Conrod Campout Pinnaroo

10 Club members drove to Pinnaroo on Friday 17 April for the annual Conrod Campout, some set up camp at the Caravan Park while others went to the Motel, then walked to the Golden Grain Hotel for tea. They said it was a great meal.

Saturday morning members walked to the op shop and Bakery for morning tea with plenty of chit chat.

Alan and I arrived in Pinnaroo on Saturday morning and joined the other members. At 12.30 we met at the football grounds entrance and left at 1 pm to drive 40kms, half of this was on dirt roads.

We were out in the scrub and there was an original train carriage in excellent condition under cover which was owned by Mr Ron Hentschke. There were many beautiful old black and white photos inside, lights with shades and the timber that the carriage was built with was magnificent. The carriage was named Dargo and weighed 48 tons. It was originally from Adelaide and was an overnight sleeper carriage and travelled from Adelaide to Melbourne. Ron Hentschke moved it with a prime mover with only one set of dolly wheels under it, what an achievement! There was also a small train carriage which was used to accommodate the workers, now it is being used for children to sleep in when they are staying there.

It was very wet and cold so we moved under cover and sat around a good bonfire, pity we didn’t have time to sit around it a little longer. The BBQ was started at 5 pm and we had a great variety of salads and sweets which was enjoyed by all. It was still raining so at 6.45 pm – we all left and went back to our accommodation with a very slippery ride on the way. Some went to bed early while others mingled.

Sunday morning we went to the Wetlands Park which was a great venue for the games.

The games we played were:

  • Walk the people on the rope
  • Pull the truck the fastest without letting the marbles fall off the exhaust pipes
  • Wind the rope up on a piece of pipe to get the horse and rider over the line
  • Fold up a shower tent and put into a bag and zip it up in the fastest time

Mike Arlene Wayne and Viktoria were right into it having a great time. I think everyone enjoyed the games and the weekend. Some went to the roadhouse for lunch and others went back to the caravan park to pack up and head for home.

Winners of the games were Murray Mallee Club , 2nd place were Bordertown and Murray Bridge and 3rd place went to the Riverland Club.

Report by Marlene Hagger