Saturday evening saw horses watered, fed and rested, ATVs parked and a banquet placed beofre all.  However all were not happy.  DJ, my mount was getting more upset with the attention  the other horses were showing to his stable mate and  his feed. To play it safe, the horses were seperated.  We then returned to merry chat of the days activities with friendly rivalry and banter between myself and the ATV riders, (or anyone else that wanted to take up the verbal challenge with me) Soon we all lay our heads down, under a clear night sky where the stars mesmerised us, and whisked us away to a resful place with their blinking whilst an owl serenaded us with his night song.  At about 4.00 a.m. the silence and peace was dashed.  The horses had broken the yard, with the hot wire going to the ground.  Half asleep I could hear the younger girls yelling at each other, "Is my horse there?" or "Where's Spook?"., amongst the deafening sounds of hoof beats of galloping horses.   When my eyes opened, it was confusion with the dust thick in the air and hanging there.  I soon realised DJ, Rose and Rebel had gone up the creek.  Melinda and I commenced to track them, finding them just standing around the bend.  We were lucky that Rosie is a grey as she stood out in the moon light whilst the other two being bays, were alot harder to see.  Judy, my wife had been busy repairing the fence whislt we were catching the horses, and the younger members of the team just stood there with their horses, somewhat awestruck at the events that had just transpired.   The rest of the team went back to sleep once the horses were bedded again, but since I had now tied DJ up, I remained up just watching the horses.  Some say the one of the horses wanted to be in the yard with the Rosie and Dj and just charged the fence, others say that it was a loud noise, perhaps the snoring of our new member Nick as he has not been on one of these exercises before, admitts he snores quite loud and we have never had the horses bolt off like that before.  Also was the amount of other people who remained in the land of nod, obvlivious to the night tiem activities
	On Sunday, people were allowed a slight sleep in and arose to the smell of bacon and egs, whilst the Kookaburras greeted us with their songs of joy and mryth, announcing the arrival of another day.  The search was quickly resumed with the horses going through extremely dense bush land.  Sudenly the radio started crackling as the crew in the Land Cruiser located an old drug crop site.  The horse team then located possible sites and the Wayne on the quad found the remnants of a weather balloon.  They had found what the police had been looking for, some intelligence which will greatly help in the on going battle aganst illegal activities. Wayne was still proud of his find, and it does show how thorough the areas are searched, even if his find was not relevant.  (Although I'm not sure of how he took my comments of picking up litter, and tidy towns awards went) The real  fun began with Nick staking the rear tyre of the Land Cruiser, Jake getting a flat in his own vehilce and Wayne scoring one on his ATV.  All happening in a short time of each other.  This really tried out the teams patience as people were hot and getting tired, but they all displayed the commaradere that makes the team what it is....a great place to be.   I must point out, no horse threw a shoe or went lame.  One for the horses Mike. So the question must be asked, is this worth it.  All the time spent, the costs of such an exercise?  I feel the answer is a resounding yes.  My reasons are as follows.  1) It assists the police in their role with their limited numbers, something we do appreciate in rurla communities, 2) It gives training to those of us who are required to search for lost persons or other things and finally and what I consider most importantly, it sends a clear and loud message that the communtiy is willing to take an active part in the fight against drugs.  I believe I talk for all my fellow members of the unit when I say we look forward to our next ride in this role.  And for your inforamtion dear reader, all of the members of the Kapunda State Emergency Service are volunteers and the horses owned by the respective members who bear their own costs.  They give their time willingly and freely
							Would you believe this unit was called out on two days later for another search, miles away again.
						The crew (from left to right) Jake (manager), Judith H (rider) Marie -Clare (cook) Nick (L/Cruiser) Mike (ATV rider), Kimberly (rider),  Barry (L/Cruiser) Wayne (ATV rider), Kathleen (cook) Paul (Horse team training officer), Samantha (Rider) Bruce (Melinda, rider)  Taking phot and not present Lou, comms officer) Absent: Judy (rider)