R.O.S.A's Townsville

Camping at Lucinda

On the weekend of the 17, 18 and 19 of October 2008, our group, Rosas Townsville, went to Lucinda for a fishing/camping weekend.  With about 12 adults we set up camp at the back of the Wannderers caravan park.  With access to the park and a beach volleyball court for the children to play on we were set for a good weekend away as Rosas.

By the time I arrived it was 7:00 at night not long behind Lynda and Sue in their truck. We arrived and set up camp while, the rest of the group, that had arrived earlier in the day, were cooking dinner.

With camp and dinner out of the way we all grabbed a chair between the camp sites and sat around talking and having a few drinks under the street light and with the sound of the waves crashing on the beach made the night for us.

About 3:00 in the morning it started to pour down rain.  When about half of Rosas ran around putting the chairs away that were left out under the sky because when we all went to bed there was no clouds and the stars were out it did not look like it was going to rain.  So people were out picking up the chairs and putting them in the front of their tents or under the traps and getting soaking wet at the same time.

Most of the camp got up about 6.00 in the morning with the smell of bacon and eggs getting cooked on the gas BBQ most of the group had bacon and eggs for breaky.

About 10.00 Lynda, Sue and I decided that we would go out in the boat that Sue and Lynda had towed up from Townsville.  So we packed up and with the boat hooked on the back of the truck we headed to the boat rump.  Lisa, Lynda and the kids followed to see if there was any place for them to go fishing.  Between the a pontoon and the boat most of the people had the chance to get a spot of fishing.  The people on land that were fishing ended up catching more legal fish than us in the boat.

With white caps down the creek we decided to head back to the boat ramp and head back to camp.  By the time we arrived back at camp, a couple more people arrived and had set up camp.  We had something to eat and decided to head to the pool for a while.  With a blow up beach ball and a volleyball we headed into the water.  With the wind the blow up ball spent most of the time out of the water than in.  After a lot of fun throwing the balls around we headed back to the tents and decided to go play a game of beach volleyball on the court that was in the park behind Rosas camp sites.  With people getting covered in sand from diving to get to the ball we decided to call it quits after the other team got to 21 points.

With most of us having fish and chips form the corner shop about 200 meters down the road form the caravan park it made for a easy meal.  With dinner over and done with we all gathered around for a few drinks and a some conversations, it made for a very interesting night.

With more rain the night it made for an interesting night. With Sue and Lynda’s tent leaking and Tracy and Di’s almost collapsing under the strength of the wind.

Most people packed up and gone by 10.00 that just left 5 for the day.  After a while we all decided to head to the boat ramp to go fishing off the pontoon.  No fish were caught as we were getting disturbed by boats pulling up and picking up people for their day of fishing.  So after awhile we headed to the long jetty to see what we could catch of there.  On the side of the jetty is a small rock wall were we all ending up fishing.  Sue was the only one getting any action by pulling in a Wobygong.  .We were all moaning when a guy pulled in a great fish just after Julie-Ann moved from that spot.

We headed back to camp for a quick lunch, and then we headed back to the pontoon for a few more hours, before we headed back to Townsville. Julie-Ann’s lady bug landing on her paid off when she finally managed to catch a little bream but he had to go back into the water. 

We came back to camp, had a quick swim before we started to pack up camp and head back to Townsville. With Leah extending the weekend by heading to Murray Falls for the day on Monday

Thanks to Rosas Townsville for a great weekend at Lucinda.

Amanda

Driving out onto the Bruce Highway in Townsville on the way to the camping trip my partner and I were having a laugh about a vehicle next to us being "packed up to the billio".  There wasn't much room left over in our vehicle either.  On arrival at the Lucinda caravan park the same vehicle pulled in behind and soon after the occupants of the vehicle were pitching their tent alongside us. 

Our 2 and a half year old son watched us putting the tent up and was in awe of what was going on around him in the park.  His eyes were very soon attracted to the play ground where he spent quite of bit of his weekend.

Five tents amongst us were constructed throughout the weekend from small domes to "Taj Mahal" style.  It was nice to see women helping each other out.  Pitching tents can be a real test on relationships but it seemed to be quite a peaceful event. 

There was at least one emergency requiring “Gaffa” tape which the local shop kindly supplied for a broken pole which was readily fixed.

The swimming pools in the park were a great place to cool down with the kids.  Our Luke was a bit difficult to get out of the water once we got in however we thought it was a better option then the beach.  The first sign on the beach indicated that there were “Crocodiles”. Of course our 2 and a half year old who is not yet conversant with signage ran straight down to the waters edge.  His mums were just a tad nervous and retreated quickly back to the caravan park.

There was a bit of fishing to be had and the fishing award went to Lisa, Maggie Island.   There were a few bream and a cod caught.  Every fish was measured carefully and undersize ones made their way back to the river!  I was quite happy having a quiet time sitting back in Pauline’s comfy chair.  I caught snags and lost a few hooks.  Pauline decided she would play a trick on me and grabbed my line while I was snoozing.  It wasn’t the fish that got away!

There was a game of beach volleyball on in the afternoon on Saturday and women were throwing themselves into the sand for there shots.  A few laughs later and it was time for fish and chips.   I do believe that they were the best fish and chips I had had in a long time.  I would definitely recommend the local fish and chip shop.

The first night it rained at about 3.30 in the morning.  The wind was howling and the tent was blowing over.  We could here pegs being hammered in around the campsite around us. We were so hoping the tent was not going to leak.  It didn’t which was fortunate.  In preparation for more rain I decided that we should put the tarp up over the tent.  Wet pegs and hammers don’t go together very well and I surprised myself by not swearing or swearing loudly when I hit my left hand quite firmly with the hammer after it slid off the wet peg.   We survived the next night of rain and wind.  A couple of the tents were blowing over including ours and we didn’t get much sleep. 
We did stay dry inside the tent though.

There were plenty of stories and laughs over the weekend.  Everyone seemed to get along well with each other and had a good time.

Did the rain put a dampener on our camping trip?

No.   It would have been nice if it didn’t rain and we may have stayed a bit longer but we all had a good time.  Luke had a ball on his first camping trip.

Oh, and since the camping trip we have been over for a lovely meal with the ladies that were “packed up to the billio” who we found out live just around the corner from us!  It’s a small world.

Thanks to Lynda, Sue, Ros and anyone else who organised the weekend.  Hopefully we will venture out on another camping trip in the new year.

Would I recommend one of the camping trips.  Of course I would.  Get out there and enjoy.

Di, Tracey and Luke

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->