Last year we volunteered to help at the second, Stone the Crows Festival which is held annually, at Easter, at Wagga Wagga.
This year we had also volunteered, “He” would be assisting with audio / visuals, traffic control and any other task allocated and “She” would be co-organising the merchandise store.
As we were asked to arrive on the Monday before the event started (the event started on Wednesday, 1st April), we decided to depart home on Sunday and stay overnight at Jugiong showground, leaving a relatively short hop into Wagga Wagga on the Monday morning.
This was a rare Sunday departure for us and we organised with neighbours the strategic parking of cars so we could leave around 9:00am. We had no problems exiting our driveway and the trip from Sydney to Jugiong was in good weather with little traffic on the road. We were to meet friends at Jugiong and they arrived shortly after us. We were also joined by other friends from the Australian Caravan Club.
Our stay in Jugiong was pleasant with the temperature very kind to us and more importantly, we were able to get a television signal and “He” was able to watch part of the World Cup Cricket final.
We drove into Wagga Wagga on Monday arriving 30 minutes early but we were able to be placed onto our site at the Australian Clay Shooting Association grounds just to the east of Wagga Wagga.
We had a quiet afternoon and had a happy hour from 4:15pm to 9:15pm when we decided it was time for our evening meal.
Tuesday saw the girls involved with setting up the merchandise store and at the end of the day, we had another lengthy happy hour which finished at the more reasonable time of 8:15pm. Definitely room for improvement!
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“He” and our friend were involved in traffic control for much of Wednesday ensuring that local “major” roads were not blocked as had been the case 12 months earlier. The local Police and Council had accepted a traffic management plan from the organisers and it was our role to manage that plan on the streets. Fortunately we were able to ensure that the two major local roads in question remained free of event traffic.
Whilst in Wagga Wagga “He” flew the quad copter every day and photographed the progressive filling of the site.
This year’s Festival was also attended by ten couples from the Australian Caravan Club, Sydney City Slickers. It was not an official event, but quite a few of us had attended the previous two years and attended once again, each in their own right.
We were spread, literally, from one end of the ACTA National Shooting Ground (at Wagga Wagga) to the other, but distance was not going to stop the Slickers from getting together for Happy Hours. Two of the members rode their bicycles around finding everyone and making sure that we all knew where we were to meet each afternoon.
We also enjoyed the company of other ACC Members who were not a part of our branch.
There were loads of talks, seminars, workshops, craft groups, the “Early Bird Morning Show” every day which included bush poetry and musical items and jokes from Jim Haynes, and entertainment by Grant Luhrs and the amazing O’Donoghue family (Katelyn, Liam and Kasey), ukulele lessons, jams and singalongs, keyboard workshops, Dance Club every morning to “get your body working”, Disc Bowls, Petanque (a form of Boule), Ladder Golf and the final sport, Stoning the Crows. The games were particularly competitive and two of the ACC members were runners up in the Petanque.
One of the talks that was well attended and favourably commented on later by attendees was that on the Australian Caravan Club delivered by Lorraine Theodoros. Flyers and Application Forms were handed out and we hope that some new Members will result from the talk.
There was an Ecumenical Church Service on Good Friday.
Evening entertainment was first class. Jim Haynes MC’d all of the shows and he had the help of his mate, Grant Luhrs, who also performed and was on sound.
Whilst all of this was happening, “He” was manning a video camera and projecting the entertainment onto a large screen for all to see.
On Wednesday, the first night of the Festival, we were entertained by Jamie Way with his “Elvis and the 60’s” Show. What a voice! He had some of the audience up and dancing too. He returned on Thursday night for his “Pizzarotti” performance – a teaser for next year when get to experience his talent once more.
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Friday we were presented with a play by Jim Haynes “We Were There – the Story of Gallipoli” – a vocal celebration of the 100th Anniversary of ANZAC and after that moving event some 40 odd teams took part in the Trivia Night.
Saturday night was the BIG NIGHT – the event that quite a few locals were able to purchase tickets to attend. Just a note – all of the Shows were included in our attendance fee for the Festival! There was seating for over 700 people in the Marquee and it was filled to capacity.
The “I Remember You-oo – Frank Ifield Show” with the man himself in attendance and Wayne Horsburgh singing all Frank’s songs with which we were all familiar. Frank and Wayne both returned on Sunday morning for Wayne’s Show and then “Meet the Legends” – Frank Ifield had a chat, and a question and answer and then they both signed autographs.
Sunday night we were entertained with the Talent Quest Finals.
Monday was “Open Day” when the locals were able to attend. There were market stalls, food, coffee and other drinks. In the afternoon there was a concert by the O’Donoghue’s and the official “Stoning of the Crows” took place at 2pm, then Grant Luhrs had a Farewell Singalong for his Happy Hour Concert.
Monday night was the presentation of the gReyVee Awards and then yet another top class act. Darren Carr, Australia’s best ventriloquist and comedian, had us all in stitches with his show.
Come Tuesday and we departed Wagga Wagga. The plan was that four rigs from our group would meet up at Jugiong for the night. The rain through which we drove on the way there was so bad and the ground at Jugiong such a quagmire that we all soldiered on and went straight home.
The weather was so varied that we actually saw what appeared to be snow on the side of the road between Yass and Goulburn but this could have also been the remains of a severe hail storm. We will never know.
We arrived back into Sydney in the latter part of the afternoon and were able to successfully negotiate the peak hour traffic but more importantly, park our caravan back into our driveway without causing traffic problems in our street or stress to ourselves.
We all enjoyed our time at Stone the Crows and some of us have already booked for Easter 2016.