upper colo reserve
near richmond nsw

held on the weekend of Saturday 21st to Sunday 22nd March 2009

Saturday afternoon happy hour

    The Australian CamperTrailers Groups Upper Colo Reserve weekend meet was the first NSW get together for a while. Being close to Sydney a good turnout of 33 camper trailers attended, consisting of 71 adults & 12 kids. Members started to arrive from Thursday lunchtime & stayed through to the Tuesday making most of the fantastic weather & the relaxing location.

    The Upper Colo Reserve is situated off the Putty Road north of Richmond along the banks on the Upper Colo River amongst the Hawkesbury sandstone valleys. It has good amenities with flushing toilets, although members were recommended to bring their own drinking water, which was not a problem as most are set up for bush camping with no or very little amenities available. There was a rainwater tank with drinking water available. The river is shallow with deeper channels to waist height where the current flows. The eroding sandstone makes the sandy banks look like an ocean beach. You can see where all that sand comes from.

    The weather was kind with warm days & warm nights. The doona was felt for in the early hours before dawn. On most mornings the valley floor had a light fog settle in. We managed to miss the rain on several occasions & even had a succession of thunderstorms run down each side of the valley on the Monday evening. It is a bit of a standing joke among members that it always seems to rain when I get my celestial telescope out. I was asked on a few occasions if I had brought it along. 

    During Friday the majority of the members had arrived & by the evening camper trailers where stretched along the banks of the Upper Colo River. Members soon rekindled friendships forged around the campfires during previous weekends & the groups national meet held at Peak Hill last October. Members attending their first weekend get together quickly settled into the evening groups.   

    Friday night was warm, however there were a couple of campfires. One circle gathered around a makeshift campfire consisting of a LED light, a candle in a glass case, a couple of mozzie coils & a citronella candle with plenty of laughter & good stories. Such is the ingenuity of camper trailer owners.

    Most wandered around camp on the Saturday meeting new CamperTrailers friends & viewing the modifications that had been done to everyone's camper trailers. Some took a swim in the deeper holes of the river. Highlight for the kids & the big kids alike for that matter on Saturday afternoon was a visit by Mr Whippy. A combined group happy hour was held so people had a chance to meet others. Thanks to Ian Hamilton for the copies of The NSW Caravan & Camping Holiday & Touring Guide 2009 & Caravanning & also RV Holidays Fuel Prices books to pass out. Thanks to Ed who produced a bundle of thatch brooms which could be used to brush the ashes off the top of the campoven.

    I went for a push bike ride with Ed to the local cemetery that he had discovered on the previous morning ride. The headstones dating back to the early 1800's showed the hardships that people in this harsh environment endured. One headstone that really took our attention was that of James Gill who died in 1881. This was found elsewhere & moved to the cemetery for safe keeping.

    It was cool enough for a campfire on Saturday night & with such a large gathering three campfires were lit throughout the campsite. Plenty of laughter was heard with I suspect a number of tall stories being told.

    Sunday afternoon saw a large number of members packing up camp to head home for Monday morning work commitments. A number stayed on to carry on regardless. Mike & Christine had a close call when a large branch from a nearby tree came crashing to the ground metres from their Tvan. The cracking branch & resulting crash made most in camp walk up to see what all the fuss was about. It didn't take Wayne & Sue long to survey the trees above their Jayco Dove. Within no time the camper was hitched fully setup & positioned to a safer location.     

    A bit of excitment in camp on the Monday morning as a helicopter flew along the river below the tree line. By the time we had walked down to the river it was lifting off & continued on down the river. Carol, Ian & Brenda were laying in the river & had a close encounter of the 3rd kind. The Police chopper landed & asked them if they were lost. Ian explain they were camping & weren't lost. Apparently the chopper was out looking for four lost people. Rumours had it that one of the helicopter crew was after his tax file number from Ian, had rung the office & the answering machine said 'gone camping'.

   Only three camps left on Monday night. It was hard packing up camp on the Tuesday & returning to the real world.

   Thanks to everyone who attended, making it another successful CamperTrailers Group weekend meet. A big thanks for everyone who brought wood along.

Rob & Carol

attendees

photos by Rob>>>>
photos by Joy>>>>>