Brian's Life: Winter Madness

It rained most of the night and the weather forecast for my destination for the day was pretty awful. I managed to pack up in the dry but had a very wet tent to fold down and my annex roof was saturated. I'd had my normal breakfast and was ready to roll at 9.30am. I decided to take the direct route to my destination, Kenilworth, even though it has a narrow winding section over the range.

The bit between Woodford and Maleny was very twisty and foggy

I stopped at Kilcoy for a coffee and a sandwich and also bought some prepared wiener schnitzels and a steak for my weekends dinners. I made another stop at Woodford for a comfort break before tackling the twisty road to Maleny. This stretch of road was also very wet and to make things worse there were patches of dense fog which limited my speed to less than 60KPH in places.

After Maleny, another favourite town of Margaret's. the road to Kenilworth was very narrow at times but dry and in sunshine. I arrived at our campsite in the Kenilworth Showgrounds to find the other Sunshine Coast Bicycle Club members already set up. It was about 2.00pm. They were amused that I was all rugged up against the cold as it was bright and sunny in Kenilworth. Apparently on the coast it was pouring with rain and a few members had called off their camping weekend.

I set up next to a power pole. My sister tells me that this glamping not camping. I decided not to use my annex walls. The rest of the SCBTC members were evenly split between glampers and campers.


Set Up near the power pole


The camper van and tents are camping

The camper trailer has solar power and are half and half the caravan is definitely glamping with air conditioning, toilet and shower.

The RV is definitely glamping but the camper van is camping. Note the bags of firewood and fireplaces.

Soon after I set up the weather changed and we had some rain which cleared up by 5.00pm and we soon had two big fires going. I cooked my wiener schnitzel for dinner with some salad and I opened a cold bottle of Chardonnay. After dinner we all sat around the fires and chatted before another shower forced us to bet about 10.00pm.

It was bright and sunny when I woke up so I got dressed in my cycling clothes and after breakfast set up my folding mountain bike for the ride organized for today. It was still raining on the coast but we had a lovely day for a ride. It was just a short ride of 25Km over a hill and along a creek until the road run out. Them we retraced our route towards home. We were nowhere near a cafe but to our surprise as were rounded a bend there was a "pop up cafe". Terry, Jenny, Dennis and Kerri had driven out early and hidden a table and all the necessary things for a coffee and cake stop beside the creek. It was a great surprise and lovely stop. The cafe was dismantled and hidden again and were continued our ride back to the campsite. I accompanied Henri in his 4WD back to the coffee stop to retrieve the table etc and also took a couple of photos of the view.

Our "pop up" cafe site

Looking the other way.

Back at the camp we lit the bonfires, there were three of them and sat around chatting and sharing snacks and nibbles.


Snacking and drinking around the fire

I had my steak, onions and salad for dinner and sat around chatting and drinking red wine until 10.00pm when I went to bed.

The next morning most of the group went for a long walk. I stayed back in camp as I can't walk very fast. I ended up doing a short walk around Kenilworth and having a coffee break in town.

After lunch everybody except me packed up and went home. I had arranged my house sitter to stay until Monday so I stayed an extra night. I walked into town to have a meal at the pub but it wash shut! The whole town appeared to have closed down but fortunately the was a pizza shop open. I ordered garlic bread and a small Kenilworth pizza. I walked back to my CT and ate under my awning washing my meal down with beer. It was the best pizza I have have in years. I watched a TV program on my tablet before going to sleep.

On Monday morning I packed up another wet tent and drove back to Tewantin. I was home by 11.00am.