After the ACC Sydney City Slicker Christmas muster at Berry last year, the intention had been to hold the 2016 Christmas muster at Kiama but those plans had to be abandoned when a reasonable tariff could not be negotiated with the Kiama Big4 Caravan Park. Additionally, the intended venue was not pet friendly. Having visited the caravan park at Budgewoi in the past, it was decided to head north for the 2016 Christmas muster.
On Wednesday morning and in bright sunny weather, we waited for the Sydney morning peak hour to pass and for the locals to deliver children to school, before we left our driveway. We had arranged our exit with a neighbour and fortunately our street was relatively free of traffic so our departure was without any issues.
The drive north was uneventful and our late departure ensured that we only encountered light traffic.
We arrived at our destination, the Budgewoi Holiday Park just after 11:00am and were soon located on our allocated site. “He” completed our setup relatively quickly and we then headed to the local Coles Supermarket where we made arrangements to purchase sausages on Friday for a planned sausage sizzle in the evening. We were the hosts for the muster.
Even though the muster was scheduled to start on Thursday, several other members of our group had arrived before us.
Not long after we returned from Coles, our friends, who were our co-hosts arrived. Fortunately they were able to setup in the dry.
Later in the afternoon, we were greeted by a thunderstorm with the weather forecast indicating that more of the same could be expected over coming days. Fortunately, the forecast was wrong and we would enjoy wonderful weather for the duration of the muster. In fact, the weather was so good that all activities were enjoyed under the shelter of trees adjacent to our camp sites.
On Thursday morning “He” took his new toy, a kayak, and with one of our friends, paddled in the adjacent lake for about an hour. The kayak performed very well but a leak in the bladder (it is an inflatable) was discovered upon his return. Unfortunately the fix applied to the leak did not work so the kayak will have to be returned when we return home.
The majority of our members arrived on Thursday so we shared our first happy hour on the grass close to our campsites. All of our group was located within 100m of each other. Happy hour was preceded with games with a game new to the branch, disc bowls, being introduced.
Following the evening communal meal, the group was subjected to the torture of a trivia night. There was a collective thought that the questions were a little too hard as the best score out of 50 was from a group called Quins with 21.5 points. Other scores recorded on the night are best left in our shredder.
Whilst at Budgewoi the group participated in disc bowls, Finska and ladder golf. Finska proved to be challenging with several games taking so long to complete that thought was given to obtaining lights to allow the game to be finished.
Friday night saw the branch enjoy a sausage sizzle which was followed by very soft ice creams. By all reports, the evening was enjoyed by everyone.
We held our AGM on Saturday afternoon (under the trees) and saw a change in our committee with a new President being elected, a new treasurer and a new muster coordinator.
Saturday evening saw us head to the Hotel Budgewoi and to a restaurant called “Y & B Fusion Cookery”. Originally we had planned to use the hotel for our meal but the intended venue on the first floor was sub-let during the year and we were not informed. The owners of “Y & B Fusion Cookery” came to the party with a suitable menu and at a reasonable cost. We were provided with meal options consisting of beef, fish or chicken for mains and several choices for dessert. They even threw in bread rolls that were baked on the premises and then coffee for those who remained after the meal.
Overall the evening meal was considered a success with only a couple of problems encountered. We were looked after very well at the restaurant and it would be fair to say that the evening was very enjoyable.
After our meal, we returned to the camp site where judging of Christmas lights took place.
On Sunday, we were presented with some threatening clouds but fortunately they did not deliver any rain. Santa paid us a visit and presents were distributed to those who attended. We finished Sunday with further games before the group enjoyed happy hour and a communal dinner.
Overall 59 Slickers in 31 vehicles attended the 2016 Christmas Muster with another couple joining for dinner on Saturday evening and the visit by Santa on Sunday. From expenditures sheets given to us, our branch managed to spend a minimum of $9,600 in the area.
Most of the group left on Monday and following their departure, with our friends we drove to Blue Haven to look at a couple of properties we had owned many years ago. We had fish and chips at Budgewoi for lunch before returning to our campsite for some late afternoon games and another communal dinner.
We packed up on Tuesday morning, in the dry and had a quick an uneventful trip home.