On the weekend of Saturday 22nd to Sunday 23rd August 2009

 

    When a trip to Sydney presented itself for Rob & Carol, a CampTrailers meet was on the cards. We had been to Killalea before and thought it would be a great location for a meet so it was really a no brainer, what we didn’t expect was the number of trailers to register and join us, 31 in all. Killalea is a State Park, on the NSW south coast about 1 ½ hrs from southern Sydney.

    We arrived around 2:30 with Rob & Carol to find site 1 decorated in stars and a large number of campers already set up. Setting up in daylight was a novelty for us but it took much longer than usual as old friends popped over to say Hi and “first timers” came over to introduce themselves.

    We brought our own “rent-a-crowd”, with 2 friends’ families tenting it and another in a caravan, in an attempt to bring them over from the “dark-side”; we were successful with one family and will continue to work on the others.

    Friday night saw about 27 campers settled in and drinks by the communal fireplace in full swing when the wind and rain hit, and boy was the wind strong. Jess and friend Paris in the small dome tent were holding the poles off their faces as they went to sleep.

    Saturday dawned to clear skies and a nice warm day with a few last campers arriving. Campers spent most of the day with cups of tea & coffee and chats at various campers, checking out who had done what since we had last caught up and guided tours showcasing the latest mods on other’s campers. 

    We hadn’t organised any particular activities for this meet, as the area speaks for itself with plenty of walks to the river mouth or along the nearby beaches. There were even a couple of Geocaches close by for those who go searching for little plastic boxes across the countryside. Others ventured off to the local shopping centre and one camper was seen sporting very fancy new runners (and not before time).

    Saturday wasn’t long enough as there were still campers unvisited, but Happy Hour on Saturday night, where a few were lucky enough to sample Carolyns Scotch Eggs, ( I’ll provide the eggs next time, maybe a dozen!) had everyone mixing before the Group dinner on Saturday night, where most either cooked at campers and brought dinner down to the communal area or more than a few made use of the free BBQs. Saturday night was cold enough to have the communal fire blazing and after washing ups were done the serious business of campfire stories began. Thanks to everyone bringing along some wood we had plenty enough to stay warm until the last few went to bed.

Again a perfect day greeted campers on Sunday morning and the usual grumbles about going home. Our girls assured us that it wouldn’t be a problem to miss a day of school, but we weren’t convinced.

10am saw the ground thinning, and some got an extension from the Ranger to stay until lunch but the inevitable came and it was time for us to leave, just after lunch, envious as always of those who can tick, “arriving before and staying after” in the CamperTrailers poll.
We would like to thank everyone for coming along, and hope you all had as good a time as we did.
 

photos Rob>>>>>