February Working Bee

The Work/Party Telemark from 25th Feb ’16

• Niel & Andrea Halvorsen
• Paul & Paula Burgess
• Charlie Read
• PJ
• Kate & Harvey darling
• Ruth Halvorsen & Sean
• Evan & Robyn Rees
• Eric Groom
• Sonja Sim
• Rolf Svensen
• Fiona & Pete Bunting

Firstly, I need to confirm that the 17 in the above team are very proud record breakers…

At our luncheons we had  a total 14 skalling aquavit, at one hit. This is a record, for a working party at Telemark. WWWOOOOOOAAAAHHH, record breakers!!

We all agreed that the record was broken due to our collective work ethic & the weather.

Apologies received from Yngve & Nicole, Carl & Kerry, Danielle, Peta & James & Heidi G. Hey, you guys missed a few parties.

PJ had the unenviable job of purchasing the winter’s supply of toilet paper for both lodges!  Can you imagine the looks she received whilst walking out of the shop with 1000’s of rolls & then driving down to Telemark with it on your roof rack !! Luckily a few of us put our hands up, so she didn’t need to use the roof rack!

The cars are always chockers on the trip down. Glasses, for red, white & champagne, cups, paints, brushes, light bulbs, washing detergent of every type etc & then there’s always all the mattress & pillow protectors that have been taken back home to wash. We also need to replenish lockers of alcohol consumed during the winter skiing hols.

On arrival at Telemark we were welcomed with the sight of 37 cubic meters of firewood, all to be hidden in the 2 wood sheds.

PJ, Ev, Rob, Fi & self arrived Thursday arvo & managed to wire brush & “trebbit” some of the south wall of T1 also sanded & painted the S. bedroom & bathroom windows . That evening PJ dished up a superb laksa, perfect for a cool Perisher evening.

Ev finished the job of cementing the broken sewerage pipe on T11. Now the kids can’t throw granite stones down the sewerage pipes ever again ! He also attached a breather pipe to T11, which has been missing for over 50 years!

We were all on site by Saturday morning, awaking to an amazing, crystal clear, blue sky.

Trebbiting, painting & stacking wood were atop the agenda.

One team, Niel & Eric assisted by Ev, scaled the stratosphere of the western wall of T11, did a great job with wire brushes & trebbit, & also sanded & painted the facia boards & window frames. They also rid us of some friendly starlings who’d made T11 home. Not any more.

The 2nd team started hiding the firewood in T1 woodshed.

Sean was at the lead, the most demanding job, picking up the logs & passing to his number 2, usually his Mum, Ruth Halvo, then onto Fi, PJ, Kate, Sonja & Rolfie, the stacker. Occasionally assisted by Ev, Paul & Pete. This team shifted 25cubic meters in a matter of hours…extraordinary effort, although at times there was too much chatter ! Later, another 12 Cubic mts were stacked into T11 woodshed , that’s a whopping total of 37 cubic mts by our A team !!

Because of his extraordinary efforts on the pile, Sean was awarded “free aquavit for LIFE” whilst on a working bee. A BIG thank you & congrats to Sean !

Paul & Charlie felled our big flag pole using all sorts of gadgets, painted it with a 2 pack mix then re- erected  it with the same gadgets…amazing stuff, it weighs a tonne!
Sparky, Harvey darling, replaced light fittings & did all the sparky jobs.

Meanwhile, Rob & Andrea spent hours scrubbing the logs, under the verandah railings & painting them. Also touching up…… woodshed windows.

And all the wood stacker girls got into trebbiting the northern walls of both lodges….great job !

The big surprises came out at night time.

After another fantastic bbq dinner, Rolfie donated a brand new guitar to Telemark & then proceeded to play every song imaginable, from the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s. He was joined by Ev as his back-up singer & harmoniser, then came the singers & dancers, the mighty  Do whopp – girls, Fi & Rob helped by PJ, Halvo, Sonja, Kate & Andrea. Pete, blew the harmonica. The real surprise came when Andrea grabbed the pepper grinder & Paula grabbed the egg timer, both rattling to Rolfies beat.

All of a sudden we had a band & I reckon we should be called the Screaming Perishers. (All suggestions welcomed).
Great fun had by all.

During the weekend we managed to use 8 lts. trebbit, 4 lts white gloss, 2 lts Zinsser undercoat, 2 lts black gloss, 1 lt cabothane clear, 2 lts turps, & a couple lts of special paint for the flag pole.

Thanks to all participants…a cracker weekend & I have no doubt the all the past directors were smiling up there, as the lodges look an absolute picture. Not to say there’s always something to do !

Please excuse me is I haven’t mentioned anything important or left someone out. At times my mind was somewhat fuzzy….

Peter Bunting