07.06.13
On the road a bit late this morning 0815, but the trip
will be longer than usual so not overly worried about it. First issue is getting past several schools
on our way to the highway. I can’t believe how driving rules go out the window
if you are a parent dropping your kids at school. The roundabout was choked with vehicles, so
that you couldn’t even get on it, due to vehicles no even bothering to give way
and allow others to use it. I’m assuming
the lights are red because those that are on the roundabout aren’t moving at
all.
We negotiate our way through the blockage and traverse
straight though, realising that passing the schools is going to be a bit of a
nightmare, and decide that the high school is the way to go. No-one blocking entrances and exits this way,
which is great, but we get stop signs instead.
Once we make it to the highway, we keep a good pace
heading north. Over the Gateway and we
make good time heading to Gympie. I’m
delighted that we also get to use the newly constructed section at Curra and it
saves us some time.
Once in Gympie, Glenn has thoughts about buying a
roast chicken for lunches, but as we get closer to the shop, he claims he can’t
find anywhere to pull over and we pass it without another thought.
At the Wood Working museum, I toot the horn, as a
friend lives not too far from it and can hear the highway from her house. I said I would toot, although we are about ½
hour plus behind schedule, so I hope she’s been listening for it.
Our next turn takes us over Bells
Bridge and the mighty Mary River
We start to measure off our distance to our next turn
off and before long we are there. It’s
going to take us through a state forest.
A few turns more and we are entering the gates of our destination. Tranquillity.
From what we can see, it is exactly that.
Our host has said that they would be able to hear us
come through the gate and they do. I
realise that they have an electronic eye set up that alerts the house to our
arrival. As we make our way up the
driveway, Zeus comes out to greet us.
He’s their 3 year old German Shepard and he’s huge but very friendly.
We pull up outside the house and meet Lu. She’s extremely friendly and gives me a hug
and peck on the cheek. It’s a nice touch
to make us feel at home. We are taken
towards the house to meet her husband Gary.
Unfortunately he’s not well and can’t travel far from the house, but he
is also gives us a warm welcome. Gary
We get given a guided tour of the facilities, which
are ample and spotless. Showers,
toilets, kitchen, pool table, games room, pool ... it’s a well thought out and
setup place. We are given the choice of
sites as we are their only guests this weekend.
As Lu leaves us to set up, she requests our presence for Happy Hour at
4pm on their veranda, which we happily accept.
It doesn’t take long to set ourselves up happily and
we can relax immediately. We have access
to the entire 86 acre property and make ourselves at home. One of the first things we do is make
ourselves at home by removing our clothes ... it is a naturist venue after all.
Our site fee includes electricity, so we’ve bought our
power cords and Amp-phibian from home to utilise as I’m sure we won’t see
enough sun this weekend to keep that Amps up to the battery.
Lunch out of the way we are completely relaxed and
taking in the bird song from all directions.
We’ve been able to let the dogs
get to know each other, and they all seem to be behaving themselves. Zeus is very keen to get to know our girls,
but they aren’t as keen. After a little
while, Kiah ends up rounding him away from camp, but he’s ever persistent –
which is very amusing. We are very happy
that we’ve been able to see some sun as well.
Didn’t think it would show itself for awhile, but it poked its head out
from behind the clouds and we are glad it’s made the effort. The breeze is rather cool and constant, but
we are in the sun so it really doesn’t matter so much today.
The next few hours we relax in the sun and meet Fred,
the third of our hosts. He’s here
assisting the others with some intensive labour and enjoying the peace and
quiet as well. I will admit he’s doing a
wonderful job with it. We realise he’s
done quite a lot of work here. I’m sure Lu
and Gary are very happy to have him around.
Eventually we must inspect the grounds a bit
more. Heading through the orchard, we
find ourselves at the dam. Telashi is
the first to make her way into the water.
It still amazes me that she’s immune to the freezing temperatures. Zeus has made he’s way down with us as well
and the girls are tolerating his company well.
Back at camp, we relax once more and before we know it
Happy Hour is upon us. We sit listening
to Gary
Glenn has already set up the OzPig and tonight it will
be chops and vegies, which we get under way quickly. As it’s cooling down quickly, we shower under
hot running water and rug up before sitting in front of our OzPig and feeding
in small amounts of wood to keep it burning.
After 2000 we head to bed wondering what temperature
it might get down to overnight.
08.06.13
Our morning starts slowly after 0800, but the day has
dawned sunny and almost cloud free which is a blessing for us. Breakfast is a slow event and we enjoy the
sunshine from our chairs with coffee in hand.
Last night got down to 11.6⁰C so very happy with that. It could have been a lot cooler.
I’m keen to see what the kitchen facilities are like
as we did a quick perusal yesterday.
Heading into the rec room, I note a microwave, fridge, kettle, and ample
bench space, utensils of many varieties, crockery to keep any housewife happy
and a large sink area. There is also a
television in the rec room along with a pool table, table with seating for 6,
stools, a wine barrel for leaning against and putting your drink, games of many
kinds (board and outside types), and book shelf lined with books to swap, and
magazines of they type one finds at a naturist venue.
We sit in the sun for another hour or so, and then
decide to make our way around the perimeter.
Zeus comes with us, and before long he and Telashi are chasing each
other around. I do start to worry when
he thinks snapping at her rear end is fun, so decide to send him home. “Go Home Zeus” and he retreats home with a
look of sadness on his face and a final backwards glance before doing as he’s
bid. Very glad he’s obedient. His 55 kilo frame would be very hard to
handle otherwise.
We continue our walk around the perimeter and find
ourselves at the front gate. I can see
the electronic eye well, so we don’t break it’s connection, but head up the
driveway towards the house to where the driveway splits in two. Instead of going towards the house, we take
the other branch and head to the highest point of the property and find the
timber supply for the house fire place amongst heaps of building
materials. From here we can see a fire
break in the surrounding forest, where the electricity line runs towards us, as
it gives us a good view of the surrounding area – although through the tree
line. Heading down the western fence
line, we can see where they have unsuccessfully built another dam – apparently
it just won’t hold water – and have been turned into their dumping
grounds. From here we head east again
towards all the buildings which sit on a high ridgeline through the centre of
the property. Their water tank is huge
and I understand why as they aren’t on town water here. As we walk up the northern boundary, we can
see Fred making a block fire pit. He’s
just started and has been making the foundations while we were here. Not 100% on what it’s going to end up looking
like, but it’s going to be large.
Lu is giving the pool a once over and gives us a
weather report. It’s sounding like rain,
but shouldn’t be too much, as it’s heading in from the coast. She tells us that rain doesn’t often get this
far inland alas, but at least we know what to expect now.
Back at camp, Glenn decides its lunchtime and he’d
like that chicken he thought about yesterday, so at 1115, he gets in the car
and heads into town. I hear him go
through the gate because the sound of a door chime heralds it. About 45 minutes later I can hear that door
chime again and realise he’s back. About
a minute later, he’s pulling up at camp with a # 13 roasted and stuffed chicken
from Brodie’s. It’s time to cut a bun or
two and add some chicken to it for lunch.
I’m glad he was able to find his way back without incident, being that
his Nav-Woman was out of action (that’s me by the way).
The day dims somewhat as we are eating, as some clouds
have started making their appearance.
They look rain filled, but head over quickly. The constant breeze becomes quite cool, so we
put up the draught flap and an end wall to give us some relief from it. Glenn heads inside to close up the windows
and doesn’t make it back out. I’ll bet
he’s gotten as far as the comfy bed and pillow.
Never mind.
Zeus heads to the safety of the rec room awning after
realizing that no more chicken scraps are coming his way, so now it’s just me
and the girl dogs. About 15 minutes
later, I can hear Kiah snoring. It is
unusual for her to fall asleep through the day, but at the age of 10 it’s only
to be expected I guess.
The sky is starting to fill with clouds now, but the
sun is still trying to get a look through.
I hope it will win, but the forecast makes it unlikely. The breeze hasn’t changed direction so that’s
something in our favour. We noticed it
when we arrived, but being lovely and sunny it wasn’t much of a concern, but
with the sun disappearing fast, that wind has got a bit of a nip to it. I’m glad we always carry out extra canvas.
I write my blog and once we are up to this exact
moment, I put away the laptop. Not sure
how to spend my time whilst Glenn is snoozing, I decide to investigate the book
swap to see what’s there to read.
Bingo! I find one of my favourite
authors (Dean Koontz) and it’s one I haven’t read before. I take it back to camp and get settled in.
About ½ hour later, Glenn emerges saying he wasn’t
asleep, just dozing. Yeah right! Book away, we start thinking about what to
have for dinner. Tonight it is Thai
flavoured Barramundi fillet with green prawns and chips. Mouth watering stuff! He removes the fish and prawns from the
freezer to thaw. I restocked the ‘spice
rack’ before coming this weekend. Now
I’m glad I did so as we wouldn’t have had enough spices for tonight’s dinner
otherwise.
Lu comes over to tell us that they won’t hold the
Happy Hour today as it’s just too cold on the veranda today. I assure her that we aren’t disappointed at
all and she’s glad. I’m sure if anyone
is disappointed it will be her and Gary.
I think they love meeting new people and hearing new stories over a few
drinks. You can’t help the weather I’m
afraid.
We settle into camp and have our own Happy Hour. Before long it’s time to get dinner started. While Glenn lights the OzPig, I get out some
alfoil, line it with baking paper, add fish & prawns and sprinkle over my special
Thai spice concoction, before parcelling it up and adding it to the camp
oven. Glenn works on the chips and gets
the peanut oil good and hot. Once dinner
is underway, we sit back to enjoy the last of the day. Once our meal is ready we eat without delay,
while a second batch of chips cooks.
With dinner out of the way, we sit back and enjoy the
last of the light. As the sun sets in
the west, we are given the best sunset I’ve seen in a while. As the sun sinks lower, it improves the
colours going from a rich gold to a purple red, before it disappears completely
into the dark of the night. Not long
after we hit the showers and try to get warm.
As its Saturday night, Glenn decides that he will be
able to watch RockWiz on SBS because there is a television in the Rec
Room. I’m not so sure we’ll be able to
last that long, but willing to give it a try.
At 1800 Glenn has the radio on listening for the news but more
importantly the weather report. We are
both disappointed that all we get is a five minute sport report which included
the scores for the netball game I had taping at home so I’m glad I wasn’t’
paying too much attention. Neither of us
think about going and turning on the tele to listen to it.
About 1915 we head over to the Rec Room with drinks in
hand and take the cover off the pool table.
After 3 games where Glenn wins, I concede defeat. It’s still ½ hour off the start of the
program he wished to watch. To be
comfortable, we’d have to get our chairs and some nibbles from camp, but it’s
getting cold and I’m getting tired and would rather go to bed so that’s what we
do.
09.06.13
The next day is wet and windy, glad we’ve got the
draught flap up already. It did rain
through the night, but being up on a ridge, there is nothing much to see but
wet grass. One of our first priorities
is to get some cover up on the offside over the kitchen box. The rain is coming in that way as it’s a
sideways sprinkle currently. I put a
suggestion forward that we use the portion of the offside awning (would be the
top of the shower tent if we’d bought an Ultra) that would go there anyway. It velcro’s on along the kitchen canvas and
we can tie it off to cover the area completely.
Glenn thinks it’s a great idea and we get it done. It proves to be well worth the effort –
stopping the rain and all wind from that side.
Coffee is the next important thing we need to do to
warm our insides. We spend most of the
morning under canvas as the sideways sprinkle is hard to cope with using an
umbrella – which I’ve retrieved from the ute during a break in the sprinkle. Not long after Glenn retrieves our galoshes.
We setup the awning so we are comfortable. The table get moved from its usually spot
beside the kitchen to under the end wall.
Our chairs go up against the camper beside the kitchen. And here we sit for the next few hours. Zeus sets up camp under the Rec Room
awning. When he approaches, one of our
girls rounds him away. It’s
hilarious. I’m not sure Zeus thinks so,
but he’s being very persistent regardless.
I’m sure if we were here for a week, he’d be like one of the family, but
right now, he’s still on the outer with the girls.
Before lunch, the sprinkle gives over to just windy,
so we head out for a walk, with brollies in hand just in case. Seems we head over to the dam, after a stroll
though the orchid. Once again my crazy
dog goes for a dip. The sprinkle starts
up again so we head back to camp.
Lu comes over to say Happy Hour is off once more. It starts to rain, so I escort her home under
umbrella for which she’s grateful. She
invites me to check out her home brew kit and we spend a few minutes discussing
the in’s and out’s of how to do it. It’s
very interesting. I might look into it
and see if I can save myself some money.
It sounds a bit involved, probably expensive to set up in the first
instance, but Glenn said it was a good brew, so ...
Glenn and I spend the rest of our day sitting under
canvas reading – me my book and him some TAN magazines. It’s nice to sit and be peaceful when given
the chance. Of course we have dinner to
think about, so have some steak defrosting for one of Glenn’s favourites –
stew. I’m going to make mud cake for
dessert as we haven’t had it for a bit.
The sideways sprinkle is easing off which is
appreciated. The pups are both inside
the camper on their mats. Once through
the afternoon, we return to the orchard to see if we can find any passionfruit
that’s easy to reach and ripe. We are in
luck with the ripe, but not so lucky with in reach, finding only one that we
can access. The rest of the afternoon is
spent doing nothing much at all until it’s time to start organising dinner and
getting the fire lit. We’ve relocated
the OzPig so that we can still sit out of the wind.
With the stew on and cooking, I butter some bread to
have with it. Now it’s time to think
about showers to get nice and warm before dinner. I have to say that it’s wonderful to be able
to stand under a hot shower and be out of the wind. Even thought the concrete floor is cold,
there are some rubber mats to stand on whilst getting dressed which we haven’t
used until tonight. Lu & Gary have
thought of everything.
While Glenn has his shower, I make the mud cake and
put in the tin which is actually one of our camp saucepans. They are stainless steel saucepans of various
sizes. All have lids and a handle which
can double back over the lid and be clipped down to seal them. Very handy for storing left overs, and in
this case, cook cake as sealing the lid makes them super moist. I usually make a ½ mix up which fits in the
middle sized pan very well. I use
Green’s cake mix as they taste great and also come with icing which we nearly
always use. The ½ mix gives us a piece
each for dessert and one to eat the next day or take home for afternoon tea at
work.
After dinner there isn’t much else to do but feed more
timber into the OzPig and relax until we feel tired.
10.06.13
Today is nothing like yesterday. It is sunny and bright which will give us the
opportunity to get the canvas dry before we pack up. Yay!
Nothing better than dry canvas to take home, as It will save us having
to reconstruct camp back at home.
Unfortunately today we must go home. Always a downside to weekends away is the
fact that they end. Sigh.
After a reheated breakfast of stew, we get the dishes
out of the way and start packing things away slowly. Glenn has also gone around the camper and
dried as much of the velcro as he can with a cloth we always bring along for
the purpose. Doors and windows get
opened up to let the airflow through and extra canvas gets unzipped and untied
before being thrown over the ute to dry in the sun. The floor gets a sweep, table and chairs go
away, bed gets made, clothes get packed, dog mats go in the dog box, kitchen
gets a makeover, dishes put away and the offside box gets repacked.
This all takes several hours to achieve as we are in
no hurry, but we keep a very good eye on the horizon to look for any further
signs of rain. About 1130, we see some
coming and it’s decided to pack up the camper before it arrives.
Fred has already given the camper the once over and
asked that we give him a call when it’s getting packed up, so we do. He’s very interested in seeing how it goes
together. We drop the awning, use some
poles to throw it over the camper roof and go about packing it down. In less than 5 minutes it’s shut and
secured. Fred tells us he’s impressed
with how quickly it happened. He now
understands why we said it can be up in less than a minute, or 5 minutes if you
want the awning up as well.
I’m sure he gets that it’s all the “other stuff” that
takes up ones time when packing or unpacking.
Yes, we could be erected and sitting having coffee in fewer than 10
minutes, but there would still be a lot of things to do around camp to make if
comfortable.
With everything packed away in the ute, the rain comes
down in earnest. Yes, actual rain,
pelting down. I’m sure Lu is happy to
see it raining so hard as this helps to fill her water tanks – buying it is
rather expensive the further from town you are.
We grab our chairs and head for the Rec Room awning just in time.
As it’s just before 1200 so we think it’s time for lunch. We still have a chicken carcass to pick over
and some bread to polish off, so chicken sandwiches looks like the order of the
day. I head over to the camper as the
rain slackens off to grab what is required to put lunch together. And the rain then carries on pelting
down.
Lu comes over and asks if we wouldn’t mind sitting
with them on her veranda for a good chat before we go, and we oblige after
packing away our lunch things, chairs and hooking up the camper. It’s just after 1300 before we are on the
veranda and chatting with them. Lu
brings out her photo album and shows us how the place looked when they first
moved in a few years ago with the plan to turn it into a naturist haven. Overgrown doesn’t quite do it justice ... you
can see just how much hard work and time has gone into making this place how it
is today. Lots of clearing debris,
trees, and opening the block right up, much work with the bob cat, and putting
in of tanks and sheds, obviously a few fires to burn the debris ... it hasn’t
been easy for them, but it has been very rewarding. Obviously they still haven’t finished
everything on their list, but they aren’t very far off having exactly what they
want. Glenn wanted to be on the road
around 1300, but hasn’t minded having a good chat with Lu, Gary & Fred as
they are such lovely people.
Just before 1400 we say our goodbyes and head
home. Our trip back to the highway is a
bumpy one, but to be expected on the state forest dirt roads. Once at the highway, we take a right and head
back over the Mary
River
Our only issue on the trip home is meeting a traffic
jam just before the Ettamoogah Pub and not being able to do more than 5 or
10kph until we almost reach Caboolture.
Exactly why these “jams” occur and dissipate so quickly is a complete
mystery as I don’t understand how it can happen at all on a road meant for
110kph.
Regardless it takes us almost an hour more than it
should have and it’s almost dark by the time we reach home. By the time we’ve unpacked ¾ of the ute and
camper it’s pitch black and I have no outside light on this side of the house –
going to have to fix that I think. What
ever else needs doing can be done in the coming few days or over next
weekend. But we both agree that we’ll
raise the roof and let the canvas have an airing next weekend just in case there
is any moisture left on the canvas to prevent any more mould growing. Previous lesson learnt.
Trip Kilometres:
439
Trip Duration: 96 hours
1 comment:
Hey guys,
Can you provide me with contact numbers or details of Tranquility. it s sounds like a great place to visit and I cant find it on the web anywhere.
Thanks
Judy.
judy_norvill@hotmail.com
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