Winter ‘09Winter once again and a lot has been happening, especially in the last month.
Two weeks ago, one of our favourite cabins, Shearers, was burned to the ground. It took less than two hours from discovery of the fire by a neighbour at eight in the morning until the Fire Department putting out the last embers at around ten. During the blaze, thankfully, no one was hurt, even when one of the gas cylinders exploded quite dramatically, and none of the other cabins or the bush itself was set alight. To their credit, Peter and the boys did very well getting the fire fighting equipment together and our big thanx goes to Graham, our friendly neighbourhood fireman who provided the alarm, the effort and the fire truck to get the fire under control. Thanx also to the Oberon Police for their supervision and to the Rural Fire Department who came all the way out to make sure everything was safe.
Another event, this time a highlight, is that the shed that we’ve been trying to build for just over a year, has finally been erected. Thanx to Darryl and his crew, the gym is now ready to progress to the flooring and internal stage and, hopefully, we’ll have a new onsite attraction at Bina.
Something upcoming this time…For many weeks now, Bina has been working together with Oasis to put together a program where street kids are given a home for several weeks and Bina has a few new hands on deck. This project has reached its final few weeks and we’re looking at our first intake for the Binacrombi Wilderness Retreat on the 15th June 2009. So if you turn up and there’s a few new faces, just say ‘hi!’That’s just a few of the many things happening onsite at the moment but we’ll keep you updated on everything as it proceeds.
Meet the Family
Mitchell Johnson (AKA Mitcho, maccina de mangia (Italian for Eating Machine) & Micasso (chain-saw art extraordinaire))
Mitchell’s only been a part of the Trama Tribe for just over three years but honestly, we’ve felt like he’s been around since forever. Most of our die hard motor bike riders are well aware of Mitch; he likes to talk bikes and ride hard with whoever will go out with him. He’s the man to see when the freestyle ramp needs to go up and also if you need someone to take you over it the first time.At sixteen, Mitch is a jack-of-all-trades. He drives everything on the property from bikes to bobcat, wields a mighty chainsaw, can fix just about any tire with a hole in it and can name bikes from a whiff of their exhaust and a rev of their engine (just kidding, but not by much!). A typical teenager he loves to teach the city folk the fine art of starting their donkeys for their evening shower and can even be called on to light up one of the indoor fires occasionally.Mitch is a character and an icon in our family and we’re always glad we were blessed by this irresistible clown.