FINAL LESTERVAN BLOG/Early 2020

Taking advantage of a slower pace of life right now, it seems appropriate to complete the final blog about our life in the Lestervan.  We have had an amazing four years exploring Australia in our wonderful machine and now its time for someone else to have that opportunity.

This blog will cover our travels since we returned from Arnhem Land in late September.  Even when we are not on a major expedition, we manage to have lots of fun and adventures in the Lestervan.  The festival theme has served us well and may just become a regular part of our life now.  After having a bit of time in Sydney for my OAM ceremony, we couldn’t resist popping down to Kiama for the ‘Folk by the Sea’ festival at the end of September.  Quite fun to be at a small festival (140 concerts, 52 artists) where we could easily see lots of great acts and it was possible to get one night in a caravan park at short notice.

Even closer to home was the Manly Jazz Festival in early October.  More great music by the beach, and less than half an hour from home.  Then the annual Explorer Motorhome Rally (for all the people who own the same vehicle as us) was held in Gulgong, NSW.  We enjoy meeting lots of friends there and learning more about places to go and different ways of traveling.  It was a gathering of about 100 people with common interests, so we had workshops, dinners, entertainment and did our bit to support a small local community doing it tough in the drought.  We now even have a sub-group of ukulele players, which inspires us to practice more.

On the way home we took in the Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival which was another great south coast festival with over 60 quality acts. Those little festivals, where we can park right in the festival grounds, have such a nice, accessible atmosphere.   We’re starting to have our favourite south coast performers now as we have been to so many festivals in that part of the world.  So, so sad about the devastation caused by the bushfires there.  Its always been a favourite part of the world for me with lots of great holiday memories.

In late October we ventured to Canberra to check out the new Explorer Motorhomes on display at an RV show and came home with an order for a new Explorer Motorhome, wondering “what are we doing???????”.  We enjoy the lifestyle and we love our Lestervan, so  while we can still do it, we might as well have a new one.  The Lestervan was named after my Dad and the new one will be named after my Mum.

Of course we had to take in another festival on the way home from Canberra, because it was there and we passed right by….  We took in the K Ranch/Mt Hunter Country Music Stampede.  Although they had some good artists, including our friends, The Pigs; the venue/stampede arena was not good and the acoustics were terrible.  The bonus was that we made some new friends there and got some good tips for the Tamworth Country Music Festival. The festival felt like a bit of a “seat of the pants” organisation and much smaller crowds than they were expecting.  All part of the experience.

After those various jaunts in the Lestervan, we had some nice time at home, catching up with family and friends plus pursuing new interests like climate change protests and ukulele groups.  Before we knew it, we were in the midst of Christmas celebrations.  In fact, we celebrated Christmas on 14th of December to accommodate Helen’s Xmas trip to Tasmania, where she and friends did the Three Capes Walk.

It was a bit odd celebrating early, but in some ways it took the pressure off what is generally a busy and somewhat stressful time.  Consequently we decided to attend one of the biggest and most famous festivals in the country, the Woodford Folk Festival, which starts on 26 December in Queensland.  That meant we left Sydney on 21 December and drove straight to Brisbane where we stayed with Denise & Steve, then visited Lesley and family in Mooloolaba, before spending Xmas with Pamela and Rod in Noosa. Had another Lesley catchup in Mooloolaba and got some cuddles with baby Fiona and won over Declan by giving him a tour of “the bus” (his name for the Lestervan).

Attending the Woodford Folk Festival was like entering a whole new world.  The fact that around 130,000 people gather in a 500 acre site that has been setup, in less than a month, as an ‘instant festival ground’ by  hundreds of the 2700 volunteers who make the whole festival happen; is just a small part of the story.  In fact, this festival pop-up town becomes the 67th largest town in Australia during that week.

We arrived before the official opening and had trouble finding a place to camp in what was like a giant, crowded camping area.  Eventually we got a place to park about 500 m (1/4 mile) from the festival entry gate.  That was important was we did a lot of walking or took a bus to get back and forth. The first night we came back on the bus in the dark and struggled to find the Lestervan.  More than 2000 performers and 438 events are programmed for the 20 different performance venues going from morning to late from 26 Dec – 1 Jan. Performances feature folk, rock/pop, blues/roots, speakers & ideas, circus, cabaret, comedy, dance, workshops and a children’s festival.  Woodford was an amazing feast for all the senses.  We loved it and tried to see as much as possible every day.  It was like entering a new world, where everyone was friendly and helpful; all enjoying the festival offerrings.

Although we went on our own, Gordon and Joanne joined us one day at Woodford and another day we caught up with Chris, Ros, Nicki and Emir.  I also met up with Heather, a friend from Dress for Success.  With such a smorgasbord of acts to choose from, it was great to compare notes on the various offerrings.

So glad we got to Woodford.  It was a fabulous experience and we were blessed with warm, sunny weather and perhaps a smaller crowd than normal due to the drought and the fires throughout the country.  We did our best to see as much as possible and only scratched the surface as there was so much on offer. We’d highly recommend the experience.

After Woodford we had another visit with Lesley and family, before staying with Gordon and Joanne in their new place at Tewantin.  We really enjoy our visits to the Sunshine coast as we have lots of friends to visit. Before we returned to Scarborough we caught up with Janice and John at Sunshine Beach and then Chris and Joanne in Kawana Island.  Then back to stay with Denise and Steve before our appointment at Explorer Motorhomes to review the details for our new Explorer.  We were on a mission to get home but also managed a lunch stop in Port Macquarie with Anne.

The celebration of Helen’s 30th birthday was the reason for our return home and we’re so glad we were there. It started two days after we got back with a combined party with her friend, Sami, at the Cauliflower Hotel (pub).  They had a combined 21st at my place and so glad they’ve moved on to arranging their own events now.

Of course there was another festival calling, so the day after Helen’s dinner out, we headed up to Tamworth for our second visit to the Tamworth Country Music Festival (TCMF).  This year we were booked into a caravan park and we had some new friends to catch up with.  We met Bob and Brigette at K-Ranch in October and as they are regular TCMF attendees we got lots of tips from them and also met their friends, Sue & Richard.  Not sure where we got the stamina, but most nights we were out til after midnight.  We did 8 solid days of concerts spending heaps of time in clubs and pubs (probably more than we’ve ever done before!)

We did a few paid shows, including ‘The Concert for Joy’ which celebrated the life, songs and 90th birthday of Joy McKean, wife and musical partner of Slim Dusty, as well as mother of Anne and David Kirkpatrick.  Needless to say, country music royalty were out in force performing at this concert, along with Joy’s family and Joy.  It was a great way to see over 35 of the top artists in one concert.  Also saw ‘The Patsey Cline Show’ and a Johnny Cash tribute.

On our fourth day of concerts when we were listening to music and having dinner in a restaurant, I had a ‘bad trip’.  I missed a step down and twisted my left ankle.  After two hospital visits with x-rays and a CT scan, I was told a bit of bone chipped off from my ankle and sent on my way with a moon boot.  As I could still get around, albeit with a very swollen ankle, we kept going to all the events we had planned.

Being at TCMF with most of the people around our age means constantly being reminded of how old we are (and how old we look).  There is so much variety, with over 700 performers and 2800 shows across 120 different venues.  Its hard to work out who to see and then to remember who we’ve seen over our two visits now.  With such a full on extensive program, each visit could be a totally different experience.

The final Lestervan excursion was a quick trip to the Blue Mountains Ukulele Festival on one of the rainiest weekends in NSW.  We were very keen as last year we borrowed one uke and were just getting interested in playing.  Now we both had our own ukes and a year’s worth of intermittent learning and playing. This free festival is mostly held in the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba and features 166 acts in 8 performance venues plus workshops.  The acts were great, lots of variety and some overseas performers.  Again at this festival attendances were down due to the bad storm on top of all the other natural disasters that have affected people in NSW.

Initially undeterred by the rain, we did a full day and between us saw over 20 acts and checked out two workshops. Really glad we stayed til late as we saw ‘The Blue Mugs!’ (aka the Blue Mtns Ukulele Group) who put on the festival and did a terrific performance, inside the hotel so all were warm and dry. Sunday was supposed to be a day of strumming in the marquee, but it was too stormy, wet and miserable so we headed home.  That was another adventure with road closures, delays due to land slides and fallen trees but Google maps did a good job and got us home without major delays.

THUS ENDED OUR ADVENTURES IN THE LESTERVAN !!!!! What an amazing four years!!!