Tassie Moot 30/12/2004 - 10/1/2005 The 16th Australian Rover Moot was held at Lake Barrington, near Devonport in Tasmania. Most of the crew came up with the same usual excuses as to why they couldn't attend an activity, so only Chris attended. Shayne also attended, but technically he's not a Heathmont Rover any more, especially when he turned up in Queenslander merchandise. Hopefully the crew won't make the same mistake for AussieMoot held in Sydney at the end of 2007. Start planning and saving now.

The moot was held over 10 days, with a 5 day off site expedition in the middle. Chris chose White Water Rafting, along with 34 others. New Years Day they headed out to the Fourth River, for a warm up. After inflating the rafts, the fun began. Once everyone worked out how to control the rafts, they spent the rest of the day trying to hijack other rafts. The next three days were spent travelling down the Hellyer and Author rivers, camping under tarps on the banks. Unfortunately they didn't have as much water in them as 3 weeks earlier when the guides did a test run. It was a little rough on the bottom, and we had to carry the rafts through some sections. Due to some bad circumstances, we were also able to experience black water rafting. Its kinda like Braille parking in a dodgem car. Luckily one of the guides through in a head torch just in case, but it was one very small torch for 5 rafts. When we arrived at the finish at 1am, wood fired pizza and hot drinks were served.

As everyone must do an expedition, everyone must do service. This is randomly chosen when first booking into the moot. Chris was in a team of 40 responsible for removing Ivy that had taken over trees in a nature reserve. It was caused by locals removing it from their back years, and dumping it. This was a huge task, and they got a lot done, but more work is still needed. The guy from Parks was amusing, as all he wanted to do on New Years Eve was finish work early, and open a beer; instead, he was stuck with baby sitting us.

In addition to the five day expedition, there are day expeditions. Chris chose hiking at Cradle Mountain, hoping to get a photo of it in good weather they'd had for the last few of days. Instead he bought a poster from the tourist shop, as the mountain was covered in as much cloud as last time (see photo below). Other activities included feeling sea sick (not as sick as some) on the One And All tall ship, and caving. Chris had seen insects and snakes in caves before, but never a cave spider 20cm from his face as he carefully crawled underneath (think daddy long legs as big as your hand).

As well as all of the offsite activities, there was sailing, swimming and water skiing on the Lake, mountain biking down the hills, Tasmazia hedge mazes, screen printing and a solar spa (not as great as it sounded). The mountain bike trail was a fast downhill trail with steep drop offs to the side. Some of the bikes were okay, but all of them had seen better days, and were at least 5 years old. Not something for the feint hearted.

Each night, after the days expeditions, the bar would open at 5pm. Drink cards were used, instead of cash, and everything was at reasonable prices. Every night had a different theme, like Irish Night, Toga Party, Contingent Night and Jelly Wrestling. Heaps of friends were made, both local and international, and everyone had an awesome time.

Rafting Expedition (guides in blue)
Rafting on the Arthor River	Small Rapids
Big Drop	The forest was amazing
Shayne at Marion's Lookout, Overland Track
Caving	Pretty Caves
Half of Cradle Mountain
A spot of sailing	The One and All
Luckily nobody was on this when it happened