Back on the road again today heading back to Mataranka as Shane had wanted to do a walk around the thermal pool areas to take some photos.
About half way to our destination we came across a nasty accident which had obviously happened a good 15 minutes earlier as cars had been flashing their lights at us for about 15 kms down the road as a warning. Judging by the skid marks on the road, the driver had got into the gravel on the left side of the road and over corrected ending up over the edge of the right hand lane and down the embankment which would have been a good couple of metres or more deep. People had stopped to assist and there appeared to be two people lying on the ground. Given there were already a few cars stopped we kept driving but it is always eye opening to see these accidents along the way, and a reminder that it is so far for help to come when you drive a considerable distance before seeing ambulance, fire and police cars making their way to the scene.
Arriving in Mataranka just after lunch, we were able to pretty much take our pick of spots in the camp as there were very few vans there. We ended up parking where Kerrie & John had been during our last visit here as while there were only a few vans in the area, one had snatched up the spot we had been in before. On checking in, Shane came back to inform me that Stuart Wood's band was the entertainment for the evening so we decided to head to the restaurant for dinner again.
We broke into the second fruit cake I had made before we came away. It's my favourite Christmas Cake recipe and it makes an absolutely awesome moist cake. Actually this one was a bit better than the first as I hadn't cooked it quite as long.
We lucked out with the table we had the last time we were there. We've now designated it "our" table and can't really understand why it wasn't taken. Close enough to the stage to hear and see everything but far enough away and elevated so you can see over everyone else's head and catch any breeze that may be passing through. We were also very ready for dinner bringing our own steak knives and salt. The last meal we had with Kerrie & John was lacking both! Even though the steaks were lovely and tender - having a sharp knife made it that much better.
And so the entertainment began........... Well no I'm not really talking about the band. They played and that was entertaining. No - the entertainment began when I decided in the first break to go up and say Hi to Stuart. He was talking with some other campers about his band "the Giants" and something was mentioned about Colac. So I said "Oh another person from Colac" and as he turned to me I said "Well I don't know about the Giants, but I do remember a dodgey band called the Phantoms". "You remember the Phantoms" he asked. Then he asked my name and he said I do remember you, you used to live in Armstrong..... no wait.... Jennings Street - second house from the corner". Folks we're talking probably about 37 years ago when I used to go out with the drummer of the band, so you will forgive me for being astounded when I wasn't even sure he would remember me at all.
The entertainment continued - much to Shane's delight - with a song dedication and reference to knowing me and a passing comment during the second break asking if I had been embarrassed enough yet..... Ha Ha funny kid.
At the end of the night he called us over as we were heading back to camp and we chatted for almost an hour about old times and the people we had known. It was quite a surprising night and brought back a lot of amazing memories including some of our old music teacher Fred King who I admired a great deal during my school years.
Mataranka certainly served up a memorable stay for me this time.
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