We loaded up the Little Motley and took the highway north aiming to attend the Suncoasters Chapter meeting at Lake MacDonald on the Sunshine Coast.
We needed bread and milk so we decided to stop in Cooroy. Being Friday, the town was full of parked cars and we had some trouble finding anywhere to park. I eventually found a space behind the school busses on the south side of the railway station away from the town proper. There is a baker and a newsagency on this side so we were able to satisfy our needs.
I also bought a lump of timber 200 x 75 x 1900 (8" x 3" x 4ft) to make some bigger boards to level the Motley. How I'm going to cut it up is another thing.
There was some advice that the site for the gathering, Camp Cooroora on the banks of Lake MacDonald, was not suitable for big rigs because of a difficult entry. I had decided to ignore the advice on the grounds that if you don't try you won't achieve anything. We had been here in 1999 but I couldn't remember in detail what the entry was like. I had been devising all sorts of schemes for getting myself out of impossible positions by uncoupling the trailer, moving it with its ratchet jockey wheel, turning the Motley round in a many point turn, recoupling the trailer, driving to Carters Ridge, leaving the trailer there and returning to Camp Cooroora without the encumbrance. In the event, there was no trouble at all getting in.
We set up on a fairly level site using only little boards to get the truck level. The view is right across the lake through a few trees and very pretty it is.
Happy hour was very chatty. Several people made sure we were not left out of the conversation. On the downside, I made a mistake with Jean's gin and tonic. I had forgotten that I had put gin in a tonic bottle so it turned out 50/50 and quite undrinkable. Happily there was cold beer so all was not lost.
I was up at sparrowfart to put in a few kilometres walking. I heard many birds but saw none until the last few metres when a Kingfisher flew past and perched nearby. There is a fish hatchery next door to the campsite and I guess he gets some of his food fishing in the breeding ponds.
We had to go into town to rectify the lack of tonic water. The Little Motley is really useful in circumstances such as these. I was able to get some newspapers and other items for some of the others.
The bird had been out in the rain and was showing signs of rust so I took the opportunity to get some marine varnish from the ships chandler at Noosa Harbour and painted her to prevent more deterioration. She now looks quite stunning with a beautiful coat of shiny feathers.
In the evening, we had a barbecue laid on by the chapter. The conversation was enthusiastic if a little hard to follow for those of us with ears not as good as they used to be. I was able to help out by using my prodigious voice to announce the raffle ticket winners. They are a noisy lot and needed a bit of vocal dominance to get their attention.
I did the newspaper run again today and we had a leisurely coffee in Cooroy.
Happy hour started straight after lunch and we left the others to their barbecue at sundown. Dog did his sometime trick of assembling everybody's toy animals as his entourage. The Suncoasters are certainly a happy, vocal, sociable lot. We enjoyed our weekend with them and will certainly visit them again when we are able.