Categories: uncategorized
Date: 07 January 2007 00:57:04
So each year of beach mission has a particular defining feature. My first year was the year of the bush fire. Then there was the year of the "lots of naughty people on team". And "the year I didn't go". You get the idea.
This year started as "the year of water problems" and ended as "the year of the vomit plague". Mention must also go to the central role of the blowtorch and the inventiveness of the kitchen department.
So water. Water is an important substance and one that we in Australia like to blather on about a lot. Usually bewailing a lack of it.
The caravan park where my beach mission is held, has three water sources. The ocean (used for swimming in), the bore (used for showers, toilet flushing etc) and the rainwater tanks (for drinking). The ocean was in position as usual. The bore is slightly depleted due to the drought but it is still present. The rainwater tanks contain water. But this year it had wriggly things in it. Wriggly things are not a good sign in drinking water. Especially when the toilets are a 5 minute walk away and the nearest town is a half hour drive. So for the first day of mission, a lot of time was spent boiling water and telling people to drink coke instead of water. Good thing I took my bottle of gin. I was given much praise and glory for my idea of putting a 3kg bag of (bought) ice in the (enormous) saucepan of boiled (for 10 minutes) water to bring it to a comfortable drinking temperature in less than a week. However this was not a sustainable solution to the problem. Various ideas were thrown around - some sort of purifying device, chemical purification, buying water... we settled on "asking someone in town to give us water for the duration of mission and sending someone in to refill all the jerry cans every night". While a bit of a hassle, this worked fairly well and everyone was reasonably hydrated.
The plague of vomits was not related to the water situation, and, I am pleased to say, also unrelated to the food. It was introduced by a small child, whose sociable older brother then spread it to a grand total of a quarter of the team (in two waves, separated by a 2-3 day incubation period). I was kept rather busy distributing various drugs and electrolyte ice blocks to those affected. Then succumbed myself on the final night. Luckily I had not eaten much that day so merely felt revoltingly nauseated until the drugs kicked in. Now I am just tired and glad that I got out of working today.
Inventiveness: if faced with a birthday in a remote location devoid of birthday candles, you can make some yourself using paper towel dipped in melted butter and wrapped around some sort of wick substance (we used ribbon that we found attached to one of the marquees). They set very quickly and burn well. I might have to make some more so that I can post photos. Hint: they don't always light well the first time so prime them first before the grand lighting ceremony.
The best thing for lighting homemade candles is a blowtorch. It can light many at a time as long as you have them arranged linearly. Other uses for a blowtorch:
1. Lighting bbqs/gas rings
2. Sealing the ends of rope
3. Making a toffee topping on bread and butter pudding (hint: for a tasty b&b pudding, don't cook it in a water bath - this way you get a robust custard instead of the coddled sloppy stuff that the recipe calls for)
4. Lighting tea light candles
5. Making a quick snack (flamed sugar on bread is a great way to impress teenage pyromaniacs)
6. Impressing guests who don't expect desserts made in a tent to include coffee and almond tortoni with a toffee topping.
7. Conversation piece
8. Sterilising metal objects
I suspect quite a few team members will be buying themselves blowtorches this week.