regards to posting, but for some strange reason this week has been rather busy and the time to edit the photos, let alone write an entry, has made itself scarcer than I expected.
I tried to write an entry last night, but the damned internet connection was being rather capricious.
Long and short of it is that the weekend jaunt to Tassie was everything I expected and more.
From the ever unfaltering hospitality offered by Lumpy and Rache, to the open armed welcome of long unseen friends, it almost made me question my decision to live in the vast flatness of Melbourne.
Many of my Taswegian mates will probably be wondering why I didn't get in touch, but the reality is that it was an extremely short trip, flew in Friday night, Saturday we drove to Snug to pick up Waldo's camper trailer, from there straight to Pelham and the next day to the airport for an afternoon flight out.


Waldo's rally car was looking rather special and sounded exactly like a good Subaru should.
To quote a mate "sounds like two Ducatis fighting" accompanied with the sweet crescendo of turbocharger followed by the pent up release of excess pressure from the blow off valve. The only thing I didn't hear was the anti lag as the car was stationary. ( for those not in the know, anti lag sounds like a South Central gang gun fight )
The oldest of his two daughters will be turning 13 soon and is dead keen to start doing motorkhanas as soon as she can.
On the way back form snug we came across a rather unfortunate incident, although I don't think anyone was seriously hurt.
After coming back to Lumpy's we packed all our stuff and headed countryside.
( Do click on the photos for full size, they're well worth it! )



The property where the bonfire night was to be held was as beautiful and serene as I remember it.
The oaks we'd planted for Sam a decade ago had turned an autumnal colour, but were going strong.
There were many more people there than I'd ever remembered in past times.
I'm guessing there were somewhere in the order of 20 -30 cars there.
The bonfire itself was a little larger than previous ones and was sporting three life sized, fire cracker stuffed effigies tied to the stake: the local member of parliament, state premier Paul Lennon and prime minister John Howard.
After scoffing down some barbecued wallaby and venison sausages for dinner we proceeded to the paddock for the lighting of the wood pile.
The fire needed a little helping hand to get going, more of the helping hand than previous ones.
40 litres of petrol and 40 litres of diesel in fact.
About 3 attempts were made to start it and then on the 4th one it erupted in a spectacular mountain of flame.
When everyone had consumed enough alcohol, the firecrackers were brought out.
I popped in to the house to see the collection and was promptly handed a bottle of some wild scotch and told 'Hurry up, we gotta drink this and get the crackers out there'.

The fireworks show went for well over an hour and was punctuated by the occasional blast from an antique Indonesian ship's cannon, which someone had brought especially for the occasion.
After one of the firings I heard someone say 'Let's do it again, this time we'll put more powder in.'
And sure enough sometime later there was another earth moving boom.
Someone had even made their own firework mortar out of plywood and 3 telephone directories!
There were kids running around, proudly displaying boxes of firecrackers they'd found and parents telling them how well they'd done and how they'll set them off soon, before returning to their drinks and conversations.
Amazingly no children were hurt or exploded during the course of the night.
The rest of the night was spent enjoying the fire, with sporadic fireworks and much guitar playing and singing.
At one point there were myself and another chap playing two different songs on guitars, each accompanied by other singers, whilst a third singer was singing a third completely different tune.
All my sister could think of was trying to organise us so that we sing one tune at a time and then move onto another number, fat chance!!!
This is after she'd spilt wine all over herself in a moment of pure slapstick comedy genius.
Holding the plastic glass of vino by her teeth, she was trying to put her gloves on when a firecracker was ignited in close proximity.
Her head tilted skywards as the cracker raced through the night sky, and the wine immediately flowed out of the glass and in her mouth, hair and nose.
Eventually everyone disappeared and the fog had set in.
Yes, it was bloody cold, but just above freezing as the low clouds and fog had prevented a total frost, but it wasn't far off it.