Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Cowra Summer Breakout Bash

Every summer for the last ten years, Cowra has been flooded with an extra 70 or more residents for a week in summer. This eager group are made up of people from different churches around Sydney and comprise of people from 18 to 30+. They run a morning program from 9:30 to 12 noon catering specially for school aged kids but there are also afternoon activities like bbq and games at the pool for teens and evening activities for grown ups, such as mens cricket and pizza night and womens coffee and craft evening. You may also know of this kind of program as beach mission or vacation bible school. Whatever the case, it is a good chance for the town kids to get to know people of their age group from other schools and to burn off nervous holiday energy doing craft, skits and singing.

Why it shares its namesake with one of the saddest parts of history in Cowra escapes me. (During the second world war Cowra was a POW camp and to protect their honour, some Japanese soldiers tried to escape but were shot and died in the process. IT was known as the great Cowra breakout of 1944) Anyway, I digress ...The activities culminate in a Bash on Saturday held at Brougham Park( one of the larger parks in Cowra) and features the team setting up little booths with free face painting, hair wraps, balloon crafted animals and games (including catch the lolly man where a big strapping lad has lots of lollies taped to a caftan he wears. It is truly a great sight to see 20+ kids crash tackling a grown man to the ground).

The hair wrap stall ... very popular with the girls

This pavillion was a hot favourite ! kids everywhere had face painting, painted nails and fake tattoos

Aha ! What you see here is young D. Hayes had kicked his mate's footy too high up this palm tree. It took lots of thinking, a few failed attempts, 2 strong guys and a poking device fashioned out of one of the veins of the leaves to get the foot ball down. Fortunately his mother, the local high school teacher didn't see this or she would've chucked a spaz.

This band did great covers and kept us entertained. Love how they didn't bother to load the drum kit off the trailer. You can see the drummer in the background playing while sitting on the trailer.

Aussie BBQs are a must for every occasion. Even the commentators at the Rose Parade on New Years Day mentioned that the 2 countries which had the most number of BBQs were Korea and Australia. Onions and sausages are a must and sometimes steak and shrimp. I helped to sell canned drinks and opposite was the queue for the sausage sandwiches off the barbie. Traditionally, sausage sandwiches are served on a slice of white bread (since your eating sausages, you might as well go the whole unhealthy hog), topped with grilled onions, offered a squirt of tomato or bbq sauce and served to you on a napkin, folded together like a hot dog.

After cleanup, we were all tired but it had been a fun day :)

6 Comments:

At 6:37 PM, Blogger KirkK said...

Hi Rachel - There's one line in your post I love: "Fortunately his mother, the local high school teacher didn't see this or she would've chucked a spaz." I just love that line.......

 
At 6:56 PM, Blogger Rachel said...

Hehe milly
I have often seen that debate on Jo's blog. Over here as long as its cooked outdoors over heat, its a BBQ! most of the deluxe models here come with ability for smoking as well as high heat over grills or flat plates. They love their bbqs so much, they often even cook bacon and eggs on it for a "recovery breakfast" after a big night out with lots of alcohol :)

LOL Kirk, and I notice you always love one liners :) I also love your "yesterdays burger is today's Chilli"

 
At 10:00 PM, Blogger RONW said...

So in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed....and the names of the seasons are also switched? Also what's the perferred type of wood that's used for a BBQ in Oz?

 
At 11:30 PM, Blogger eat stuff said...

I also loved the "spaz" line LOL!!!

Ron I thin the best ausssie woodis snowgum, but it is hard to get but tastes divine ;)

 
At 11:44 AM, Blogger Rachel said...

Dear Ron,
Yes we also have Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring ( In that order, Summer goes from Dec to Feb etc) But they are not as pronounced as some places in the northern hemisphere. Eg we don't get snow in winter... you see it more in the plants and trees and the change of temperatures rather than landscapes. Some parts of Aus is brown all year round! :)
P/S I think the most used fuel for bbqs is LPG ... its at every service station, along with charcoal which is also commonly used. I wish I was able to taste food from a wood bbq !I'm sure its much better. I own a small gas one only.

Kirk and Clare! I think you like the line coz it sounds like something from the Far Side at the bottom of a cartoon :)

 
At 5:36 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

the cowra summer breakout is the best place to go to during the summer holidays i have been going all my life and i would like to see more ppl coming.
there is more than the bash but most ppl love the bash.
i am in the group Z and this year we played lazer tag and we went on a doorknock game were we had to get something bigger or better the winners ended up with a telivision and the second place was a watch, Klunk went to wyangla dam

 

Post a Comment

<< Home