Or what to do when the river is too high to get the vans across
After our Tasman Mixed and Mingled trip, we had a few hours to wait while the Bushend Creek subsided enough to get our vans through it. Although the weather was dry and the sun was trying to keep us warm, a brew was needed to sustain us while we waited. The challenge was laid down by Illona, and Sam immediately accepted it by diving into the nearest thicket to collect firewood. Almost caught off the mark, Jenny as self proclaimed judge, hurried off to collect her two billies and the measuring cup. Meanwhile crashing sounds from the undergrowth announced that manuka and other twigs were being collected. The rule of 3 measured cups of water to a rolling boil was communally decided.
Neck-and-neck the kindling was laid in a pyramid and square design. It was ladies first at the lighter. Although flames appeared first on Illona’s bundle of twigs, Sam was quick to lead with flame size by using the billy lid technique, wild arm flapping and stretching his diaphragm to maximum to enhance lung capacity.
Tim was seconded by Sam to hold a 5m log off the ground for 20 minutes, a back breaking position of stooping at various heights to adjust the height of the billy over the flames. A staunch and solid team supporter, Tim did what was asked and kept the billy at the Sam prescribed height.
Richard took up a more relaxed squatting position with his 50cm stick that was delicately covered in lichen, which continuously caught fire and fell into the billy to heat the water from above.
Gary as professional photographer of the event wandered off to get his mug.
The judge’s running commentary informed competitors of the opposition’s techniques, which were either immediately followed or ignored after a quick sideward’s glance. Ten minutes had passed and the water in the billies was still tepid to the judge’s finger test. Sam decided to give it 100% and at near hyper-ventilation levels, sweat dripping off his nose, tears running down his cheeks from the smoke, he blew a mighty blaze of fire and smoke creating finger size red hot embers. His team mate’s eyes smarted in his bent over position.
Illona, using a sage’s wisdom of small is best, burnt vast amounts of brushwood that produced small flames and enough smoke to send smoke signals to the neighboring valley. She was first to reach the magic rolling boil in exactly 20 minutes. Sam, first to burst was ready to rest as a rolling boil appeared in his billy a minute later.
With hand shakes and a shared bush brew the merits of billy lip flapping, bums in air low level blowing and the size of the billy support log were discussed. It was agreed that size does matter, Illona’s slightly larger billy and smaller twigs were the winning combination. Competition rules were discussed and set as Sam requests a future re run. Rules for Billy Off
- Size matters, identically sized club billies to be used.
- Equal number of people in the teams.
- The winning team is the team whose 3 Cups of water, first reaches a rolling boil
- All teams have access to all wood supplies, and neither team can use what others teams have collected
- An independent judge measures the water and ensures adherence to the above rules.
The next challenges were set, who could get the cleanest billy in the shortest time and at exactly what time would the river be low enough to cross?