Oallen Ford Retirement Plan

With great anticipation for a weekend getaway with friends, we packed the camper, hooked up the mighty Subaru and pointed our noses east.

Our destination was a favourite camp of ours, Oallen Ford. This time though we were doing it a bit differently.
1. We were camping with a group of friends
2. We were camping in Summer.... So the water should be warm enough for a dip
3. We were going with a couple of Geologists...

Subaru hooked up and ready to go!

The Subaru was our tow vehicle for the trip because our new car (the Amarok) wasn't ready in time. And to tell the truth the Subaru did a great job. The only drama we had was in the last couple of minutes of our trip when I realised we had lost trailer brakes. This was due to the plug coming away from the car and dragging on the ground. It was a simple fix with thousand mile an hour tape before I installed a new plug and socket when we got home.

Our biggest excitement came when we were trying to find a good spot to set up. Soft sand nearly undid the Subaru's clutch, however with a bit of luck we came though to more solid ground, where we quickly set up camp. Whilst the Subaru does have a low range gearbox, it is no where near as low as I would have liked. Handy for setting off when towing on the black-top perhaps, but not when you're looking at being stuck with a tonne or more on the back in something a little soft.

And for the record, No we didn't get bogged!  Close perhaps, but definitely not bogged!

So we set up, discovered the water was indeed warm enough for a swim, and then the big ones started picking the brains of our resident Geologists whilst the little ones reacquainted themselves with the Shoalhaven River.

Not interested in Gold at this point - the kayak was too much fun!

In the previous week, I had bought a couple of gold pans for the boys. I assured them that if they found enough gold to pay for a motorbike, they could have one when we got back. They were overjoyed and thanked me profusely for their presents....

So it was now time to put the retirement plan into action.

Under strict instruction, we found a likely place to dig, duly sifted and shook and sluiced and washed our pans. We kept washing and filtering and then before our very eyes, there was a speck, no two, three... seven specks of gold! I was stunned and amazed. (And no - I'm not showing you where it was - I've got to keep some things a surprise).

The tricky part was transferring our tiny specks of gold into our jar... And here I failed dismally. I am not sure any of our haul actually made it onto my finger and then into the jar at all. I think the boys also realised the difficulty in extracting enough gold to buy a motorbike - perhaps quicker than I did.

There is gold in there - I promise.... I think.... perhaps???

So the retirement plan didn't come to fruition. There were plenty of other people with sluices and pumps working the river, and perhaps therein lies the key to success. You must be able to processes a huge volume of dirt to extract a bit of gold.... And a pan every half hour or so won't cut it.

Still we had a great time, with a wonderful group of friends. The river was delightful for swimming in, the kids all had a ball with plenty of friends to go around, and our tykes commandeered a couple of small kayaks that have since been added to the wish list.

Who needs to pan for gold when there is a game of cricket to enjoy!

 All too quickly the weekend drew to a close and we headed back west... Unfortunately back to work as our dreams of striking it rich faded into the rear view mirror.  It was a lot of fun though and we learnt a lot. Perhaps the most salient lesson of all though is:  When panning for gold, don't forget the sunburn cream on your knees and the inside of your arms!!!