Aptly named, as here it was a week before Christmas and our original site (plan A) was yet to be confirmed. Jim was working fulltime counting grains of wheat being delivered to the CBH terminal at Northam and from all reports it was a good season, (lots of grain) Plan A Clackline / York area.. Bad news, too many hobby farmers, contact issues ( most live in the city). Plan B check out Wandering area… bombed out and time was running out. Plan C (panic mode... well almost) Jim made contact with a few farmers down Williams way….. yep no problems.. BUT no driving on the stubble or anywhere off tracks as fire is a serious risk and as previously stated they had a crop last year.

One cool Wednesday morning (it was 4:15 am, of course it’s cool) I headed off to meet Jim on the main drag dividing the map area and we proceeded to set the rogaine. 11:00 and off to The Shed (Williams) for a latte and gourmet pie. Mid afternoon, temperatures rising we had covered about 30kms (mostly walking) and the event was shaping up very nicely, plotted some features that on the map looked innocuous but on the ground were quite challenging. By days end we had 60% set and headed back to base, a shearing shed. Can’t remember tasting better amber ale and having a nicer cool shower after a day’s setting. Dinner at the Quindanning pub and then sleeping with the native fauna… doesn’t get better than this.

Day two and all is well, met a few more farmers and finished setting by mid afternoon. Back to Williams for lunch and latte and I was welcomed home at six by my smiling wife and a glass of chilled Verdelho. (honest ..it’s true.) Three days before event day we head off and do it all again only this time it’s a bit cooler... max was only 30C and hanging controls is a bit quicker as we have already been there once. First night dinner at the Williams Hotel (fish and chips and a pint) just perfect, day two by lunchtime apart from the water drops the event was set. Saturday around midday the truck arrived and it was full on camp setup time. 8:00pm and off went 135 rogainers to see if the controls were in the right place.

Patrolling was shared with Jim and Warren and the only casualty (apart from a few grazes) I picked up one team who, well, just ran out of steam. Yep there was a bit of challenging terrain out there. One feedback comment, in this event it was very difficult to select an optimum route with the positioning of controls and the points values (Accolades to Jim). By midday Sunday the HH site looked pretty much like it looked first thing Saturday morning... vacant. One more latte with Jim at The Shed and I was back in Morley unhitching the trailer by 6.

The wash-up…. don’t use this as a template to set a rogaine … stick with the S & V manual timeline (reduces the stress level). Other than that, all went well and I thank the farmers for their time and hospitality we shared.