The Austrailian Camper Trailer Group Eleventh National Meet 2015

When I bought my little camper trailer in January this year I did a search on Facebook and discovered that there was a large group of people who had similar interests in camping which best summed up below.

I immediately joined the group.  I tried to join them at a South East Queensland Meet in February but the tail end of a cyclone prevented that but I did get together with them in June.  I was encouraged to join them at their National Meet in a little town called Gulgong in NSW about 1100Km from Tewantin.

The route was similar to the first three days of the journey to Mansfield for the Bike Friday in April this year:

http://briedw02.blogspot.com.au/2015_05_01_archive.html 




My house sitter let me down at the last minute so Louis had to go in kennels much to his disgust.  I left  on Wednesday 23 Sept after dropping Bettie of at her optometrist and stayed overnight at Millmerran where I had camped before. I had an enormous meal at the local tavern.

    

Camped at Millmerran

Pork ribs and porterhouse steak with a 200ml glass of red

The next day I drove to Narrabri where the Caravan Park put on a free sausage sizzle for dinner.

On the Friday I cut across country on minor roads to Gulgong where the group were meeting at the local show ground.  I set up my camper trailer with its awning but left the walls off.  The weather was dry and mild, about 25C.  There were about 100 camper trailers and caravans with 250 members of group camped there.  That evening groups of campers had fires burning brightly and the temperature plummeted to 1C.  I was cooking a steak for dinner  but because of the wind it took an hour and a half to cook properly.  I got thoroughly chilled and went to bed wearing my track suit over my pajamas.

We needed the campfires at night.

The next day I put up the walls around my awning so I could cook in and eat in the warm.

My Jazz in front of my little CT between two big CTs

I had camped on a non-powered site and hoped to manage with out power for 10 days using my solar panel to charge up my battery and keep my refrigerator going.  I managed OK and had enough to have my home made LED lighting system on as well as keeping my phone and tablet charged.

Charging our batteries.  My panel is the small one.

 The first day in camp, Sunday, I took it easy as my AF had made me very tired but I was able to join in the activities on the other days.  These officially started on Sunday evening and the full details are given here:

http://www.campertrailers.org/gulgong15.htm

There are lots of photos at this link but I have successfully avoided being in any of them.

On Monday morning I went to the presentation and tour at the Prince of Wales Opera House which is owned by the Gulgong Musical and Dramatic Society (MADS).  Gulgong was an 1870s gold rush town and at one time had the second largest population in NSW after Sydney.  The Opera House literally put on operas.  It was very interesting to hear how Gulgong went fro zero to 50,000 in a few months and is now back at 1,800.  It has over 180 listed buildings. Even the supermarket is hidden behind the facade of the  old provisions store.

The Prince of Wales Opera House 

The famous Australian pianist Roger Woodward has played here. They have their own Steinway Piano and hold a Roger Woodward Piano Competition each year.  Even Dame Nelly Melba sang here.

Monday afternoon I attended the talk on batteries and solar panels.  I didn't go to the auction as I was too tired so went to bed after buying a Thai takeaway for dinner.

My Thai takeaway

Before retiring I took some photos of my living room.

My kitchen

My larder and fridge

My lounge and dining table

M front door

Tuesday morning I attended the talk on 12 volt wiring and in the afternoon went to the Henry Lawson Centre for a talk on Henry Lawson's life.

Henry Lawson is probably Australia's best known poet and author who was born on the goldfields near Gulgong.  He featured on our $10.00 note when they were paper back in 1966 along with pictures of Gulgong's main street.  The old Salvation Army Citadel has been converted into a museum covering Lawson's life which, as he was an alcoholic, is ironic.  It was an interesting talk.

In the evening I took part in the trivia night and made up a scratch table of 10.  We did OK coming in the top four tables out of 20. It was great fun.

On Wednesday I had breakfast prepared by the Gulgong Show Society before spending the day at the Gulgong Pioneer Museum and exploring the old town.   In the evening we had a special MADS production at the Opera House,  Lawson's Mates.  I had dinner in the hotel next door beforehand and we had a damper supper afterwards. It was a good performance with bush musicians, poetry and play.

Fish and chips at the hotel

Thursday was spent finding out about camping first aid, free camping in the bush and looking at other people's campers before looking at 12 lighting. 

Friday I learned about traveling with dogs but you really need a person with the dog at all times so Louis will stay at home.  In the afternoon we ended the official meeting.

Saturday was the Gulgong Chinese Gold Festival Day.  It was the first and probably last one.  The parade was a fizzer with the fire brigade and one float.  Sunday I drove into Mudgee where I had camped with my Bike Friday Club in 2014.  I had lunch at a swank hotel where they served lunch om a wooden platter.

Posh Fish and Chips

On Monday I packed up and made the three day drive back home without incident.

It had been a good couple of weeks but I was happy to pickup Louis from the kennels and be back in my own home.

This link shows that I did sneek into one photo.

Brian in the background

A Difficult Few Months

I had debated with myself about posting this blog as I normally carry on about cycling and camping plus my general reasonably happy life.  There were clouds on the horizon concerning my good dog walking friend, Bettie's, health.

When I got back from my Winter Madness Camping and Cycling get away in June I began to experience continuous Atrial Fibrillation (AF) episodes which after even quite mild exercise, like walking Louis, caused fatigue and mild dizziness.  My GP carried out an ECG which showed that my heart had decided to abandon Normal Sinus Rhythm (NSR)  and enter the chaotic world of Permanent AF.

I have had Paroxysmal AF for some years and it caused my stroke in 2011 but its affects had been controlled by medication (calcium channel blockers) to control my heart rate and anticoagulants to prevent blood clots.  AF is not a fatal decrease if the medication works but one feels like crap when having a session.

I was referred to a cardiologist who, after checking my heart over 24 hours using a holter monitor,  confirmed that I was in permanent AF.  My resting heart rate was 82 but when walking Louis it went to 150 plus.  He said that there was no real cure and that I should try new medication and replaced my calcium channel blockers with beta blockers.  I had some improvement for a couple of weeks.  I was still in AF but the beta blockers kept my heart rate under control.  After about four weeks I began to experience the full AF symptoms but was told to give it three months.

I decided that I would go to Australian Camper Trailer Group annual meeting in country NSW in late September early October which I will cover in a following post.  I had a couple of bad days but enjoyed meeting other mad campers.

Before I left Bettie had nearly completed her second round of chemo for lung cancer and the tumors had shrunk.  On the day I left she had an appointment with her optometrist and, as she was having eye drops, dropped her of in Noosa.  I received a phone call the following night in Narrabri, where I was camped for the night, from my other dog walking friend, Jo.

Bettie had spent two days having medical test and scans.  She had used the local bus service, which is infrequent, to go from her eye test to her GP, then to have a CT scan and then back to her GP for the results.  They were disastrous.  She now had a couple of tumors on her brain and the spot on her spine had developed to when it was causing pain.  She didn't get home til 6.00pm having left home at 9.00am.

Next day she caught the bus to Nambour, 40Km away, to see her oncologist who said that chemo should be stopped.  She got home and stopped to see Jo to get help.  Her brain tumors we preventing her from being able to dial telephone numbers.  This is when Jo phoned me as Bettie needed somebody to help.  I had, at home, the phone numbers of Bettie's old friends, Denise and Ben.  Jo walked-to my house and used my emergency keys to get in and found the numbers in my study.  Denise and Ben phoned me later to say that Bettie was OK and a roster of friends were looking after her.

After my camping trip I took over taxi duty and took Bettie on several GP visits and a visit to the oncologist where her treatment options were outlined.  Basically palliative care and maybe radiation to minimize the pain from the spinal tumor.  I sat in on all the consultations as Bettie was worried that she would forget things.  I also took her little dog, Bella, for walks with Louis.  Bettie walked to the end of her short street with me, about 100 metres, before returning home.  Other friends fed her and checked her medications, all painkillers.

Last Sunday, 25 Oct, Bettie said the she couldn't remember pouring a beer earlier in the day and that, with another incident, made me think that she had blacked out a couple of times.  After my walk I said that I would look in next day after having another holter monitor fitted.

Next day I got a phone call from Denise.  Bettie had had a blackout overnight and woken up in terrible state on the floor.  She had used her emergency call service to contact Denise,
 who asked me if I would call in and pick up Bella as Bettie was worried about her.  I was lucky enough to just see Bettie before she was taken off in the ambulance to Nambour Hospital where she died on Monday 2nd November, my birthday.

Bettie's little dog was seventeen and a half, deaf and nearly blind and Bettie had been advised that she would be unhappy to be re-home even with me.  Yesterday at 12.00noon I took her on her final walk with Louis around the park and dropped he off a Bettie's house where a vet was waiting to put her to sleep.  This ended a 14 year friendship.
 

Bella before her last walk with Louis