This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
This was a John Sim Medium Trip - so we knew it wasn't going to be too strenuous. And we knew we could expect something out of the ordinary for Saturday night's dessert. Given John's sociable nature we also expected FUN. EVERYTHING WENT ACCORDING TO PLAN ! WE HAD GOOD FOOD : On the Saturday night, John very carefully extracted a shop-condition, 3Jayered chocolate cake from his pack. I am always impressed by his ability to pack the most fragile items and yet leave them undamaged. While we, his torchbearers stood idly round, John separated the 3 layers and created a fresh-cream, Black Forest Gateau before our very eyes. True to the original recipe, the very moist base had a nice sherry flavour!
WE HAD FUN : john was almost corrupted by the teenagers who tried to persuade him to play cards. However, the lamp went out , so instead John and friends talked well into the night. Perhaps this was the reason why we didn't leave till 11 o'clock the next morning - or was it the after-effects of the Black Forest Gateau? (The last thing I remember before going to sleep, was Greg asking if we had ever had barbecued spiders and had you seen the way the legs shrivelled up!) WE HAD EXCITEMENT : I got my feet wet crossing the river! Julian did too! And everyone else did as welll! Despite the fact that we went to great pains to keep them dry by patrolling the river banks looking for easy crossing places.
WE HAD RADIO COMMUNICATIONS : Sue, Leader of the Easy trip, called in and gave a foot massage over the air In the moming, John reciprocated by broadcasting a gentle wake-up song from his radio, The trip was pleasant. The weather was fine and everyone was in good humour. The pace was comfortable. Our camp by the river was dry and shielded from the wind. Julian did an excellent job putting up the flies. Despite our leisurely 11 o'clock departure - yes, Tl o'clock - on Sunday moming, it was not long before we caught up with the Easy trip (perhaps their feet were too relaxed) where we joined them for a long leisurely lunch in the sun. And that about wraps it up. Except for the ice-cream on the way back. But that's another story.
Trip Members :_ John Sim, John Griffith, Stefan Yuile, Julian Dirou, Erica Dirou, Greg Stokes, Peggy Christianson & Daniel Meares (Scribe).