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cedar grove
weekend
near
Gympie in SE Queensland
held over the weekend of Saturday 16th
& Sunday 17th May
What a great weekend and what a great bunch of
human beings to spend a weekend with. Cedar Grove in May takes a lot
of beating I have to say. People arrived at all times of the day and
night, in varying different guises, but all for the same purpose.
I think I counted 21 groups of campers in what could be
considered the greatest collection or gathering of camper trailers,
tow vehicles and camping equipment that could be seen outside of a
camping show, and all for free. The variety and knowledge on offer
from the vast assemblage of people was without a doubt unsurpassed
at any other event I have ever attended.
We had a large number of new faces join us for our camp and
even though they classified themselves as newbies, they were far
from new to camping and all brought with them some experiences,
stories and equipment that they were more than pleased to share. Our
morning tea circle, well oval really, was so large one needed a cut
lunch and a map just to get around it, and a telescope to see across
it.
The Host… What a lazy sod, blamed for arriving late and
leaving early, didn’t organise morning tea until half an hour before
when someone else had already started to organised it, failed in his
ill conceived concept of greeting newcomers and generally seen to be
lost for words at crucial moments when the visiting hoard were
looking for guidance. Well all I can say in my defence is, ‘What a
fantastic weekend we all had, and who noticed that the host was a
complete cluts, and really, who cares anyway… coz we still had fun.’
But I’ll tell ya what, ‘Bloody hell it was cold’.
And now for the weather: Friday, hard start, burning hot
middle, bloody cold end.
Saturday, bloody cold start, burning hot middle and damn cool end.
Sunday, damn cool start, burning hot middle, fantastic end.
The evenings entertainment on both Friday and Saturday night
was delightfully supplied be Noel, with fireside antics including
harmonious renditions of the melodious tunes from Oliver and Chitty,
Chitty, Bang, Bang. There was ‘Noels’ version of Fire Walking, which
was as funny as hell and how he never lost the hairs on his legs has
me stuffed, but Rick reckons it would have grown back overnight
anyway.
The award for the most unhappy Waeco in history goes to Noel,
who was quite happy to remind us at regular intervals all night as
he persistently made the pilgrimage to his Waeco insistent on making
it even more unhappy as he removed yet another chalice of amber ale
that was ‘cloudy but fine’. The gathered throng were delightfully
informed that the bottom of the Waeco had not been seen for a very
long time, with a very smug, yet pissed up smile on his melon.
There was a serious new competitor entered into the Late
Night Cake Cooking For Drunken Bums game. Tradition has it that
Robyn, of the Robyn and Lindsay team (and at this task it is
difficult to say who actually produces the goods) has this insane
desire to wait until everyone gathered around a fire are suitably
plied with copious amounts of what ever beverage they may have been
enjoying for their evenings repast, decides it is time to make a
cake (or two) in the camp oven over the fire. Orange and Poppy Seed
being her preferred choice. Tradition also has it that this is an
extremely enjoyable event for all those gathered and the fruits of
her labours are quickly consumed with much joy, frivolity and
scoffing.
BUT!!! Enter the serious new competitor. Rod, of the Rod,
Rachael and Elisa team took it upon himself to delight the gathered
gobblers and created a chocolate cake cooked in the Cobb. Man, are
the peasants pleased. But what a precedent to set. Tradition is a
very big concept among the rank and file of the camper trailer
devotee.
The hard sided camper trailer fraternity were well
represented on this festive occasion and were paraded in all their
finery with gadgets and tidbits on display all weekend. Our Friday
night 10 second setup team didn’t arrive until Saturday morning to
the delight of everyone watching and still managed to set up in no
time flat… What am I doing wrong?
We had a little problem with some local wildlife on Sunday as
we were packing up. We all need to watch out for overly zealous
local wildlife as they tend to get a little irate and want to start
abusing others good nature. Luckily some of us saw what was going on
and came to the aide of our happy campers and help sort out the
situation. But be warned…. They are out there.
A special thanks to the Van Lund children, they befriended my
little girls and played all weekend long. Isn’t it amazing how kids
just get on like that and make the most of the time they share
together… as most adults do.
A big thanks must go to
Bruce & Wayne from
GREANEY'S TOWING SERVICE in Gympie for the donation of a
load of fire wood which was gratefully appreciated by all the group.
Thanks everyone for the great weekend. I know my family are
looking forward to the next one. Hope to see you all there.
Turtle
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