Maleny - 13-16 February 2014

Our second trip away with the caravan club we have joined, the Brisbane Roustabouts, was to Maleny. We stayed at the Maleny Showgrounds, which was great. It had a newish amenities block with showers and toilets, power and only $15/night. The Showgrounds are well used by the community. Contained within the grounds of the Showgrounds is a huge, undercover equestrian centre, a tennis complex, a croquet field, Sea Scouts hut, gym, craft centre as well as a few other buildings for use during their Annual Show. The locals also use the grounds to run in and also walk their dogs. A creek ran next to where all the caravans were placed. Apparently, it floods but absolutely no chance of that this time with 35 deg. C temperatures

As you can see, we had a great setting and this is the view we had out the door of our van.

We arrived on the Thursday and from the time we arrived, there were groundsmen working on the cricket pitch shown above. They even started work on it on the Saturday morning about 5.30. I never heard a thing. The oval was mowed and the covers went over the pitch. So much work went into the oval that we thought maybe South Africa or England were coming to play. But no, the 2 local teams turned up at 8 am on the Saturday for their match and that was it.

There is a lovely boardwalk from the Showgrounds along Obi Obi Creek into town, through the bush.

We  walked it to town a few times and also did a walk around the Showgrounds themselves to check out what was there. But quite a bit of the Thursday (after setting up) and the Friday we spent relaxing under the awning out of the sun and the heat. I got quite a bit of sewing done and Bruce quite a bit of reading.

Other members of the Club arrived on the Friday (there was only 3 vans there on the Thursday) so it became more social (noisy with exchanges of greetings and news). On our last trip away with the Club, to Jacobs Well, there were only 6 vans and by Saturday night there were 10 vans, a camper trailer and a bus so we met quite a few more people this time and it was good.

Jean and Stuart have the camper trailer and we became friendly with them at Jacobs Well and had kept in contact since then. They arrived on Saturday morning about 7 am and the four of us walked into Maleny to have breakfast at one of the great looking cafes in town. We had another wander through town before heading back to prepare for our afternoon at Barefoot Bowls.

We did think twice about playing as it was very hot - about 36 deg - but there was a bit of a breeze so we decided to go ahead. We couldn't play barefoot though as the synthetic turf was too hot. We broke up into about 4 teams and spent about an hour playing. Bruce and I played with Doug and Terry and by a fluke Bruce and I won. It was great fun and we all enjoyed the afternoon. A few members of the Bowls Club were on hand to give us guidance and a bit of tuition. The ladies of the Club provided an afternoon tea for us and we had a good chat after our game as we sat down inside under the fans, cooling off. I don't think I will be taking up Lawn Bowls any time soon but would be happy to have the odd game of Barefoot Bowls.

On the Friday and Saturday we all got together for Happy Hour and a good chat. It's great to listen to all the good tips of some great camp spots around the place. We have added a couple of new places to our list of destinations to try.

We got up about 5.30 on Sunday morning and went for a walk up in the hilly areas of Maleny. There were some lovely old houses and also some lovely modern homes. It was certainly a good walk as we would walk up some streets and get to the top to find the road didn't go through!

Jean, Stuart and I went to check out the local Markets on the Sunday morning. When we returned the meeting was held to elect the office bearers of our new Branch and we met a couple of the Committee members of the Australian Caravan Club, who had joined us for the meeting. As Bruce and I are very new to caravanning, and still working, we didn't want to take on any role in the club. Maybe in a couple of years.

After the meeting, we left to come home as we had work on the Monday. Quite a few of the others were staying to the Monday. We have a schedule of camps for the year and it looks pretty good. There will be a few days away (from 4 days to 2 weeks) every 6 to 8 weeks. Some of them we will go on, others we will be away ourselves.

It was a great weekend away and I think we will have some good times with the Brisbane Roustabouts and just caravanning in general. Our next trip away is at the end of March for 3 weeks and we are heading along the coast of NSW.