Thursday dawned pleasantly clear and dry as the team sorted themselves out for breakfast (one member commented that their scrambled eggs in the local cafe was more like an entire omelet on toast – quality tbd). After breakfast it was off to the pistol range adjacent to the main rifle range at Stawell (following a brief stop to investigate the rifle range).
A crack team of local volunteers from the Ararat Pistol Club made us all feel incredibly welcome and gave us the opportunity to try a discipline no longer available in the UK. Wayne and his team kindly provided us a with a selection of pistols to try:
- .22LR target pistol
- .357 Magnum revolver
- 9mm Sig Sauer
- .45 ACP
- .44 Magnum Desert Eagle
Everyone cycled through on the .22 to establish the basics before progressing through the rest of the list with a declining number of shots for each that strongly correlated to the cost of the ammunition, once again our heartfelt gratitude to the local volunteers for giving us this opportunity.
Despite the team trying to limit the number of .44 magnum rounds fired (partly for cost, partly for the sake of our wrists and partly restricted by time), a certain experienced member of the team allegedly emptied an entire magazine, possibly whilst holding the pistol sideways, envisaging shooting through a car window, and effectively recreating his favourite Hollywood films. Some of the aforementioned activities may actually have happened, this correspondent was laughing too hard at the shooting position of the vice captain to confirm.
Following a delightful morning of getting acquainted with the basics of pistol shooting, a first for most of the team other than one member who is moving to the US later this year, we moved to the town of Great Western to visit their sole pub / hotel / restaurant. Deep fried food was readily available (apparently deep fried scallops are better than they sound but not something we should bring back with us). Some of the more risk-taking members of the team ordered the local speciality, chicken parma, with one member ordering the Spud Parma – it appeared as a full chicken schnitzel, covered with mash potato, cheese, and gravy. Served with a side of chips. Again, another delicacy that can remain a regional, Australian one.
Post lunch there was time for several of the team to stop off at Seppelt’s winery where the Woomera dinner will be held to check in on the arrangements. The presence of so many Brits appeared to thoroughly confuse the event planner, who believed we were simply a collection of expats who had met in the local town and formed the Great Britain Match Rifle Team as a local club to take on the next door town. She had also never heard of alcohol free beer (not surprising given it was a winery), but there was some concern that, a week into October, she repeatedly mentioned the September weather. We look forward to a memorable dinner in a week’s time!
The afternoon saw a competitive pistol competition between the team, shooting at green and red targets (4 green in any order, finish on the red, all under time pressure). Most of the team were fine with this, the colour blind Adjutant however did have an unfortunate handicap. Teams were picked between the captain and vice captain in a format reminiscent of the school playground. For some unknown reason, the Adj was picked last…
Some of the team did better than others in the speed event, with John Lindsay getting ready for his American relocation with some impressive shooting. The Adj did indeed proceed to handicap himself, and draw considerable attention to the fact he had shot the targets in the wrong order. He feared being “awarded” the team totem and was busy preparing a defence on the basis of discrimination. However, he was spared the ignominy of the award by the captain forgetting his ear defenders on the range. The Vice Captain’s team won (despite the Adj-icap) by roughly 100 seconds. Some members definitely shoot better when the targets are further away, a lot further away. Others highlighted a youth well mis-spent with their skills.
The team returned to base camp for a relaxing evening, collecting ammo for the team practice the next day and sorting kit for our first day shooting on Stawell range. Dinner was an excellent chilli made by Fi and Si, our food maestros, and the captain delivered a briefing on what to expect over the next few days. Tomorrow, things start getting serious!