Club of Friends

It took around 90 minutes for club members to arrive in the beautiful Brisbane Valley village of Esk. As each arrived, the same thing happened - they found their camp site and in the smallest time settled in and relaxed. This was rallying Gold Coast Club style.

When I made it there on the second morning of the rally, I found a club in a stunning location soaking up the beauty the valley offers, showing the world how to enjoy great company.

While most of us take something like two days, nine hours and 25 minutes after arriving to find that certain sense of calm, this club easily found their sense of tranquility. Perhaps that’s because they are a club of friends.

When it came to entertainment at Esk, this rally was a hoot. The Esk Caravan Park’s excellent camp kitchen allowed the park owners to cater dinners together with musicians to entertain them.

“The two singers came in and gave us a variety of music which had our members up dancing, singing and generally having a good time,” Ken said with a broad smile.

Although the singers performed the night before I landed at the rally, a walk around the camp kitchen soon showed me this club knew how to enjoy themselves.

There were members in the camp kitchen talking, playing cards or tiles, while others played disc bowls on the lawn outside the kitchen. Meanwhile, a small group of women at one end of the kitchen were earnestly doing intricate craft work, happy in the knowledge that at that moment nothing else mattered.

Despite their knack for relaxing and yarning, this is not a sedate club. Listening to their stories, it became clear that while they were content playing cards they were equally likely to put on a skit, do a full monty, or dress up as a celebrity. There was even one story about new Club President Kevin dressing up as a pregnant bride for a mock wedding skit.

In between cards, skits, yarning, happy hour, and touring the local area, those that wanted to take it easy could dive onto a small table full of books that they called the club’s mobile library.

That night the sleepy rural town of Esk reverberated to the pop sounds of hit 1970s pop quartet ABBA as keen costumed members revisited the band’s songs and dance moves. I reckon if Anni-Frid, Björn, Benny and Agnetha had seen it, they would have smiled saying, “Knowing me, knowing you - there is nothing that we can do.”

Then, as with every rally, the club presented its members with their most prestigious awards - the Boo Boo Boot for the one that has made the biggest fool of himself and the Stirrers Spoon for the member that has agitated others the most.

Here’s the thing: those wanting to join this club need to know that competition for these awards is fierce. This is a club that recognises good-hearted tom-foolery and applauds the effort.

As far as Ken is concerned, the idea of finding social opportunities like rallies was what belonging to a club was all about. “It is the social aspect of it. I mean, most of us know how to caravan,” Ken said, “but there is always someone with problems.” With that he pointed to another member with a gaggle of others around his car removing a broken fuel filter.

“Put a bonnet up and they come out of the wood work with advice and help,” another member said joining in on our conversation. Then, briefly the chat turned to roads they had travelled including, according to Kevin, those on which you “had to travel so slow you were in reverse.”

Ken took up the theme, explaining that, “We’ve got a gentleman in our club that was one of the first to get a GPS. He now has the nickname U-turn Neville because even with a GPS this man can get lost - on a straight road.”

That set the tone for a swag of others to make points like, “you are always learning when you’re caravanning,” and “there is always someone that knows something about something you need or has a good idea.”

During a rare serious moment Ken added that their club was not so much a club as a close knit community that includes their own welfare officer who “keeps tabs on people in case they are in hospital or need help. We all get advised and go and visit them - give them a get-well card or whatever.”

That hit on another club rally ritual - the club makes and leaves their trauma teddies at local hospitals near their rally venue. Trauma teddies are small handmade teddy bears the women of the club produce then leave them for sick children of the town in which they are rallying. Esk was no exception.

Snuggled amongst the teddies, Trauma Teddy maker Sally came away from her card game and coyly said, ”If you leave a couple in the bag they multiply themselves,” as she showed off the collection made at Esk.

In what seemed to be his typically dry humour Kevin reckoned that, “There is only one thing wrong with the club - they are a hell of a good lot.”

Want to join?

Contact goldcoastcaravanclub@gmail.com for more info!