Crows Nest Social Weekend

3rd - 6th May

We arrived at Crows Nest Caravan Park around 4PM on Wednesday, however, Arthur and Annette were there before us. A little later the Middletons arrived. We camped near the camp kitchen. This area was great, it included 2 large wooden tables and seats and a couple of plastic tables and chairs along with a BBQ, electric stove, toaster and cooking equipment if required, and a nice big sink for washing up. The TV though small was great to watch the football. We put a couple of tarps along the back wall to help keep out the cold.

First night we had drinks and dinner in the kitchen area and later watched TV, “Home and Away and McLeods Daughters”, the men laughed and carried on, however they seemed to know all the characters and had a good knowledge of the story line. We had a reasonably quiet night and set off for a drive Thursday morning to check out Perseverance Dam and Cressbrook Dam and did a round trip home via Ravensbourne National Park to Beutel’s lookout and then back through Hampton to Crows Nest. As we were leaving the lookout we passed Sue and Marty Cruice, on their way up to the lookout. Great drive but it was sad to see the level of water in the dams. We were also looking for a good picnic spot for lunch on Saturday, and decided on the park at Peachey Forestry. Great spot for a large group to have a picnic, there is plenty of green grass, tables and chairs. We were advised by the staff that if you want to use this area you should do it soon as it may be removed in the near future. (Work place health and safety problem). By the end of the day on Thursday our numbers had increased by another 5 vans. We had a great evening, lots of laughs.

Friday morning: by this time most had received their free muffin “Yummy” and about 10 people had decided to eat at the restaurant on Friday night as well as Saturday night. (When each camper arrives at the park or early the next morning the owner Gayle welcomes them with a muffin.) We did 2 trips on Friday. Firstly we went to the Lavender Farm and Gift shop and then onto the antique shop at the top end of town. As it was Show Day most of the shops in town were closed, we had a quick look at the old hotel and retuned to the park for lunch. After lunch we went for a scenic drive from Hampton to Murphy’s Creek and stopped at the shop in Murphy’s Creek for ice-cream. I don’t think he has had that many people in his shop at the one time before. Next stop Spring Bluff Railway Station. “One of the region's most cherished heritage listed sites with beautiful landscaped gardens”. Sadly the lack of rain is having an effect on the gardens. We returned to Crows Nest via the New England Highway through Highfields and Cabarlah. People trickled in during the day on Friday and some were allocated the camping area near the fire, sadly this meant that there we were now broken up into 2 groups.

Those at the kitchen area for pre-dinner drinks were entertained by Keith as he chased John on his return from the shower, to see what he had on under the towel. Lucky for all, John managed to get into the van with the towel still intact; however both men were puffing badly from the run. Thanks to both of you for the laughs that continued most of the weekend. We had a great meal on Friday night, a few over ate, the desserts were great. John mentioned to Gayle that his favourite dessert was missing and after working out what it was, she promised John to prepare it for Saturday night. There was only one word for the food “Fantastic”. The owners of the caravan park are great. (Evan and Gayle.) Evan welcomes everyone to dinner and introduces each table. He had a good laugh at John and Keith’s expense and mentioned that both were very unfit. After dinner we joined the others to watch the football in the camp kitchen area.

Saturday: As this is a social trip everyone was given a choice of where they might like to go for the day, however most decided that they would meet at the Chocolate shop to leave for the scenic drive back to camp at 11am. A few set off at 8.30am and the first stop was the Clock Centre at Cabarlah. We arrived at 9.03am, and I am pleased to say the shop opened at 9am. I saw a few people with parcels but most decided that the clocks were too big for their vans. I think the dearest item was around $25 thousand dollars but it was great to see them all. After this we went to the Danish Folk Art and then on to the Farmers market.

Now there may only have been a handful of stalls but these were great. We were able to taste a few wines, buy some very fresh vegies and some great olives and oils. John bought our veggies while I tasted the wines and he was very pleasantly surprised to taste the olives I bought when we got home. Most left the markets with several bags. Over the weekend we had attempted to put 4 in each vehicle and this proved to be a good decision when trying to park at the chocolate shop. Keith and Yvonne came with us and I think it was the best entertainment they had all weekend. I’ll leave that up to your interpretation. We arrived at the Chocolate shop in plenty of time to have coffee and be ready to leave by 11am. Now I mentioned earlier that this was a social trip and could be changed at any time, well we changed the departure time from 11 to 12 and then ¼ to something. Graham decided that as we left before ¼ to 1 we were early. Now talking about Graham he lost his cap and spent a long time looking for it, and others were starting to check where he had been. When he arrived back with his cap, he explained that he had left it in the toilet, and would you believe that ladies made a few comments about this. (Thanks Graham for a good laugh.) With the extra time we had a good look at the patch work and scrapbook shops. I hear someone on seeing his wife was interested in the quilts very generously bought her a raffle ticket in a quilt for mothers’ day.

Next stop the Spring Bluff Railway Station for those that missed seeing it on Friday afternoon. We then reversed the scenic drive back to Hampton, and arrived back at the caravan park just before 1:30pm. As we were so late back it was decided that we would skip the picnic lunch at Peachey Forestry. After lunch most of the group voted to sit and enjoy a social chat and a good laugh around the fire area. Thank you to the men who organized the fire, it was great.

Dinner again was superb; the noise of laughter from our tables was incredible. We had 49 people for dinner and we heard several comment about good value for the money. Still think I should had left the main course and saved all the room for desserts. Gayle and her couple of staff do all the cooking. Desley and I ordered bread for Sunday morning, Gayle on top of everything else cooks great bread. We later raffled a cushion made by Jan Scudamore and the winner Lyn Eastman selected the cushion that won second prize in the show. Thanks Jess for your help during the evening. After dinner there was a bit of a discussion about which was warmer the fire or the camp kitchen and as a result there were 2 groups. Marty showed the group in the camp kitchen photos of the Cruice/Moore trip to Vietnam. Thanks everyone for one great evening.

Sunday morning we went to the Crows Nest Markets, Gary and Betty were the only ones ready to leave at 8.30. The rest of us arrived around 9 or 9.30am. The market though small had a good variety of stalls. Sadly it was about this time that Jimmy realized that Chris Lenehan had been trying to call him all weekend to let us know that they would not be able to join us for the weekend. We were all very sad to hear of the tragic loss of Melinda’s nephew in a traffic accident on Thursday evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Later some went on to the antique shop and othesr went to have a look at the Lavender Farm. Most of the group returned to the caravan park around 11am and started to pack up. Now we got to see the real retirees, they could stay until Monday. We drove home via the dam with Gary and Betty. Thanks everyone for a great weekend, I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. I really enjoyed writing up the notes, remembering all the stories and laughs.

by Elaine Wilson