"Canton Beach May 2009"?

[Geoff & Jude]

Hi Di,

Colin & Sue won't be there till Friday

Jude & Geoff

[Deleted]

Yo folks its old "on again .. off again" here.

Couldn't stand the thought of missing a night out with the stars under the stars.
Have just rang "Skye" and booked an unpowered site for saturday night.
She reckons i will be on site 326 but i see on Di's list that jq66rod is earmarked for that site .
Dont care where i end up as long as i am down along the fence with the rest of you guys.
Happy to perform "unplugged" for the evening ( non powered site)
Not sure what i am bringing yet .... Rosie or The Tumblewood Tourer TD. Catch ya's saturday sometime.

Old "Hit and Miss"

[1954homemade]

Hi Reddo

Great news !!!!

Glad to hear that you can make it after all. ;D ;D

Atleast now that you are staying you can have a few beers for happy hour and not have to worry about riding home on your bike

Skye is correct - site 326 would be the best for you. Next to your Coledale partners-in-crime Kate and Maurie. jq66rod asked to be moved to a powered site.

Kind regards
Di

[1954homemade]

Hi All,

Have checked with the caravan park and the new bbq area that was being built hasn't been finished but there is another bbq area that has 2 bbq plates and tables with seating, so would suggest we perhaps have a bbq get together on the Friday night for those that want to.

The council have knocked back the possibility of open fires, so with the evenings no doubt being cold, a night at the local club was suggested.

In previous posts I mentioned Toukley Bowling Club as a good place to eat and it is within easy walking distance of the caravan park.

It is still within easy walking distance but it has been taken over and is now called Canton Beach Sports Club and has a new restaurant.

The new restaurant/bistro is called Sakura and serves Chinese, Malaysian and Thai food. I haven't eaten at it, but it has been highly recommended by a local .

I was thinking that Saturday night might be a good time for us to go to the club. I am happy to give it a try.

If you are interested in eating at the club, please let me know so I can book a table?

Other than that the local Fish and Chip shop is called Seabreeze Seafood and the phone number is 4397 2933.

The local RSL is also fairly close, but you would need to drive or get the courtesy bus.

We are up to 17 bookings now, so it promises to be a great weekend.

Kind regards
Di

[bindilou]

I think we will have to stay poot at the van park both night as we have 5 year old and 9 year old so i dont think they would be welcome at the club....bumma... I'll be packin my thermals for sure. Matilda over the pits tomorrow!!!!

[Deleted]

.
I wouldnt panic about the cold too much. the park is on the edge of the water and it tends to be warmer down there of a night than what it would be elsewhere.
Dont panic about the rego tomorrow bindilou. just follow what i have said in my pm back to you tonight and all should be sweet.
No need for them to be searching for a chassis number on any van oir trailer built pre 1988. RTA will issue him a number .

I have been thinking about some activitys for saturday arvo ..... Following on from the success of the Billycart derby at Coledale 2008 .
I reckon we could weigh in a few bucks and hire these to do some time trials / hot laps along the cycleway beside our vans with these little suckers...

I will be heading up "Team Cyclops" and lay down a challenge to "Team speedwell" and team "Malvern star" to beat my best "Hot lap"
gunna run 50% bundy on 10lbs turbo boost.. Catch me if ya can ;D ;D ;D
Happy hour will now be known as "Lappy hour"..... ummmmmm... or should that read "NAPPY hour"

See yas there saturday.
Good luck Bindilou.
Kisses for Matilda
Reddo

[1954homemade]

Bindilou, I haven't checked but I would imagine that the children would be allowed in the restaurant area - they normally can go to that area as long as it isn't anywhere near the pokies. I'll check today.

Reddo, I wondered whether you would remember about the go-karts. ;D I'm sure that atleast Maurie and Wildy will join you in a race. I'm more than happy to stand and watch with glass of wine in hand

Already have the van with me today at work and will be leaving straight from here this afternoon.

So see you all up there.

Di

[1954homemade]

Hi Bindilou,

As I thought, kids are allowed in the club as long as they are with an adult at all times. They have to leave the venue by 9.00pm.

Regards
Di

[1954homemade]

Hey jg66rob,

I see it's your birthday today.

Congratulations - I hope you have a good one.

Gee are we gonna have some celebrations this weekend!!! Your birthday today and Koala's yesterday - perhaps we should have a Birthday Billcart Race, just for the Birthday Boys ?? ;D ;D ;D

Di

[wombat]

Hi 1954Homemade

Would love to join you for dinner on Saturday night could you please book another 4 places at the Club.

Many thanks John & Jeanette ;

[wildmanaus]

Hello all
Will See you all friday some time then going to get my legs ready to win then Canton beach 500 for TEAM MERCEDES. Will be in the SW merc this time but it loves towing too.
Well looking forward to this weekend and the Canton 500, Leadup race to the Coledale 1000
i beleive Team Merc will be to fast to match.
Wildy

[jg66rob]

hey Di, thanks for the birthday greeting :)My daughter blew the candles out on my cake for me this year. As with anything with wheels you can race it, but with a lack of hills and gravity I hope it doesn't end up a race to hospital due to heart failure .
Anyway count us in for sat night 2 big ones and 2 small ones.
See you all friday arvo for happy hour.
cheers Rob and Jules

[bindilou]

After much ado she is registered just in the nic of time, thanks Reddo!
Well we will be headin off tomorrow morn should be there 12ish, see you all then.
Hope i havent forgot anything, Took all the curtains off and havent replace em yet so no peepin!!!
See ya soon!

[bindilou]

Hey just noticed jg66rob are in Faulko we are practically neighbors we're in Springwood, might see you on the road on the way up eh!

[Deleted]

Hi Jules
Really glad to hear the "Rebirthing" of Matilda is all done.
Will catch up with you guys and get the whole script on how things went with the RTA over a few beers saturday...

Say again..... "Really glad"

Reddo

[1954homemade]

Hi All,

Just a quick update for those unable to attend.

You are missing out on a great weekend.

We have had a good roll up of 17 vans including 4 new members. Sorry don't have a camera, but no doubt one of the others will put some pictures up.

The weather has been lovely and sunny.

The management at the caravan park have been great and have gone along with all of our last minute site changes. They have even put up a large marquee for our use and supplied us with a bbq. So we had a bbq dinner get together last night and then some of us had a fry up for breakfast this morning.

"Party Central" - well that appears to be outside Geoff & Jude's place - it's been really good, but Geoff, Sue & my singing leaves a lot to be desired !!! I think it's all Rod Stewarts fault !!! The park management even came over at 11.45pm last night to ask everyone to keep the noise down - oops.

We had a lovely surprise visit this morning from Kingy and Maryanne. They had been in the city last night and had popped in for a quick catch up on their way back to Tamworth - so that was really nice.

Tonight we are booked into the local club for dinner - it's such a large booking i'm sure we will manage to take over the restaurant ;D ;D ;D

Talk soon
Di

[jg66rob]

Here's a few images from the week end at Canton Beach. I would have say it was a great time had by all and a great turn out of vans.Party central was at Geoff and Judes with some people fairing up a little second hand after the fact.Kids all had a great time at the caravan park with enough their to keep them out of our hair.
Wouldn't say no to doing a repeat week end next year.
Only down side to the week end was the auto transmission spat the dummy going up our driveway,at least it was in the driveway.
Great week end and great bunch of people. Bring on Coledale.








Kids had a ball on the pedal cars








Julie got a lot of exercise after coming off second best to a chinese duck






Riff Raff at party central






Reddo with his mates

[Koala]

News Flash 'Sighting of endangered Clivus Bareassbird at Canton Beach'.
While relaxing we were treated to the rare appearance of one of these birds. the first two photos shows him being fended off by one of the ladies.


The third show him helping himself to some of our food

And the last shows him disappearing into his nest.

[Geoff & Jude]

thanks di for organising a great weekend.

fantastic to see more new members coming along to the outings.

here's a few more picies (not up to rob's capabilities though).

the adopted local stray making herself at home.


kids and sparklers


drunks at the ritz


geoff 'n jude

[Koala]

Judy and I had a great weekend at Canton Beach after arriving at 9:30pm on Friday night. Thanks Di for making sure that we were all happy and well fed...............and the birthday cake was a surprise thanks.
Good location even though we were a bit spread around the park but we just kept moving around the various gatherings getting to know each other. would be happy back there again sometime.
I'm pleased that in this group the women are included and it is not just a mens group with the women tagging along. Judy commented that she had a great time which makes it easier to decide about attending. Even shouted her lunch by the water at The Entrance and went to the markets so I must have a few brownie points up by now.
Now what was that new project I had in mind??

Back in Canberra by 3:30 today. Nice picnic lunch along the way

Ken

[Deleted]

;D ;D ;D

Great shots dude...
"mate.. MATES...
Bloody
Mates."
.....Hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmpppppppphhhhhhhhh

John Stuck the first stubby in my hand just on 10,00am ... i put the last one in the bin at Midnight while staggering back from the "Roadmaster Annexe of ill-repute" with Maurie.
Hence the shot of me with sunglasses , head in hands, bottle of water at 7.30am this morning.

Even though it was only an overnighter for me it was great to catch up with the regulars as well as meet some of the new vint vanners.
Great news from Kingy and Mez .. all clear on the health front for Mez so the tour is back on track.
Ray Roehm and the unstoppable Jack D Russel hound had made the long haul down from Qld to be there.
John and Pam from Muswellbrook , The Bindilou crew enjoying there first real weekend away in Matilda.. Yes Jukie she has got a watertank and the galley pump will work just fine once you put water in the tank... hope ya get over the dreaded Chinese duck attack. Pack plenty of sorbent ;D

Heres a few more happy snaps.. blew a gail nearly all day saturday.. straight off the lake ... a tad cool what old chaps.




Happy hour can break out just about anywhere at anytime..



But people should be aware of their limitations when tippling the dry red ... aye Cliff ;D ;D ;D
Affectionately christened
"sponge bum"... the permanents where amazed and shocked all at the same time.



"There is a house in New Orleans ..
They call the rising sun
and its been the ruin
Of many a poor boy
and god i know.. i'm one!!!"



an elderly couple from the Twin Citys car club dropped in with their tidy EH auto sedan... "$11,500" if your keen






Always nice to see the colours on the towcar carried through onto the van



I leave em alone for 2 minutes and they are up to no good...
Lets go see whats going on ....


EEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK... Metho stove comparos in the back of my ute... on top of 80 litres of Premium unleaded.....
The words "Constant Adult Supervision " comes to mind here.


Late saturday arvo ... last of the sunlight filtering through the paperbarks.. 12 degrees and a 30 knot souwester...... good training for Katoomba in July.

Now gather around kiddies while ya old Uncle Maurie demonstrats the 86 steps in erecting the hood bows and soft top on the convertible... lemme seeeeeeeeeeee... part 42 b insers into lateral support .. 26 e... Ummm.. ... just talk amongst yourselves for a while while i consult the easy to follow instructions.


I got home about 10... downed a couple of panadol. grabbed the missus and we took the Norton out for a 250 k blap around the countryside... pulled up at a little takeway shop at Heddon Greta . didnt realise we had parked right next to a wall mural depicting the old speedway that use to be about 2ks in the bush near the shop..


So... The Norton is shown here winning....

Great weekend guys. Thanks goes to Di for all the mother fussing around to make sure we all got set up ok and organising dinner at the club for those who went.
Thanks goes to each and everyone of you for turning up and making the weekend a great success.
There was rumour floating around that we might get a leg back in the door at Munmorah next year...... Dunno.... with all the effort that the park managers put in making sure we had a large meeting area in the tent ... Canton is pretty hard to beat... Just a shame we cant have a campfire .... on the other hand ... the way the wind blew through the place ya wouldnt want to have a fire sparking up anywhere in those winds .

Cheers
Reddooooooooooooooh my aching head.

[1954homemade]

Hi All,

Well what a great weekend.

I had soooooooooooooooo much fun. ;D ;D ;D

Thanks to everyone who attended and helped to make it so memorable. I am still smiling, as the occassional funny thought comes to mind. Rod Stewart was just on the radio and that got me thinking of our sing-a-long or should I call it howl-a-long.

The caravan park are happy to have us back again - so we couldn't have been too bad (naughty).

Even some of the locals who have permanent vans there, mentioned to me that we were such a nice group of people much nicer than alot of people that stay there.

Thanks for the feedback and kind words on my organisational skills or Mothering as Reddo put it. Not having children - it's the only mothering that I get to do !!!

I hope our newest members Bindilou, Wombat, Bebob & John and Sandra enjoyed their first trip away with us and are game enough to come back for more.

Next trip "Wintersun" - hope to see some of you then.

Kind regards
Di

[bindilou]

WOW!!!If thats what VV weekends are all about...bring it on! We had a fantastic time, great people, great cars, great vans, fantastic weather despite the 3 o'clock winds. The kids were well behaved and did us proud, they had a ball. I can count on one hand the amount of sleep i had in the 2 dazzzze! I swear i will never touch duck again!! Matilda towed like a dream and we had no trouble fitting the 4 of us in. Next time we might fill that there water tank, take some ice for the fridge and maybe just maybe we will have something to cook on too.
Big thanks to Dianne for organising a great weekend. And thanks to you all for making us so welcome you were all there when help was needed. Next stopover for us Coledale...We'l see you all at Katoomba on Sat. Julie and Bert

[Geoff & Jude]

Hi All,

In defense of our annex being named "The Annex of Ill Repute"
please note the following rules that are ALWAYS observed:

Responsible Service Of Alcohol - I always pour the Zambuca so it doesn't spill ;D ;D ;D.

Drink Driving - no probs, everyone seems quite able to stagger back to their vans .

Raising $$$$ for Charity - Sue collects bottle tops that raise $$$ for kids wheelchairs so we have to help out there .

Choir Practice - that's our reason for the late night singing & we are sticking to it.

Annex Crashers - are always allowed, even if we are not there .

The only other comment I have is -Who the Bloody Hell Is Rod Stewart - he seems to be a trouble maker & should be banned in future.

Great time as usual

Jude & Geoff

[humpty2]

Doing our best "collecting" ;D bottle tops for Sue.......even though we weren't with you.
C'mon photographers ...... where is some shots of fibreglass vans?
Couldn't be with you, we were with 8 fibreglass vans at beautiful Gloucester.......see you all at Katoomba in July and Coledale.
Humpty.