esCarpade 2017 - Day 6 - Dinner

Day 6 dinner was a "Back to School" event in Kingaroy...  Before dinner, Damian managed to catch up with Scott, one of his former Camp Quality campers, who lives in town.

Adam and Damian dressed in their "school uniforms".

Damian with Jess from the Princesses on the bus - Liz who would usually be accompanying Jess had to head home suddenly today, leaving Jess to finish the event on her own.

The rowdy recalcitrants on the bus to dinner...

Chris and Cheryl from Teletubbies... enjoying back to school memories (Chris - hair, and Cheryl - flirting with the boys!)

The dinner venue was the St John's Lutheran School.

Decked out nicely...

Cheryl did her best Kylie Mole impersonation...

Fitzy the singer entertained the crowd...

School graffiti...

Susan and Ben handed out the esCarpade awards...

The three "best dress-up" finalists...

Ben talking turkey...

A wonky circle photo!!

Damian taking a selfie with dancers going crazy in the background...

Jake wanted to make another guest appearance on the blog... who was Damian to refuse?

And the slightly rowdier crowd for the bus trip home.

All in all a great night was had by all...  With the final day upon them, the boys headed back to get some sleep in preparation for the exciting finale!!

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esCarpade 2017 - Day 6 - Twin Waters to Gympie to Kingaroy

Day 6 saw the boys waking up in Twin Waters, ready to head to Kingaroy via Gympie (and Cooloola Way)...

Breakfast coffee...

Out on the oval, good thing the storms didn't eventuate!!

Damian and Lenny, the puppeteer...  Pity Kravatz was missing...

The Clash of the Titans happening on the bubble soccer field...

Driver briefing...

And out onto the road...

Through the Mapleton Forest...

Through downtown Cooroy...

Stopping for roadworks...

The grader had freshly ripped up the road...  woohoo!!  They were operating on the same UHF channel as us, so they enjoyed the banter as we passed...

Windy dirt roads that go up and over hills!!

Onto Cooloola Way...

MW2 doing a sterling job as per usual...

No assistance required... photo time!!

At the Ghost Busters fun stop...

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!!

225 had a bit of an issue - stuck in the water crossing...

Retro Rock-It... safety first!!

Retro Rock-It made it through...

Damian decided that the deep, long water crossing wasn't for Retro Rock-It, so they took the alternate water crossing...  Good choice!!

And arriving in Gympie at the Pavilion for lunch...

After lunch, it was time to hit the road towards Kingaroy!!

Adam had a turn driving the afternoon stage...

Causeways, grids and dust were the order of the day...

This section got quite steep and rough...

The track got so narrow here that Damian wondered if they were going the right way...  Turned out they were!!

Parked up at the fun stop...

The rear tyre is disappearing into the guard...  suspension is high on the agenda for next year!!

The front wasn't too bad.

At the fun stop, Damian received a text advising that the track beyond the fun stop was closed due to a bushfire in the area, so the boys (and all other entrants) were instructed to punch the check-in location into their GPS and follow that instead of the route notes.

Even following the GPS there was still a bit of dirt!!

And Kingaroy was reached without any further drama.

Another great day of esCarpade fun and frivolity was had, with minimal damage to Retro Rock-It - just some rock damage underneath from rocks bouncing up and hitting bits and pieces…

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