A wonderful weekend was had by our intrepid adventurers at Narembeen. Apart from a blustery, cold day Friday the rest of the weekend was mild and sunny, ideal for wandering around the town.

Most of our crew arrived on Thursday, missing the worst of the wind on Friday. Unfortunately a number of our regulars were missing this weekend, mainly through illness and appointments. Our best wishes go to them and we sincerely hope they are soon back with us.We welcomed Warrick and Juver (with pooch Stitch), Bevin and Lorraine, Dean and Annette (with Anita and Ron) and Pat. Pat’s friends, Mike and Roz, also visited briefly overnight. It was lovely to welcome new people and our long time friends. Soon we can’t put Pat in this group as she has decided to officially join our chapter. Wonderful news, Pat.

The caravan park amenities were excellent, we appreciated the lovely hot showers and the general cleanliness of the park. The park caretakers, Peter and Jacqui, were friendly and made us feel very welcome, always ready for a chat. Their advice about the local attractions not to miss was spot on and their recommendation to order the homemade pies at the hotel was put to the test. Yum.

The local Op Shop (Dorcas House) was the biggest, busiest business in town. Room after room greeted us. The shop is so large they have two rooms set aside just for shoes and another had scarves and belts. Everyone visited two or three times, always finding further bargains missed on previous visits. With such reasonable pricing everyone seemed to return to camp with several special buys. The Op Shop proceeds go to charity, the latest donation being $2000 for Shalom House (a drug rehab facility in the Swan Valley). In total they have donated over $750 000 to various charities- amazing. Certainly not a place to miss on any further visits to town.

Friday evening we had a short stroll to the hotel where we had dinner. Preordering during the day meant we were served promptly and well. Thank you Anita for collating our orders and taking them to the hotel. Lovely food with good company.

Saturday was a busy day. We started with morning tea (where Rosalie collected our park fees) followed by another visit to Dorcas House. Next stop was lunch at The Co-op Cafe. The Cafe opened just for us (it’s usually a Monday to Friday cafe). Their staff handled our large group cheerfully and efficiently. We enjoyed lovely light, reasonably priced lunches. Quite a number continued on after lunch to wander town looking at the old buildings and sculptures.

By happy hour all had stories to tell of what they’d found during their wanders. Some had visited the Grain Discovery Centre (next door at the roadhouse), others had their photo taken with the large horse sculpture near the Town Hall whilst some walked around parts

of Lake Walker- the recent recipient of a boardwalk project the town ‘crop’ paid for. Quite clearly the locals are active and interested in keeping their town vibrant and welcoming.

Early evening saw 13 of us heading out to meet a local, Brian, to go to Wadderin Nature Reserve. Thanks must go to those in our group who transported us in their vehicles the 10km to Wadderin. What a wonderful evening we had. The weather was ideal, the wind was gone and the cold hadn’t arrived. We had an extended tour travelling all over the reserve in an electric buggy. We were given spotlights to search for the nocturnal animals. Not that we had a difficult search! Grain had been placed on the tracks not long before we arrived so we had the pleasure of seeing lots of feeding animals. Leanne enjoyed trying to capture photos of the woylies (bettongs), possums and a tawny owl. We didn’t get to see the elusive red tailed phascogale, maybe next time? All agreed it had been an excellent adventure.

Sunday saw some of our group heading off to other pastures, whilst the rest of us enjoyed a lazy day. A long morning tea and Happy Hour(s) gave us ample time to chat and banter. A lovely relaxing day before it was time to head off on Monday.

Once again, our best wishes go to all our regulars who couldn’t be with us this month. May you all be able to join us next month for our belated club birthday celebrations at Mogumber. Our thoughts were with you over the weekend