Meet the Daenzers
We spent the last few days up at Lake Buchanan at Aunt Chris and her husband Martin’s place. It is a good couple hours North East of Kerrville but the trip was well worth it – we all had an absolute ball!
So first of all we have to show off the trailer/caravan – no camping here – this thing is all luxury inside with air-conditioning, shower, toilet and a fully equipped kitchen. The mid-section of the trailer also slides out which gives you a good meter or two of extra room in the middle. You will be glad to know that Uncle Bob has had this trailer for years and years and this is the first time he has actually taken it away and used it himself.
On the road again...
After a few false starts we eventually got on the road and arrived at Lake Buchanan in the early evening. Just enough time to set up and level the trailer and head down to the balcony by the lake to kick off what was to become a drinking marathon of a weekend. This is about where an unusual obsession with saying the Aussie word “dodgy†arose – something Martin in particular just couldn’t say quite right no matter how hard he tried – or how much beer he consumed.
Here are some photos of Aunt Chris’ place – it is really beautiful.
The balcony and the boat. The lake level is quite low at the moment.
View of the lake from the back room
Inside the house, looking down towards the lake
View of the front of the house
The next day we headed out on the boat for a day of swimming and sunshine. The lake is absolutely huge and there are lots of little islands spread around which have some good swimming beaches.
Cap'n Chris Daenzer
Rob on the tag-along
Robinson Crusoe
Left to right: Duffy, Uncle Bob, Leeane, Rob, Aunt Chris, Martin
The Daenzers also have two Gold Retrievers just like Duffy so the dogs had an absolute ball playing in the water. Although, all the excitement proved a bit too much for Duffy eventually.
Too tired to swim anymore
"I'm SO tired Dad"
Martin’s son (Matt) and his wife (Lauren) rocked up to join in the drinking marathon. They are about the same ages as us and we had a great time getting to know them. If we have a spare week at the end of our USA trip we will try to come back to Austin to hang out with them a bit more.
Posing up a storm..
That night while trying to sleep in the trailer, we were woken at an ungodly hour by the gas alarm in the trailer. It was pretty much the most annoying and loud noise ever. After eventually finding the mute button and going back to our beds the alarm went on again and again and again. After double checking the gas tank was turned off and that we weren’t about to die of gas poisoning, we concluded that the alarm must be faulty and in the absence of a hammer to destroy the alarm then set about some MacGyver style fix where we sticky taped the mute button down. Thankfully we didn’t hear a peep from the alarm for the rest of the night. And by the next morning we almost started to find it funny…
On our final day after a healthy breakfast of breakfast tacos (yum yum) and tamales we headed out on the boat again with Matt and Lauren where the boys did some cliff diving, rope swinging and fire-fighting (yes.. fire fighting). We also managed to sail by a wedding and then later a family spreading the ashes of someone into the lake – we had to speed up to get out of the down-wind ash storm heading our way.
Contemplating the plunge
Rob plunging to the water
Matt on the rope-swing of death
Of course, being the Aussie ambassadors that we are, we tried to teach these folks a few things about Australia (besides the word “dodgyâ€). So we also taught them that Aboriginals are black, “Shrimp on the barbie†is not something we say – we have prawns instead, that we DO have satellites in Australia and that we have the Queen on our money. I am sure you will agree these are important lessons to learn.
The only sad news to report is that we left Duffy there. Uncle Bob has been trying to find a good place to leave Duffy while he goes to Chicago with us (leave on Wednesday). After seeing how well he gets along with the other dogs it was quite obvious that Aunt Chris’ place would be doggie heaven for him. But it meant we had to say goodbye to him a few days earlier than expected.
In case Aunt Chris or Martin are reading this post, thank you so much for having us for the weekend. We had a great time and really enjoyed getting to know y’all.
Rob and Leeane