Our Touring Past

Hi All
Just got home from a great ( but very windy) weekend away at South West Rocks near Kempsey NSW.
I arrived at the Horsehoe beach caravan park Thursday about 3 pm. A few happy campers already on site. By sundown we had 10 vans in place.
Enjoyable evening with lots of laughs up at Rob and Kaths ( Smiles) caravan.. absolute beach frontage site.
By Friday lunch time there was 18 vans set up and attracting a lot of interest from the grey nomads in the park .
More beers and then it was dinner time.. we all ended up in Col and Sues annexe .. 14 of us in there with a rotating roster system working.. someone would leave to go to the toilet .. so next in line outside was allowed in for some respite from the cold wind.
Had a visit from a biker mate that lives nearby at Arakoon .. near trial bay gaol. he kep saying... " You guys are looneys".. I kept reassuring him .. we are !!!
Saturday morning dawned windy and cold again.. coming straight out of the sou west.
John "Strugglebrook" and I went for a run over to Daves place later in the morning to look at his motorbikes... what a mistake that was.. I ended up buying one of em and loading it into the TD on sunday arvo..
When we got back around lunch time the "annexe sale" was in full swing.. most of us made a few dollars out of each other.. I think I went close to $180..sitye fees and some of the fuel paid for..... but not the drinks bill. Although I did get an unexpected bet payment from Clyde d canetoad ( Sutcac) .. Via Strugglebrook.. 1 x carton of XXXX for the blues winning this years State of Origin series... yyyyyaaaayyyy.. 24 x 375mls viles of toad pee .. thanks mate !!!
We all headed off to the pub for dinner Saturday night. around 30 of us. Nice to be out of the wind .. a good meal..and a few draught beers with great company...
Our Touring Past.. SEQVintage Vanners, The Vintage Caravan club, Hunter Antique Touring Society,a few privateers that aren't on any forums and VCcom members... no tribal wars. oneupmanship or flagwaving necessary...just lots of laughter

We all headed off the 22k south to the Gladstone markets on sunday morning.. still windy with intermittent rain... Then went and had a look at Hat Head... .. Its a shame to see what was once a bustling little village that relys on professional fishing and the tourism industry slowly dying.
There is probably a lot of people who have great childhood memories of the place during xmas holidays etc that would be sadly disappointed to see it now.
Lots of "for sale" signs up on the few businesses that are still there ..
But.. still a beautifull little place with great scenery and a lot to offer the fishos.

Here are a few happy snaps that have been "baking" on Photobucket while I have been typing.. no particular order ..

Smiles


Phill and Louise

Camp Rednose

[

Rob and Kath had their own Tonka digger and sand castle.
[URL=http://s10.photobucket.com/user/reddo71 ... 2.jpg.html]
More pix later when the pie oven finishes uploading them

Reddo

2 MORE.. FRESH OUT OF THE BUCKET..

Geoff and Jude

Strugglebrook


Looks like my Buckets overfloweth... cant upload any more....
Not a problem .. I have a cure for that...
They aint getting any money out of me...
i'll get back to ya soon.
Reddo

Hi Reddo,Nice to see you finally won something from your old mate in Queensland.It was about time. Cheers Dave

Hi Dave
yep.. and .. the beer always tastes sweeter when its free
I woke up Saturday morning and went toi check on the big dragline working behind Rob and kaths van.. couldn't figure out what it was doing there...
To my amazement they had installed a massive coffee mug on the beach overnight..

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLL

Went and checked out Trial Bay Gaol......man.. I have seen a few :Naughty corners " in my time ... but this one takes the cake !!!

It use to hold up to 530 forum muckeruppers..
Was a red letter day in history... I gotsta use my "Seniors card" for the very first time.... $3.00 off the entry fee of $10..... wwwaaayyyyy cool..i can see myself getting the hang of these sorta hand outs real quick.

Got back to camp and took over "dogsitting duties" while John and Pam went and checked out "The big house". Me n "Ratty" had a walk around the sites and ended up back at the Td for a couple of beers and a yarn with Bob Taylor.
Ratty got comfy on the drawbar..
Ya don't have to travel "5 miles from Gundagai " to see a dog on the tucker box
here ya go

Here is a few more photos from around the camp...
Geoff and Judes "Aerolite"..

Col and Sues van complete with friends Bi and B2.. as well as Santa.. oooo geez .. I am beginning to think that my mate dave the bike bloke was right .... we re "Looneys"

One of the "Hunter Antique Touring Society" towcar and van.


and finally...a photo of the oily old clunker I picked up off the mate at Arakoon on sunday arvo before heading home with it packed inside the TD.....


Had a grin on my face while thinking about not having to do another 8 hour round trip to collect the bike.. all due to the TD design.... dontcha just love it when things work in your favour..

Arrived home around 7.30 sunday night.
end of another great weekend with good mates in old vans...
My apologys to those who attended that I didn't get photos of... I got photos of forum members "Koalas" -Ken and Judes - Franklin as well as Griffins - George and Barbs lovely Vauxhall and Olympic van but they have somehow got lost in my camera ... sorry guys
will try and retrieve em up and post soon.

regards
Reddo

A terrier.. a godamn terrier.. that's what I am..

As promised here are the last to pix from South west rocks....
Collect the whole set .. or so they say..
The koalas... it was early and even the car was still under the sheets..


and at the other end of the park.. stuck between a couple of modern faycos and Criminals... ummm Corimals..
Griffin...


So.. there ya go.. roll on the next event... Shell Harbour on the last weekend in October.
Let Geoff and Jude know if your keen.. good spots are filling up fast...

Reddo

Well done on the photos Mr Reddo. The Strugglebrook team enjoyed ourselves as always and picked up some nice trinkets at the annex sales. Hope someone plans another weekend in the area, we would like to look around some more. Enjoyed all the company and I loved having a look at Dave`s bike collection and lovely home. There certainly would be a lot worse places to live than South West Rocks.

Cheers JD.

Hey Reddo.

Great photos! And thanks for taking the time to post them, although I must say your camera must be suffering from glaucoma as from camp rednose down there is a blury spot in the middle.
It must be about 30 or so years ago that we were in that area with the Chesney Caravan Club, we mainly stayed at Hat Head which I think is now sadly struggling a bit. Maybe Hat Head should have run with the giant ourtouringpast.com coffee mug for a tourist attraction.

Anyway great photos and Iam glad everyone had a great weekend.
Cheers.
Richard.

Hi Richard

That foggy bit in the middle of thepix is caused by a scratch on the lense which mysteriously appear while on the Alps Tour this year.
Have tried cleaning it off... but is a definite scratch of some sort.
Would like to buy a new camera... howver.. I know what woulod happen . It would last about a fortnight and then stop working... just like every other new gadget I buy.

That's why I drive a 1964 car.. ride a 1968 motorbike and mess with pre '70 caravans... they just keep on keeping on..
and.. if they do happen to stop .. most of the time I have the skills necessary to make em go again.. just not cameras and computers

As for another getaway.. would like to go back to Gresford but ... not enough time after shellharbour to fit it in this year before Christmas . Maybe around February next year would be good??

Reddo

Hiya Redperson, thanks for the pics and story....looks like a good but cold time was had by all ....just wondering when the Shellharbour event is happening?, might be time for a trip up the map again.....

Hi Col.
You'll find the Shellharbour event in the Runs and Events section of the forum but here is the link
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=714
I think you need to let Geoff and Jude know you are going.
Cheers.
Richard.