Mar 2019, Whorouly, Vic (out the back o’ Wang)

The road dips to cross a pebbly stream (The Ovens), we pass a few nut groves and the large supported vines of kiwi fruit farms and suddenly we’re there, Whorouly. Pronounced woh–row-lee there’s a pub, a cafe and a school and the recreation reserve which is neat with modern buildings and a superb lawn tennis court. We find our mates setting up under the shade of a big old pin oak and there’s plenty of lawn for us all. There are toilets and showers in the Umpires room and it only requires is a $10 donation in the box at the front gate. Beside us is a cow paddock and expansive views of the ranges.

Now back to the Umpires room, there is one toilet and two showers in there. El Prado reckons that when they were last here there was a woman showering (behind a locked door) he kindly asked if she’d mind him showering next door. She was fine about that but El Prado reckons it’s the first time he’s showered with someone other than his Elle in fifty years.

At around 5pm the Reserve fills with four wheel drives and footballers, net ballers and tennis players furiously begin practice. The sun sets golden across the blue ranges and our boys cook dinner on the spotless bbq’s, the outdoor pavilion even has ceiling fans to keep the flies away. Now that is a thoughtful touch. We chat to Ruth who mows the lawns here and runs a catering business down the road. She tells us that the sports players come from as far away as Wangaratta and Myrtleford. The story goes that a while back when the Recreation Reserve was broken into, the committee asked the police what sort of security they should install. The local constabulary suggested opening the park to grey nomads and campers. Yep, that’s us, mobile security guards, always on duty, always on call, we’ll go anywhere…