Seventeen camper trailers, three tents & five day visitors enjoyed another CamperTrailers Group weekend get together hosted by Rob & Carol, camping along the grassy river flat of the Williams River Holiday Park at Clarence Town, one hours drive north west of Newcastle. There were a few members researching buying a camper so the weekend gave them an opportunity to gather firsthand information & get an honest opinion from the camper trailer owners.

 

    We were lucky enough to have warm nights, with temperatures getting down to around 10 degrees celsius, owing to the cloud cover which produced a few showers over the weekend. The occasional shower was more of a nuisance than anything else, however it was better than waking to a frosty cold winters morning. The sun did show its head during the weekend, mainly on the Saturday.

 

    Members started to arrive on the Thursday in anticipation of a great weekend to follow. Thursday night saw several members enjoying the campfire & sharing a few stories till a good hour. Campfires are lit in half 44 gallon drums cut lengthways provided by the caravan park which keeps the camping area clean of the unsightly campfire scars on the ground.

 

    By Friday evening the majority of members had arrived & it wasn't long until they were setup & sitting around the campfire enjoying the camaraderie. It is fantastic how total strangers meet at the start of a weekend get together & part as old friends a couple of days later. Most seem like old friends when you meet them anyhow after exchanging e-mails via the CamperTrailers Group forum. Some members were attending their first weekend with the group. It was nice to meet them & put a face to the typing.

 

    A very foggy start to Saturday which lifted at ten. You know they say a fog in the morning results in a sunny day & this held fast. Members filled in the day driving to local sights, browsing Clarence Town or walking around looking at the varied makes & models of camper trailers attending & checking the modifications others had done to make camping all that more enjoyable. Did I mention chat? The local hardware couldn't keep up with the demand for gumboots. Ed & Donna enjoyed a paddle on the Williams River in their newly acquired sit-on kayak.

 

    Saturday afternoon happy hour saw a large circle gather with everyone catching up with those who they hadn't met during the day. Rob gave Alan Haworth his prize for first place in the recent CamperTrailers Groups photo caption competition compliments of Campertrailer Australia magazine.

 

    Saturday night is the main night around the fire. We set up two fire drums so everyone could talk across the fire ring & keep warm. Peter & Lisa scored well arriving back in camp on Saturday afternoon with several fence posts. While out driving they came across a farmer replacing fence posts & asked what he was doing with the old ones. They made a big difference especially when we had two fires going. The dancing girls that Rob had booked didn't turn up as it was a little wet.

 

    This was the smallest NSW weekend meet we have had for some time so it was enjoyable to sit around the same fire with everyone. As the CamperTrailers Group has grown over the last nine years the weekend get togethers have become larger with the nights campfire breaking into smaller fire circles. The only way to meet everyone is to move from fire to fire. Some, are known as 'campfire moths' that flitter to brighter campfires as others dim.

 

    Sunday saw most pack up & head home for Monday work commitments, while others enjoyed the weekend that much they stayed another night. From there the campsite numbers dwindled until the last to leave headed off Tuesday morning with dry canvas.

 

    The previous attempt at holding a weekend meet there a few weeks earlier was cancelled owing to a total washout from heavy rain & a rising river. Diane, the manager of the Williams River Holiday Park, had asked us to move off the riverflat as the SES predicted the river would flood. The river did come up but if it had continued to bucket down like the previous night, I'm sure the whole riverflat would have gone under. Some weekends were never meant to be & we had plenty of trouble. Read all about what happened in the Australian CamperTrailers Groups regular column in #32 Campertrailer Australia magazine.

 

 

Rob & Carol

 

attendees

 

photos from Rob>>>>>
photos from Ed & Donna>>>>
photos from Carolyn>>>>