After much discussion throughout the preceding months the choice of venue for the Wildcats annual Christmas in July Party was finally decided, I should point out that exactly where we were going to have the party was “touch and go” right up to the last minute, this was mainly because a large number of towns said they wouldn’t touch us with a barge pole, and the remainder simply told us where to go, so, figuring that the Hunter Valley and it’s wineries would by now have forgotten the last Wildcats visit a few years ago we took a punt and opted for Denman as this years location. Denman also had the added advantage of a couple of members being resident in the area, and with their local knowledge of the back-roads they could well prove themselves to be useful if a strategic escape from the clutches of the local young ladies irate parents, or for that matter the young ladies themselves was required by any of the single Wildcats that had gone out tomcatting.

Laury and Marg had kindly offered their house as a central meeting place for the weekend and for cooking Saturday and Sundays breakfasts, plus room for people to throw a swag if needed, and by the time Friday evening came around all bar a couple of the Wildcats had arrived and settled themselves down for the night in the local pub.

Well, the big fella upstairs must have realized that bright sunlight would have been a bit painful in the morning for a few of the members so he organized a bit of early fog for the start of Saturdays bus tour to Pukara Estate, a local olive farm and one or two or three wineries, now, I am not sure if the fog was to blame for us not seeing that Santa and Psycho had failed to get on the bus, but, when we eventually noticed and decided after a bit of discussion that Christmas in July would not the same without Santa we did some backtracking and picked them up after the visit to the olive farm.

Three wineries later the bus dropped us off back in Denman, and, after a bit of a catnap for those that needed to recover from the “tastings” we headed off to the RSL for tea, Crispy had bought a huge homemade Christmas pudding from Walcha and we rounded off the meal with that prior to heading back to the pub, it was a relatively early night to bed for the majority as they had long rides or drives to get back home, but as usual a few diehards managed to keep the Wildcats reputation going.

Sunday morning dawned with the promise of a perfect day and saw the Cats closing their stay in Denman with breakfast at Laury and Marg’s, then a short time later saying their farewells prior to heading off in various directions to their home dens.

In closing, it goes without saying that everyone who had input into the weekend deserves thanks for their effort, however, I feel the following people deserve a special mention, Laury, Marg and their son Chris for their hospitality, Crispy for bringing the pudding and Rowdy and Slip for their contribution. And, last but not least, all the attending Wildcats and their guests for being great people to know.