2015 Vintage Caravans Autumn Tour

[OlFarts]

Thought so !!

Same rims as what is on my 37 caravan !

Appreciate that


Thanks mate .

[reddo]

Day 3
Tenterfield to ESK
Up at 5.00am to attend Anzac day dawn service. Just me... Clyde and Barb braved the cool day start.Woke everyone in camp up with the rattly 179 anmd the lumpy LS1 in the sutcacs ute.
Back for brekky by 6.30 .. coffee and toast in the camp kitchen. On the road by 8.30 1/2 run to the border and onwards to Warwick. Got pulled up by the hwy patrol for no brake lights on the TD. Quick fix at the next servo while plod looked on to make sure that I had done the right thing. He handed me back my license and drove off....... Welcome to QLD... onwards through Clifton to Alura.. right and along Mia Mia rd to Gatton.
Parked on the lawns of the Automotive/transport museum for an impromptu lunch break.
JBJ, Smiles, Brucenann , chippydave and a few others took advantage oif the break and had a bite to eat.
On up to ESK to find Earlee setting up in the park..
A great little park with an excellent camp kitchen....I didn't get to see the kitchen until the following morning. Apparently there is some sort of rule that states he with the biggest annexe becomes the meeting point.. and... as it turned out the little TD had the biggest annexe.

By late arvo all the bases where loaded..













More drinks and giggles until mid evening...then off to bed.

[1954homemade]

Hi Reddo,

It was a great tour, even though we only got to join up at Maleny.

Unforutnately we didn't get to take any photos, so am glad that we can get to see the shots you took.

Regards
Di & Paul

[OlFarts]

They are all good looking vans, the EH ute and van look perfect together.

Thanks for the photo's Reddo

[reddo]

Up and about early on sunday morning.
Pour a cuppa and sit and watch the roos that had been grazing on the edge of camp quietly retire into the scrub as the jack russells yawned and stretched around the camp.
Brekky over and done ...
We headed off around Somerset dam. The road is a mecca for motorbike riders with all its twists and turns..
Unfortunately one of the multi cylinder jockeys had given his mount a bit too much stick and lost the bike over an embankment near a popular caravan / ski park.... ambos and tilt tray in attendance...
Hmmmph .. wouldn't of happened if he had been riding a Norton !!!


on to a small touristy town ( name escapes me now) to check out a few antique shops and grab a pie at the local baker... and bask in the sun while the local hoon in a comaro done hot laps up and down the strip.
Regroup on the edge of town


and then head on up to Kenilworth to stop off at the cheese factory for a tasting and stock up on some samples. Nice vanilla double scoop ice cream too.. sorry Trish ... I got your text.. no cheese cake here ???.

From there it was on up around the highlands and a brief stop in the tourist bus parking bays


to take a happy snap looking south over the Glass house mountains

Then on to Maleny showgrounds for 2 day stop over. A chance to do some shopping.. hit the junk shops and do some washing. Phew .. the contents of the TD was startng to pong after 5 days on the road !!!!
We set up next to a poor bugger that was doing it tough in the outback... NOT..


The thing actually gave birth to a Victory V twin 1800cc motorbike...


Caught up with Brenan and Stacey... Di Homemade

We had an enjoyable couple of evenings around campfires scattered around the showground.
Wasn't all that cold but just nice to sit and have a yarn with the Cairns contingent . Interesting to hear how much the place has changed since I lived there back in 1981.


One of the boys was scouting for firewood just behind the fence where we where sitting around the fire.. almost picked up the wrong sort of "stick" in the form of a diamond python . all coiled up nice and comfy just on the edge of the scrub!!!

After a two day break from driving it was time to hitch up the wagons and move on to IMBIL...
More later.
Reddo

[reddo]

A slow start to the day as everyone wandered around with mild hangovers from the night before.....
Finally all the wagons where hitched up to the teams and off we plodded to Imbil .

Had a mid morning break at a little town called Kin Kin.
Very tidy little place with a lot of history.... but alas... no paddle pops in the local shops freezer
I am always on the scout for old bikes when travelling... spotted this pix from 1938 up on the wall in the shop ... 2 old Nortons.


Parked all the cars and vans in the middle of the local showground for a happy snap..



wandered around the 3 streets and checked out some of the historic buildings.. beaut old Queenslanders... and of course there was a pub...
Just opened as we where walking past.. I felt myself gravitating towards the door but my aching head still hadn't recovered from last nights session... so we moved on to Imbil

Found our way into the spacious caravan park down by the river.
The Humptys had taken a wrong turn somewhere and whre already set up beside the huge camp kitchen.
I got Pete to guide me back into a corner of the Kitchen area next to a palm tree . I set up with the rear of the TD opening into the kitchen so I would be high and dry when cooking in the back of the TD.
Unhitched the panno and went up the ,main street for a look around..
Beaut old country pub on the corner... worth a look

Had a couple of beers and grabbed a fresh supply of XXXX ( when in Rome, ya do as the Romans do).

Back to camp and Clyde had set up the cooking gear in the camp kitchen. He and Barb need some supplies for the camp oven cook off tonight so we headed back up to the butchers

for some lamb .. and then on to the local IGA for some other ingredients.
One more beer at the pub and then back to camp to get the campfire started .

I had got the word from a local that there was an old van on a property just out of town.. so I set of to investigate



Interesting old thing...but should have known that "Hillbilly" has known about it for a few years now.

Later in the arvo we had nibbles and Kath ( Smiles ) bought out a jar of honey ... the first from Robs bee keeping hives.
Everyone had a taste .. and the vote was unanimous... bloody beautiful.
I noticed my plate of cabanossi and cheese had been gobbled up ... so I grabbed the plate and about 6 of Kaths sample spoons , then started doing some washing up at the back of my van.
Kath came over in a bit of a rush to get the spoons off me and walked into the corner of the TD tailgate.. fell backwards onto the concrete breaking her left wrist in 3 places.....

We strapped the wrist and one of the girls took Kath to the local doctors.. no luck there so Rob had to take Kath to Gympie Hospital where they done a botched job on mending the breaks. Poor Kath was in pain all that evening. Unfortunately that spelt the end of the tour for the smiles....or should that read .. No Smiles anymore.
( I have since bought a pool noodle and slit it down its length. it slides along the lower edge of the tailgate when its raised.....So... hopefully no more head clashes ... Yesssss... I know its bolting the gate after the horse has bolted )

Later in the evening the call came ... "Tuckers ready !!!"
What a spread.. there was camp ovens lined up as far as the eye could see.... mind you by that stage of the night I was lucky to see 3 feet in front of me.
Barbs and a few others dampers.. stews.. strugglebrook soup..... fed about 30 of us with barely a crumb to spare....absolutely beautiful.



Another great night around the camp fire with great mates in a great part of the world .. full bellys and a few more beers.

Lights out.

More later

[reddo]

This story is taking longer than the actual tour....
So much so that I am struggling to remember what day and where we where... and where we went.. and how we got there......

Anyway
Out of bed the next morning..
yup... yup.. yup... I distinctly remember doing that !!!
There had been a strong smell of petrol around the front of the panelvan during the night. A quick check about 9.00 oclock last night had revealed a broken fuel pipe.. not the rubber hose.. the actual pipe had split back near the steering box.
Ya not gunna believe this but... the last thing I put in the car before I left was about 18"of fuel line and 2 hose clamps......
Snap the pipe off. file the pipe. slide on the hose and clamps and all done in 10 mins.
Said good bye to Smiles and Di Homemade as they headed for home....
Off we went....
First stop was a little town called Wondia... a spent an hour just slobbering on the window of one of the greatest antique shops I had ever come across... unfortunately it was a Wednesday and they didn't open until around 11.00am..... bugga. So checked out another antique shop just around the corner as well as the local tourist info centre which has a beaut display of the timber industry ...
and interesting town that I am sure I will visit again...

Off across the countryside to .... umm... umm.. Kilkavan??


for a fuel top up and a feed at the local pub.


These old pubs are the salt of the earth and even if you aren't a drinker they are worth sticking your head in for a look around at the memrobillia hanging up on the wall and out in the beer garden

Antique shops???.... ya should have been here tomorrow!!
All closed.
Fully bellies and petrol tanks .. off we went westward ho... ....
to Goomeri...
pronounce Goomeerie..
I got in trouble at the pub and tourist info centre for mispronounciation.

Not a very big town but they boast the Pumpkin festival swells the population ten fold.. that adds up to about 500 on a big day.
We set up in the local showground. most of us on powered sites. Hardly a blade of grass in the place.. The caretakers work for nix and keep the place clean and tidy. Bugger all there.. just telepoles with powerboxes 8ft off the ground and a few taps sticking their head up in the dirt.
We circled the wagons and got set up.
Set off to explore the town
Very flash R M Williams shop where the Sutcacs picked up a great welcome mat with a Jack Russel on it... "Love me .. Love my dog."

It was late in the day when we started to hear reports that a big rain belt was starting to form from the gulf country right down to the SEQ border... yeah right!!... like it hasn't rained at Goomeri in 12 months..
We set up JBJs "Pig" and scrounged out our last few pieces of firewood.
Didn't take long before we had a good gathering around the fire.. usual array of nibblies on offer .. and as usual a few beers...
Three lamps above the ridges .. and gorges deep and dark


Was lulled off to sleep by the soft idle notes coming from a B double loaded with mooeys parked just across from us at the all nighter roadhouse. Most of the trucks had sorted themselves out by around 10 and I nodded off sortly after...
However.. I awoke about 1 am to the sound of rain drops on the roof of the TD.. shot out the door to pack the deck chairs away and ran into John and a few others doing the same thing.

Woke Thursday morning to steady rain. Shot over for a shower and packed up soon after.
Heading for Maidenwell pub and the rain got heavier......and more consistent.
Passed through Kingaroy and headed o to Nanango for a break.
Not long after I passed through Yarraman.. decision time.. do I head for Maidenwell or do a runner back towards NSW.
Text the Sutcacs and thanked them for yet another great tour and motored on back to Tenterfield.. still drizzling.
The Strugglebrooks had decided that things where a bit too wet up north as well and rolled into the same van park as me about 1 hr late.
Cooked up a big feed in the camp kitchen and reminisced about the great time we had enjoyed since we drove out of Tenterfield the week before.

Hit the road again on Friday morning. drove back to Nundle for the Norton club rally. The rain stopped as I drove down Moonbi ranges .. about 1/2hr north of Nundle.
Beers and cheers at the Peel inn on Friday night. A dry ride all day Sunday on the bikes.




Up and about sunday morning to help with the free brekky in the camp kitchen for about 50 bike riders..
Headed west back out to the highway .. and it started raining again..... all the way home.

All in all .. a great tour with great mates .. in a great part of the world.

Thanks Clyde and Barb for arranging such a great holiday for me and all the touring vintage vanners.
Regard

Reddo

[Richard]

Hi Reddo.
As usual another great story of what looked like a fantastic trip from Clyde and Barb. Thanks again Reddo for taking the time to post the tour and photos.
Cheers.
Richard.