Hi all! Well our hardy little band of Krew members has survived another Casper Rally and to go with the name it sure was white.
Tom and I got away from Branxton at 8:00am on a beautiful clear winters morning on Saturday. No frost but only a couple of degrees C but properly rugged up and with heated grips on high we looked forward to a great day.
We called into the Bylong store and as the signs said fuel and coffee, we did, as Tom had around 200kms under his belt by then.
We powered on south via Capertee, South Bowenfels and Hampton into Oberon for lunch and fuel. This whole area had been blanketed with snow three days before and it had all gone but the air was still very crisp.
Fed and fuelled we headed south to the rally site on the Abercrombie River, arriving about 2:45pm at the check-in tent, just under 500kms for the day for Tom and a bit less for me. As I pulled up I saw Waz walking away from the check-in heading towards the area of the camp ground where we camped last year. He had arrived shortly before us and was eyeing off the fire pit nearby that no-one had claimed yet. Handshakes all round and straight to the business of getting the tents up as quick as possible then grabbing a load of firewood and lighting up, thus claiming the fire. Others were welcome to join us but they had to bring wood to add to our stockpile for later.
The raffle draw saw Tom & I come up empty handed but Waz snared a pair of gloves that actually fitted him -
A good night was had with plenty of banter around the fire and I remember remarking at around 10:00pm that it didn't seem as cold as last year which quickly brought a reply from Waz that I should take a little walk into the bush as he had just done before jumping to conclusions. I did that shortly after as the mugs of port that I was consuming took effect and bloody hell! there really was a lot of heat coming off that fire. The inevitability of climbing into a cold tent came around and I managed to sleep for 3 hours before waking up thinking "I'm kind of warm enough but not quite enough to be really comfortable", so I pulled on the extra sleeping bag I had brought for insurance and drifted off to the sounds of some rallyists having a shouting match further down the campground - no doubt fortified from the cold by significant quantities of alcohol (as you do).
When I dragged myself out of my tent, greeted by the white landscape, my fellow travellers already had the fire raging so breakfast was had and I wandered over to the bikes to take a morning photo. I managed to get this before the iPhone shut down.
Today I did a little research on the iPhone in cold conditions and found this on the Apple Support website;
"Use iOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F). Low- or high-temperature conditions might cause the device to change its behavior to regulate its temperature. Using an iOS device in very cold conditions outside of its operating range might temporarily shorten battery life and could cause the device to turn off. Battery life will return to normal when you bring the device back to higher ambient temperatures."
It's true folks, I took the photo and blank screen, Apple Logo and off. Maybe I do still need a digital camera after all.
It was after 10:00am and still very cold when Tom and I headed for home. Observed some snow still on the ground under the trees at Shooter's Hill as we wound our way through some
roads less travelled up into the Blue Mountains, across the Bells Line of Road, down the eastern side and over the Sackville and Wisemans vehicle ferries then towards home via Kulnura and the Yarramalong Valley. Tom & I parted ways at Alison with him heading home via Doyalson and me taking Jilliby Road and up to Freeman's Waterhole then Cessnock to home at North Rothbury.
Thanks to Waz for making the trip and my patient travelling companion Tom who never complains when I lead him around some of the very minor roads in this great country. Great kompany. Around 865 kms for me.
Here's the trekCheers