This year I set out on my own because Rob still had to work and came through by bike quite a bit later in the day. Wesley missed his first Palmiet weekend in 11 years due to work. Fortunately they helped with all the packing and hooked the trailer for me, so that I only had to get in and drive.
Upon arrival Mark, Yvonne & Cornelia were doing a sterling job putting up the Pringle home for the weekend. As I parked, James already had the Mayer & Heyliger abodes sorted.
After a trip upstairs to the office to get the necessary formalities out of the way, I started emptying the trailer. Thanks James for helping me get the tent up and thanks to Luderick & Helewese for joining in to get the gazebo’s corners “walked” to where they were supposed to be.
I nearly panicked when I had to get the mattress up – a power cut… Well, if not back up by bed time, we would have either slept on the grass or in the car, but fortunately the power was only out for about half an hour after I tried the first time.
Luderick & Helewese pitched their brand new snazzy tent, but must admit their stretchers were way more impressive than the tent itself.
Yvonne & I helped Cornelia set up the Barber camp in Boseiland when Rob arrived.
Yvonne, Cornelia & I went to town to get some ice and wood. Ja right… thank heavens for the Sonata’s huge boot, because the 3 of us nearly emptied Spar. Don’t know why I bother packing from home when I end up buying 101 other goodies when I get to the destination.
A couple of Nomads & friends who haven’t been to Palmiet for a while, ended up pitching tents where other people were booked. Oops, as the Nomad “responsible” I had to ask them to move camp to our booked sites. Thanks Mike, Cheryl & company for being good sports about this – I didn’t witness, but believe they didn’t break down, just removed pegs and carried the tents to where they were relocated to.
While walking back to our camp site, I noted a GP van on one of our sites. As I was about to walk over and ask them to move, Anja appeared from behind the van – what a relief, I don’t do the conflict thing very well.
Anton and Leanne joined us from Langebaan and again had an assortment of bottled puddings for all to try. Hmmm, I tried two of them, one was great, the other left me breathless. Thanks Anton for sponsoring 6 bottles of wine each for our potjiekos competition entrants.
Friday night was braai and kuier time. After eating we travelled from camp site to camp site, visiting friends not seen in a while. Everyone got to bed fairly late.
Saturday morning we were up early and tried to figure out exactly how many kids we had in the camp site, because it was time to pack the party packs. Yvonne came and helped and all was done in record time.
Kiddies’ games were a breeze. Got a couple of new games and again the hairspray was a hit. This year none of them wanted their faces painted – maybe because Delrae & I were doing it and not the pretty dollies we had camping with us last year.
Due to the location of the games, between cars & tents, I only packed the soft balls this year. Well, some brought their own rugby & cricket balls, resulting in some tears from the smaller ones. Nonetheless, all had a great time and after 2 hours of playing with the old folk, they went to the beach.
We had 7 entrants for the potjie competition, but due to time constraints 1 pot had to withdraw.
Elretia & Rob (Nomads) & Grant Hattingh (CTMCC) were our judges. They really did a fantastic job. Usually I have a mission finding people prepared to do the judging, but this year, those I asked agreed immediately and last year’s judges actually volunteered – must have realised this is a fun job.
Results of the potjie competition:
1st Sean Anderson with a Lamb Shank & Veggie pot,
2nd André Heyliger with a Braaivleis Curry pot,
3rd Denise & Chelsea with a 3P-Pot (Prawns, Pork & Prunes)
The other entrants were:
Kate & Portia with a Beef & Beer Pot
Mike & Sue Hair with a Banting Pot – Chicken livers 3 ways,
James Mayer with a Chicken Pot.
Thanks Denise for the wine. The 3P-pot required 1 cup of red wine and I received the left overs. No, this was not bribery – I was not a judge!
The usual 8 o’clock prize giving was brought forward to 7 o’clock, while it was still light. Thanks Luderick for doing the honours and thanks to Anton and Nomads for the sponsorships.
This year we had 70 adults and 13 children under 12 at Palmiet. The weather was great, windy like every other year, but no rain this time around, it was all sunshine – some got a tan, others (like me) got burnt.
Most money was collected Saturday evening and on Sunday morning it was a matter of waiting for the office to open so I could go and settle our debt.
With all paid, I got back to a packed up camp site, hooked trailer and a car with a dead as a door nail battery! Thanks to those who got it jump started. I got on the road and headed home. Some tourist traffic held me up from Kleinmond to the N2 and Rob complained about the slow ride home – he was babysitting in case the battery decided to give a final greeting along the road.
Arrived home with the flat battery still holding on, but not prepared to take a chance, we had it replaced the same day – what a mission to find a new battery on a Sunday morning!
Thanks to all who attended and made it a great success once again.
Hope to see you all at the next camping weekend at the end of 2015!!
Lizl