Baldivis - Trackers Reunion - 15/10 to 1/11

Wednesday - 15th October.

4.30pm, and here I am at Baldivis after negotiating the freeways through Perth to this place which is just over 40km south of Perth CBD.

I am catching up with others who are arriving from other places plus some of the locals that I know from past times. Our reunion gets under way on Monday (20th) & will go till Sunday.

Also catching up on some running repairs to the caravan & the generator. Took me 50 minutes to drive to the place where I got the generator fixed. 50 minutes back & only 5 minutes to find & fix the problem.

The days here have been spent catching up with old acquaintances & meeting people who have a similar bond.

A number of are staying at the Veteran's Retreat at Baldivis and this has made it easier as most functions have been held here. Surprisingly there have not been too many late nights although one of the fellows has set up a camp fire & we have managed to have a cuppa around the fire at night.

The reunion has been well attended and there are a number of personnel from the Eastern States. The Dog Biathlon was held on the Friday & it just managed to ba a cold, wet & windy day. The dedication to the Dog Memorial at the Retreat was held on the Saturday & it was a moving ceremony. This was followed by the first presentations of Medals for Working Dogs. It has been the culmination of a lot of hard work by members of our Association.

The Dinner Dance followed at night & recognition was given to those in the west for their hard work in putting together the reunion. A good night was had by all. We had a farewell BBQ on the Sunday and most of the others started to move to other places on the Monday.

After the reunion I have stayed on for a few extra days to catch up with fellows who I served with in 1 RAR. One fellow I have not seen for 40 years, another about 38 years so it has been great to catch up. Another fellow has recently moved to an Aged Care facility & it was good to spend some time with him. Our "Fire Support Base Coral" reunion is to be held in Perth in May next year so I will have another opportunity to catch up with them at that time. I have given them a copy of some of my Vietnam photos as they are in a number of these shots.