Playtime In Pinnaroo
It's always amazing how many things get left to the last minute when you're going away - no matter how well prepared you think you are, you always realise at the last second that you've forgotten somthing. That's how i found myself in the supermarket, buying baby food, masking tape and spam... but we still managed to leave Malvern at 6.45, only fifteen minutes late! Dr.B was very proud.
Three hours on a bus is a long time, especially when it's too dark to look out the window. In the first five minutes, the South African put porridge in his mouth, leant out the window and 'spewed' - shocking the life out of the woman in the next car, who looked mortified. Hilarious. I spent two hours curled upside down in my sead (actually very comfy!) and the last little while singing hilarious kiddie songs with Frau.C and half the bus. Good times. Though i will admite, i was fairly apprehensive about the trip, so was feeling kind of blah. We arrived around half nine and were pretty surprised to find ourselves in the middle of some semblance of civilisation in the middle of the desert. I think we'd all expected a tin shed - not the carpeted hall and air-conditioning! Very cool. We unloaded the bus and settled into our separate rooms (we're never too old to have to separate the girls from the boys :P).
After a 'most embarassing story' competition (which, amazingly, i didn't win!), we picked secret buddies - people that we had to do extra nice things for all weekend. Tricky thing when you pick a buddy you don't really know and are too shy to be super-friendly, but i did what i could. Then it was snooze time! But not before English laughed at my glasses and stole them off me, leaving me huddled in a corner, blind! Scary stuff.
Up nice and early the next day, it was toast for breakkie and i fed little Bobby - who was SO adorable and thankfully along for the trip. I got to use that gorgeous ball of chub as a distraction and a source of love all weekend. Hurrah! We trekked down the road to the sports club showers (getting some strange looks from the cricket team) and loved the fact that they were clean and nice! Then it was seminar time and we talked faith - thankfully Dr.B saved me from having to talk faith with the people i didn't know very well.
Group games were a camp-must. First we had the game where you say someone's name and throw something to them, remembering the order and gradually adding more and more things. At some point, i missed the bowling pin - and then everything that was thrown after it. Totally screwing up the order, i just stood there, hands over my head, things being pelted at me, people hysterically laughing. Classic! Then we played Roxanne - you know, where you drink lemonade when the song says 'roxanne' and eat marshmellows/bananas when it says 'red'. It gets faster and faster and people inevitably spew (ahem - the south african being one of them, among others). Always hilarious, this one set of a chain reaction of sympathy spewers. Ew!
Lunch time, then we were off the the museum... yes, very random! We saw all different kinds of wheat (did you know that all the wheats in the different states are named after different things? QLD = explorers, WA = places, NSW = birds, VIC = high points, SA = weapons...), old style farming gear and then printing presses. It was boiling hot and not exactly thrilling, but it actually was very interesting - yes, i'm a freak! Did you know that murray bridge got their first computer in 1971 but pinnaroo didn't get one until 1979? I had no idea that printing things was so complicated - nor did i know that it was so recent! By the time we'd finished, it was too late to do gardening (the random act of kindness that was a huge point of the trip).
Myself and two of the other girls headed off to door-knock and tell the world of Pinnaroo that we were having a free bbq and concert that night and that they were welcome. It took us the better part of an hour and a half - with breaks for an iceblock and runs through every sprinkler that we saw, to keep cool. It was so hot that we dried immediately! The pub was somewhat scary though - the drunken bogans in there were a little creepy... some people responded well to us, others just stopped short of slamming the doors in our faces; i guess we were somewhat like uniting jehovah's witnesses...
The bbq and the band went down swimmingly. There was a good turn out and the band was awesome. The younger kids that showed up loved it, so did some of the guys who wandered over from the pub. I helped lead the jumping, screaming and 'woo-hoo-ing' in the crowd. The band played some decent stuff too, bookending a round of 'who wants to be a millionaire' - we got australia's first millionaire! It was 9ish before we were done and everyone left. Then we cleared up and played a round of binbee (frisbee, with a bin lid) in the streets. Some of us went to bed, while the rest of us stayed up to watch The Three Muskateers - it was sooo cool! For the record, i like Dartaneon best. SaviourDave decided that he spent more time being mean than nice to me, so i got massages and he played with my hair for the first half of the movie, which was fun. Then i got cuddles from English - though when he stuck his finger in my mouth, i accidentally bit him... very hard... damn reflexes, haha. Off to bed!
Awoken a few times in the wee hours by people in the next room screaming at the television - who really cares who wins the rugby? Granted, i almost got up to watch it too... but really didn't care enough. Let's suffice to say that i didn't get much sleep, so got up early and had Bobby cuddles as i gave him breakfast. Then a shower and a church service, with more decent music. We had a few more good additions to the band, so it sounds good at the moment. The natives really seemed to appreciate it and loved having morning tea and lunch with us. Some of the kids (possibly a little mentally different, so hard to deal with at times) absolutely adored us. We packed our stuff onto the bus and then headed back home.
Another bus ride of snoozing, tickle fights with English, songs and, most hilariously, dare wars, ensued. Rev.J got his moustache combed, Dr.B got licked, I got attacked by pillows and the South African serenaded me with love songs. Hilarious. On the way home, we passed a car accident, but the guy seemed to be ok... his car was flipped over and totally smashed though... We revealed secred buddies - and you'll never guess who mine was. The odds were so against it, but apparently odds mean nothing in life. Poor guy - tried to give me an ice-cream but failed, then a soft drink but i gave it to someone else, as i don't like them. He did manage to give me a hug. However, i still didn't guess it was him - i though he was doing nice things because he thought i was being 'awkward', but apparently it was the obligatory secret buddy 'gifts' :P My poor buddy had no idea who i was... oops!
After unloading the bus, i stuck around for church. I almost sung... but bailed because i'd had enough. The weekend had been hard - granted, the Pinnarooians had appreciated us, but in terms of being a bonding experience, it'd been difficult. I hadn't really found my 'place' in the group. I was caught between ages, between comfort zones and between emotions. I'd managed to avoid tears for the majority of the weekend, but lost it once we were home and broke down in the loos/under a desk. Haha, at least people just told me that i looked like shit and was hell tired - nobody guessed i'd been bawling. I made it through the service though, even had some energy and managed to jump around with Violet. After church, we ate as usual, LittleM made my day by being a sweetie and giving up our silly 'no touching' rule for the night, then headed home to greet the rentals who'd just returned from the US - bearing clothes! Yay!
It was a massive weekend. It was great to do something for the community up at Pinnaroo and some of the group things we did were lots of fun, as was listening to the band. But it was pretty draining and i definately didn't come home well rested! Still, i think i'm glad that i went. I never like missing out on things! Think the others had a blast but, which was great! Overall, a success, i'd say.
And so ends my incredibly long recount that i really should have split into two posts... :P ah well.
Annie
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