nsw
killalea
state park weekend
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
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