Yarraman Muster Roundup - July 2010 CHRISTMAS IN ...

The weather at Yarraman was perfect for a “Christmas in July”.

Right up until Monday the days were mild, as were the nights, but with the mild temperatures came some misty rain.

On Monday we experienced freezing cold westerly winds, as did most of the east coast of Australia, and the night time temperature plummeted.

None of this deterred our merry band of revellers who made the most of the wonderful “Club Room” at the Yarra-man Caravan Park at happy hour, meal times, and games times.

By Friday night all Fraser Coasters and visiting “friends” were all comfortably set up, and ready to party after sharing a meal together.

In addition to our “Usual Suspects” it was a pleasure to have the company of brand new Brisbane based ACC mem-bers, Wayne & Glenys Price, who joined the ACC at the recent Brisbane Caravan Show, plus Bob & Fay Willis who attended our Mount Perry Muster, then promptly joined the ACC and our branch. It was good to see Branch Treasurer John Coles and wife Pam back home safe and sound after their recent trip...we missed their smiling faces.

Joining us for the very first time as visitors were Hervey Bay locals Ron & Leonie Brown...we really enjoyed their company and hope to see them both again soon at another muster.

Our Social Activities Co-ordinator, Naomi Bennett, did a terrific job again, and we all participated in two games of Trivia, followed by Naomi’s latest, “The

Yarraman Muster Roundup - July 2010

CHRISTMAS IN JULYCHRISTMAS IN JULYCHRISTMAS IN JULYCHRISTMAS IN JULY

“The Nomadic Whale”

The Official Newsletter of the ACC Fraser Coasters

July 2010

Issue 4

the distance.

The cold misty rain eventually drove us indoors where John continued his talk on Bethany, and his late father, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and Sir Joh’s life experi-ences

John’s talk took place in what was once a Queensland Police office at Bethany, as the police were rostered on at Bethany during the latter years of Sir Joh’s time as Queensland Premier due to the number of death threats he received.

This room is now filled with Sir Joh’s and Lady Flo’s memorabilia, which we all found both extremely interesting and fas-cinating.

Many of the stories told by John about his father were really funny, and many were about his parents wonderful life achieve-ments.

Joke of the Weekend Competition” where we were all encouraged to tell some of our favourite jokes in the hope of winning a small prize. Well once Naomi got them started, some were a little shy, she could-n’t stop them, and the jokes went on for ages, and some got a little bawdy as the night wore on.

At 9.00 on Saturday morning we all as-sembled at the “Club Room” ready for a Tag-A-Long out to Bethany, the Bjelke-Petersen property just outside Kingaroy, where we’d booked a guided tour of the property with John Bjelke-Petersen, fol-lowed by Lady Flo’s famous pumpkin scone recipe, with the scones made by John’s wife Karyn these days.

John showed us around Bethany, taking us to the highest point around the area where, under normal circumstances, you can see the Bunya Mountains off in

Continued on Page 2

ACC Fraser Coasters and friends at “Bethany” with John Bjelke-Petersen, July 2010

Some of us paid our respects to Sir Joh by visiting his grave at Bethany, and most of us chatted to Lady Flo, who still lives at Bethany and made an appearance to chat with us and sign and sell some of her many books.

She turns ninety on the 9th August, and all the family will be home the following weekend to celebrate with her.

She certainly doesn’t show her years, still plays a very active part in the local community, and is as sharp as a tack with a humorous quick wit...what a wonderful lady!

This visit to Bethany was a real highlight of the weekend, and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

After our branch meeting on Saturday afternoon Naomi and her band of willing helpers decorated the “Club Room” and the tables with Christmas decorations in readiness for our “Christmas in July” dinner that night, and did a fantastic job.

The dinner was catered by Yarraman Caravan Park owners, Lee & Pam Evans, who did a terrific job as usual, and there was sufficient food for seconds, plus a home made Christmas pudding made by Pam...yummy!

After dinner “Santa” paid us a visit and handed out gifts to everyone, insisting that both men and women sat on his lap before he gave out their present...if nothing else this was “entertaining”.

After this Naomi and Eion, AKA Santa, put on numerous games of Hoy, which we were introduced to at our last muster at Mount Perry, and again everyone had a great time.

After being introduced to Hoy at the Mount Perry Muster, and falling in love with the game, Naomi and Eion went out and bought all the necessary bits and pieces to make up a set of Hoy for everyone’s enjoyment<thanks Naomi and Eion!

The caravan park was quiet on Sunday morning, no doubt due to “BIG” night before, plus park owners Lee & Pam had told those leaving on the Sunday that they could have a later

Yarraman Muster Roundup - July 2010 Continued from Page 1

ACC Fraser Coasters Office Bearers

and Committee Contact Details

Branch Office Bearers:

President: John Balding - Phone: (07) 4124 9275. Mobile phone: 0415 272376

Email address: [email protected]

Secretary: Ros Kitchen - Phone: (07) 4128 0993. Mobile phone: 0412 008822


Treasurer: John Coles - Phone: (07) 4125 4693. Mobile phone: 0416 060486


All Correspondence To: The Secretary, 22 Desmond Drive, Toogoom. Q 4655

Branch Committee Positions:

Newsletter Editor/Publicity Officer: John Balding - Phone: (07) 4124 9275. Mobile phone: 0415 272376. Email address: [email protected]

Social Activities Co-ordinator: Naomi Bennett - Phone: (07) 4123 6944. Mobile phone: 0407 971738


check out time than normal, which was most welcome.

After farewelling the Sunday leavers those remaining sat around the Club Room for the rest of the day “shooting the breeze”, then assembling for another happy hour, and shar-ing another meal together.

Everyone is now looking forward to our next muster, which will be at Barambah Bush Caravan Park near Murgon, and the highlight of that will be the Tuscan Feast at Moffatdale Ridge Winery on the Sunday<.see you all there.

Proposed Muster Dates For 2011

During our branch meeting on Saturday afternoon one of the topics that came under discussion was holding an additional two musters per year...that is going from six musters to eight musters per year, or a muster every six weeks or so instead of the current eight weeks.

The decision to go ahead with this idea was unanimous, and Branch President John Balding will submit a list of proposed muster dates the ACC Board for their approval.

Here are the proposed muster dates for your information.

January Friday 28th to Sunday 30th

March Friday 11th to Sunday 13th

April Friday 29th to Sunday 1st May (Labour Day Public Holi-day)

June Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th

July Friday 15th to Sunday 17th

August Friday 26th to Sunday 28th

October Friday 7th to Sunday 9th

November Friday 18th to Sunday 20th

Check out Page 4 for details of the ACC Fraser Coasters September 2010 Muster being held at Barambah Bush Caravan

Park, Friday September 24th to Monday 27th inclusive.

From The Editor’s Desk

ACC Fraser Coasters Office Bearers

G’day Fraser Coasters ‘n’ friends,

The Yarraman muster was a real hoot, and, if it’s at all possible, our musters just seem to get better and better. No doubt part of that’s due to the fact that friend-ships have blossomed, and we’re all get-ting to know one another better each time.

If you check out Page 8 you will notice that I’ve started a new technical section titled “Caravan Servicing Hints & Tips”, and in this edition I’ve covered the age of tyres. Please let me know if this type of thing is of interest to you, and if it is I’ll feature something different of a technical nature in each edi-tion, if it’s not of interest, then I’ll drop it completely.

Some time ago I emailed all members asking for their birth-days and wedding anniversary dates, but only a few have replied so far.

On Page 6 I’ve chronologically recognised the members birth-days and wedding anniversaries who have sent in their dates, and if you’d like your birthday or wedding anniversary in-cluded in future newsletters just email the details to me.

You will also notice on Page 5 that Bev and I are featured in the “In the Spotlight” section in this edition of the “Coasters” newsletter. This concludes the bios for all the “Coasters Com-mittee”, so we’ll start working our way through the members in our next newsletter...so please get your bio to me soon.

These members profiles are a great way for members to get to know one another. Hopefully, with your support, this sec-tion will be a regular feature in this newsletter.

So please send your profile to me via email at

[email protected] and try and keep them to around 600 to 700 words if possible, plus a current high resolution photo of yourselves...if you need a hand to word it or set it out, just let me know.

This is your newsletter, and your contributions will be grate-fully received, be they recipes, travels tales, or yarns, or whatever.

During our branch meeting at Yarraman new member Fay Willis asked if we could produce a list of branch members, complete with email addresses and mobile phone numbers, in case members wish to get in touch with one another. This is a great idea, and in the near future I’ll be emailing all mem-bers for their permission to list their name and contact details. Permission is required under privacy laws, and if you don’t wish to have your details listed, then mention that in your email of reply.

Cheers,

John Balding - Q00024

Newsletter Article Deadline

With the exception of muster related news items, the deadline for all other articles and items will be one week prior to each advertised muster commencement date.

Muster related news articles and items will need to be received no later than three days after the completion of each muster.

All photos need to be high resolution Jpegs, and at least 500 kb to be effective...bigger is better.

All articles and photos for inclusion in this newsletter can be emailed to me at [email protected]

ACC Fraser Coasters

November 2010 Muster

Esk Caravan Park

Friday 26th to Sunday 28th inclusive.

We’ve approached the management, at the Esk Caravan Park, Erik and Isabel, and asked them to hold up to twelve powered sites adjacent to the large camp kitchen area, where they put the caravan clubs anyway.

If, towards the time of the muster, we find that this is not enough sites I’m sure that they’ll squeeze in another few sites for us.

As this will be our last muster for 2010, and our branch AGM, we’ll celebrate the

end of our first year by having a Christmas theme, and park owner, Mick, who is also a qualified chef, will be doing the catering for our Christmas Dinner.

Like all the other muster locations we’ve chosen and visited this year, Esk is pet friendly, however when you book you need to tell them about your pet so they can locate in the pet designated area.

Check out their website http://www.valleyoflakes.com.au/

Facilities at the Esk Caravan Park include: Well appointed camp kitchen area, suitable for holding meetings and “Happy Hour”, clean amenities, laundry facilities, dump point, Ensuite sites, close to shops and hotels.

Please make your site booking now by phoning the managers Erik & Isabel on 5424 1466, or email them at [email protected] and don’t forget to emphasise that you’re with the ACC Fraser Coasters as there’s another ACC branch holding a muster there the weekend after our mus-ter...powered site rates are $22.00 per night.

Please advise John Balding, at [email protected] or 4124 9275 once you’ve made your booking with Erik or Isabel, plus your arrival and departure dates so that John can keep accurate records of attendance numbers.

How Do You Tell The Sex Of A Fly?

A woman walked into her kitchen to find her husband stalking around with a fly swatter.

“What are you doing?”, she asked.

“Hunting flies.”, he responded.

“Oh, have you killed any?”, she asked.

“Yep, 3 males and 2 females.”, he replied.

Intrigued, she asked, “How can you tell them apart?”

“It’s easy”, he responded, “3 were on a beer can, and 2 were on the phone.”

ACC Fraser Coasters 2010 Muster Calendar

September: Friday 24th to Monday 27th 2010 inclusive - Venue Barambah Bush Caravan Park (School Holidays) Highlight will be Tuscan Feast at Moffatdale Ridge Winery...see below for more details.

October: Tuesday 5th to Tuesday 12th 2010 inclusive- 2010 ACC National Muster and AGM - Venue Maryborough Park (Show Ground). This event is being hosted by the ACC Wide Bay Burnett Nomads.

November: Friday 26th to Sunday 28th 2010 inclusive- Venue Esk Caravan Park...see Page 3 for more details (Christmas Theme and branch AGM)

To avoid disappointment, please enter these venues and dates in your 2010 Diary!

ACC Fraser Coasters September 2010 Muster

Barambah Bush Caravan Park

Friday 24th to Monday 27th Inclusive.

Barambah Bush Caravan Park is the venue for our September Muster, and the main weekend highlight will be the Tuscan Feast at the Moffatdale Ridge Winery on Sunday 26th September.

Bookings for the Moffatdale Ridge Winery Tuscan Feast are essential, and anyone who hasn’t booked by now will probably have missed out as all seats will no doubt have been sold, but you can try.

I did send out numerous emails months ago recommending that bookings for the Tuscan Feast be made before the end of April, and gave details of how to make those bookings.

Anyone who wishes to attend the muster and hasn’t made a booking for the Tuscan Feast should not despair as an alternate activity can be arranged for you, if you wish<there is lots to see and do in and around the area.

You’ll still need to book your own powered site at Barambah Bush Caravan Park by phoning Judy on 4168 1085.

As September is a busy period for them, sites will be allocated on a first in, first served ba-sis<don’t forget to mention that you’re with the ACC Fraser Coasters. Check out their website at http://www.barambahbush.com.au

Powered site rates for clubs: $20.00 per night, per couple, or $120.00 per couple per week.

The park has modern spacious amenities, laundry facilities, two camp kitchens, a fire pit, a club room, and a dump point. If you’d like to bring a pet please mention this to Judy at the time you make your booking.

Once you’ve made your booking with Judy can you please let me know by emailing me at [email protected] or by phon-ing me on 4124 9275 as I need to keep a record of attendees.

A weekend Itinerary will be emailed to all attending members and friends prior to the muster.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Stop Press: Ros recently had an email from the ACC Southern Highlanders letting us know that a group of their members on a Tag-A-Long Tour to the ACC National Muster in Maryborough will be staying at the Barambah Bush Caravan Park at the same time that we are, and they’re also booked in for the Tuscan Feast.

This will be a great opportunity to meet and mingle with other ACC branch members.

Welcome!

A BIG WELCOME to our newest branch members Bob & Fay Willis from Point Vernon, and Malcolm & Annette Oldfield from Torquay...it’s great to have you aboard and we look forward to your company at future musters.

Get Well Soon! Peter & Lyn Pitt, and Malcolm & Annette Oldfield unfortunately missed our Yarraman muster due to some health related prob-lems.

Lyn was suffering with the dreaded shingles, and Malcolm was recovering from minor surgery...get well soon, and we hope to see you all again at our Barambah muster at the end of September.

“In the Spotlight”

John & Bev Balding - Q00024

Bev and I met on the internet in Decem-ber 2000. Bev lived in Glenmore Park, near Penrith NSW, and I lived in Toowoomba, Queensland.

We chatted everyday on the internet, then on the phone, and finally met face

to face in January 2001 when I made the trip by road to Pen-rith.

I returned to Toowoomba a week or so after our meeting know-ing that I’d just met my soul mate, and, as I had retired and Bev was still in the workforce, I set about getting things in order and eventually selling my unit so I could return to Penrith and be with Bev forever.

We lived together in Penrith until the beginning of June 2002, when Bev retired from the workforce; we were married, and made the move to Hervey Bay all within a week.

We’d both caravanned in our previous lives, so not long after we got together we bought a new Cub Camper Trailer from the Sydney Caravan Show, but after using it just once realised that it was not for us as we missed the convenience of a caravan, and we sold it a couple of months later for what we paid for it.

Whilst we were waiting to sell the Cub Camper Trailer we pur-chased a new 11’6” rear entry Empress caravan, which we used as often as we could at week-ends whilst Bev was still at work. The reason for getting such a small caravan was we were lim-ited with parking space at Bev’s place in Sydney.

After the move to Hervey Bay in June 2002 we lived in that little van for seven weeks at Austra-liana Village Caravan Park on Boat Harbour Drive whilst our new home was being completed, then traded it in on a new 16’10”Jayco Freedom once we’d moved to the new home at Eli Waters.

Some years later we sold that caravan, and were without a caravan for a short time.

After a few years we realised that our home at Eli Waters was just too big for us and we were having trouble keeping up with the maintenance, like mowing lawns and caring for the gar-dens, so it was time to sell the house and downsize to a retire-ment village.

Before doing that we decided to do a trip around Australia by car while our health held out, staying in caravan park cabins and the like, which we did and really enjoyed. This was my second trip around Oz, as I’d done it before in ’98 for seven months before I’d met Bev.

We got as far as Perth WA, joined the dark side and bought a second hand motor home<that didn’t suit us at all, and we sold that too and bought a new Hyundai Santa Fe in Esperance WA to finish our trip in.

After we returned home we bought another new Jayco Free-dom, slightly smaller than the first one we owned, that matched up perfectly with our Hyundai Santa Fe.

In December 2004 we sold our home in Eli Waters, bought a

much smaller home in Torquay Waters Village, where garden maintenance etc is done for us, and we have the extra secu-rity of living in a gated community, which is ideal for the times we go away.

In May 2007 we traded the Jayco Freedom in and bought a new Jayco Sterling, which had all the bells and whistles we’d always wanted, including a shower and toilet. This was going to be our last caravan as we figured it would last us out until the time that our health issues would prevent us from cara-vanning any more.

This meant selling our Hyundai Santa Fe as it was too small, and we bought a BA Falcon Wagon, which did the job admi-rably.

In March 2009 Bev became really ill, and at that time it looked like our caravanning days were going to be over for-ever, so we reluctantly made the decision to sell the caravan, and any trips we did in the future, or ACC musters we at-tended, we’d now stay in cabins.

We sold the BA Falcon Wagon too, and bought a new Kia Sportage V6, four wheel drive.

We joined the Australian Cara-van Club in December 2006, not long after it was first launched. Since then, with Bev’s help, I’ve been instrumental in the forma-tion of the ACC Wide Bay Bur-nett Nomads Branch, taking on the role of Branch President and Newsletter Editor for the first twelve months. Then I helped to get the ACC Moreton Bay Drift-ers Branch up and running, tak-ing on the role as their Newslet-ter Editor for twelve months,

and more recently launching the ACC Fraser Coasters, tak-ing on the roles of Branch President and Newsletter Editor, both of which I enjoy immensely.

In September last year Bev’s health had improved marginally and we made the decision to buy the little twenty two year old Viscount Nipper we currently own, just so we could at-tend ACC musters as that’s the only caravanning we’re capa-ble of these days.

We can’t complain as since we’ve been together we’ve man-aged one trip around Australia, we’ve travelled extensively throughout Queensland, from one end of the state to the other, and all points in between<I especially love Western Queensland and Northern Australia.

We’ve visited Tasmania, and every other state and territory for that matter, and have some wonderful travel memories to draw on.

John Balding - Q00024

Editor’s Note: “In The Spotlight” bios are a great way for members to get to know one another, and hopefully with your support will be a regular feature in this newsletter.

So please send yours to the newsletter editor, John Balding, via email at [email protected] and try and keep them to around 700 to 800 words if possible, plus a current high resolution photo of yourselves...if you need a hand to set it out, just let me know.

Fraser Coasters Branch News Notice Board

Barambah Bush

Caravan Park Muster

Duty Roster - September 2010

RFDS Raffle organiser - Pam Coles

Trivia host - Ros Kitchen

Pre - loved book sales in aid of the RFDS - Eion Bennett

Boule/Bocce co-ordinator - Rod Swanson

Hoy - Eion & Naomi Bennett

Guessing Competition - John & Bev Balding

Branch Raffle Prize

Donations

At the inaugural ACC Fraser Coasters muster branch meet-ing it was decided that the branch would hold raffles at each muster in accordance with ACC raffles guidelines, and any money raised would be placed in the branch bank account and at the end of each year this money would be donated to our charity of choice, the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

In order for these raffles to be a success, there needs to be prizes, and someone to purchase the raffle tickets, so branch members are being encouraged to donate suitable prizes towards the raffles, or purchase raffle tickets, or both if they are that way inclined.

These raffles are a lot of fun, and money raising at branch level to support a charity such as the RFDS is very worth-while, so please try and help out where and if you can...just bring your raffle prize dona-tions, and or your money, along to each muster...all the more, the merrier.

Bring A Friend Along

If you have caravanning friends you would like to bring along to a muster as visitors, by all means

invite them.

Visitors can attend two musters before making a commit-ment whether to join the ACC and our branch or not, and they will always be made most welcome at ACC musters, however they must realise that they are not covered by ACC’s insur-ance whilst attending the muster.

Just contact John Balding or Ros Kitchen with your friend’s details, or have them contact John or Ros direct.

ACC Fraser Coasters

Photobucket Account

Don’t forget that a Photobucket Account has now been set up for the use of all ACC Fraser Coasters members.

This can be accessed by using the following account details:

http://photobucket.com User Name: ACCFraserCoasters (case sensitive), or email address [email protected]

If you wish to post your photos to this account you need to log on with the following password: coasters (case sensitive)

To date sub-albums have been created for the following photo categories: General, Members Rigs, the Inaugural Muster at Gin Gin in February, the Standown Park Muster in March, the Mount Perry Muster in May, and the Yarraman Muster in July.

Change of Email Address

Please note that the Baldings now have a new email address, which is [email protected]

It's very similar our previous email address, just minus a dot, so don’t be confused.

Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday!Happy Birthday! John Coles - 6th July

Happy Wedding Happy Wedding Happy Wedding Happy Wedding

Anniversary!Anniversary!Anniversary!Anniversary! Bob & Fay Willis - 14th August

John & Pam Coles - 24th August

“Joke of the Weekend”

Competition

Naomi Bennett has come up with another great idea, that is the “Joke of the Weekend” competition.

Polish up your favourite joke and present it at a muster...if your joke gets the most laughter, you’ll win a small prize.

ACC Fraser Coasters & Friends @ Play!

Lady Flo at Bethany

OK, who ate all the pumpkin scones?

Sir Joh’s grave at Bethany

Ros, Rod & Bev - Christmas Trivia winners

Ros & Rod - Trivia winners

Aged Tyres- Beware Your Spare There is some evidence to suggest that aged tyres have an increased likelihood of failure due to exposure to the environment. Ideally tyres should be kept in a cool, dry environment out of direct sunlight and away from electric motors or other sources of ozone. If these conditions are not met a tyre may have an increased chance of failure. It is for this reason that many tyre manu-facturers recommend including full size spare tyres in the rotation schedule.

How do I tell the age of a tyre? All tyres are produced with a serial Tyre Identification Number (or serial TIN) that shows the date of manufacture of a tyre (See Figure 1&2 below). The last three digits (for tyres made pre 2000) or four digits (for post 2000 tyres) of the serial TIN indicate the week and year that the tyre was made. For example, Figure 1 below shows a tyre made in the 37th week of 1995 and Figure 2 shows a tyre made in the 12th week of 2004. Also a tyre made in the 1990's can be distinguished from a tyre made in the 1980's due to a triangular indentation after the last number which is not present on 1980's tyres.

Figure 1: Serial code for 37th week of 1995 Figure 2: Serial code for 12th week of 2004

How old is too old? This is a subject of much debate within the tyre industry and no tyre expert can tell exactly how long a tyre will last. However, on the results of experience many tyre companies warrant their tyres against manufacturing and material defects for five years from the date of manufacture. Based on their understanding a number of vehicle manufacturers are now advising against the use of tyres that are more than six years old due to the effects of ageing.

Tyre Ageing Mechanism There are three main mechanisms of tyre ageing. The first involves rubber becoming more brittle. Sulphur is used to link rubber molecules together during vulcanisation with the application of heat and pressure, giving the rubber its useful elastic properties and strength. As the tyre absorbs energy in the form of light, heat or movement the tyre continues to vulcanise. This ongoing vulcanisation causes the rubber to become stiffer and more brittle. The second mechanism of tyre ageing is oxidation involving oxygen and ozone from the air compromising the strength and elas-ticity of the rubber and the integrity of the rubber to steel bond. Basically heat and oxygen cause cross linking between polymer chains (causing the rubber to harden) and scission of polymer chains (leading to reduced elasticity). Thirdly, breakdown of the rubber to steel-belt bond will occur due to water permeating through a tyre and bonding with the brass plate coating on steel belts. This causes the steel to rubber bond to weaken leading to reduced tyre strength and reduced heat resistance. If compressed air used for inflation is not completely dry, tyre strength will be affected over time. Even unused tyres will become more brittle, weaker and less elastic with exposure to water, air, heat and sunlight.

Warning signs Regardless of their age tyres should be replaced if they show significant crazing or cracking in the tread grooves or sidewall (Figure 3&4) and or bulging of the tread face or sidewall. All tyres, especially unused spare tyres, should be inspected periodi-cally to determine their suitability for service. If there is any question about a tyre's suitability please consult your local tyre expert.

Figure 3: Sidewall cracking due to environmental exposure to oxygen, heat and sunlight.

Figure 4: Tread cracking due to environmental exposure to oxygen, heat and sunlight.

Please Note: This information comes to you with the courtesy of Bridgestone Tyres.

Caravanning Servicing Hints & Tips

Yarraman Muster Roundup - July 2010 CHRISTMAS IN ...

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