Sunday 6 November 2016

Kenilworth Bluff Campground - May 2016

Friday 20th May, 2016

This weekend we are off to a fairly new campground at Kenilworth, by the name of Bluff Creek Campground/Kenilworth Bluff Campground which is situated on the Mary River - bonus!  We have most of the usual suspect camping this weekend - David & Tracy, Maureen, Razzle & Doreen and their pooch Zara and of course ourselves & Boris.

Maureen is travelling in Dave & Tracy's car again this weekend and we'll pick them up on the Bruce Highway around Nambour to head off together for the Bluff Campground.  We take Exit 224 off the highway to head toward the Kenilworth area (roads a very familiar out here to us now.....).  It's all bitumen roads out to the campground and there is not alot of traffic on the roads today.


I know it's just a road

It's a pretty road though

Oh look, traffic.......
I said bitumen all the way didn't I.....
Can't get lost with all
those navigation aides
right......

right we have managed to find the back road to the campground and yep it's dirt and hilly - go figure!  Time to get here is only going to be about 45 minutes, how cool is that (smallest time on the road, more time camping!)

Arriving about 3.45pm we followed the well maintained dirt driveway for about 800m along the ridge looking down on the very pleasant campground below.  
We are here


driveway

I know it's wobbly but
looking down on part of the
campground.

Pulled up at the office (which is in the shed just so you know), to be greeted by a beautiful, friendly little red cattle dog pup named Rusty and our friendly & hospitable hosts Vickie & Karl. Check in was busy & confusing due to our group talking to much and boys pointing at the campsite map.  We also let them know there was still one more vehicle joining us today, which Vickie replied they can come down in the morning and fix us up - very nice.  Karl was lovely and kindly offered to show us a campsite on the creek to see if it would accommodate our group, then suggested a site up on the ridge overlooking the whole campground (there was a little bit of discussion on the creek side site and how close we were to the neighbours - this was more about our loud laughing then proximity), so up the ridge to have a look at that one.  Well didn't take too long for us to all agree this was the spot.  Karl was even more accommodating and offered to bring up our bags of firewood for us and check the toilet supplies etc.
some of the view from the campsite

the last of our arrivals

Setting up

Looking toward the toilet

Looking over the campground
Sunset colours
more sunset colours

As you can imagine nibbles & drinks were the first call once everyone was setup and of course a campfire.


Relaxing

The normal events unfolded during the evening - cooking our dinners, drinks, spilling red wine on ones jeans so adding white wine to get the red wine out, laughing, drinks, mimicking the dog.... you know normal stuff you do around camp......


Dave doesn't have a pair
of crocs on - that's a first
You Da Man Dave!

Red wine spillage

Assembling dinner

another dinner getting organised
That there is mischief in the making

Dogs rugged up for the cold night


They were picking on Zara's big ears

Poor Zara - she's nice and warm though
Saturday 21st May, 2016

We were greeted by an absolutely gorgeous blue sky this morning and when looking across the campground and Mary River below, it made for a splendid view - something to make you smile, take a deep breath and just feel relaxed.


Splendid


So pretty

Even Boris is loving it!
Craig got up earlier this morning to catch the sunrise, he did a great job I think:



















The boys decided to get some exercise on the bike, which didn't last very long.  Instead moving onto an early game of bocce around the campsite.  I tell a little lie, the boys actually went for a walk around the campground before we did.


We girls on the other hand, decided it was time to take Boris and go for a walk around the campground.  Took some photos of the camping area.  


Looking up at our campsite




Office







 There are so many campsites to choose from, you never need to camp on top of anyone and it's nice and grassy. Toilets are scattered around the grounds and of course you can have a campfire.














Amenities Block with hot showers
& toilets












Of course there were afternoon nibbles, a fire to get going for our spit roasts that we are having for dinner (chicken with homemade garlic butter & coriander put under the skin and lemons & coriander stuffed inside and also a leg of lamb).  We started getting some clouds coming over this afternoon, so we might be in for a bit of rain later.


Waiting to be lite




And we're off.
Dave was on bread duty and while he was kneading his dough he didn't notice at first that Boris had taken quite an interest in what he was doing.....




Getting ready

Nibbles


Meat is on.









Now you remember I mentioned those clouds earlier, well by 5.15pm the sky had turned black and we could see the rain coming.  





The rain will not stop our spit dinner:


We'll just move the pergola over the fire

Not looking nice



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And the bread smells & looks awesome  and the skies are clearing!
And the skies are clearing
The 3 boys just add up to trouble if you leave them idle for a little bit of time:





And dinner is ready:





Served with roast veg & gravy







The usual after dinner gather around the campfire for a while, but no dessert this time (That's another story)  

Sunday 22nd May, 2016

We awoke to an overcast sky this morning, but that didn't dampened the mood of camp or detract from the beauty of the valley.



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We of course did the communal breakfast over the fire, consisting of eggs, bacon, tomatoes, haloumi, mushrooms and toast.  It was all well received into our bellies as usual.



Chopping firewood for
breakfast cookup



Packed up and of course we called into the Kenilworth Cheese Factory and had an ice cream.  From there we headed off toward Little Yabba Park to have a picnic type lunch and so the boys could have one more game of Bocce.

And that's another weekend camp wrapped up.




In Summary
An absolutely great campground to stay at.  very lovely park, nice and grassy, loads of space and different spots to camp, lovely river for swimming, fishing and relaxing by. Facilities are clean and even the port-a-loos scattered around the grounds have hand soap, air freshener & plenty of toilet paper.  Off the hook friendly & helpful Hosts.  

Kenilworth Bluff Campground:

Cost:  $12.00 Per person/Per night
Pet Friendly:  Yes.  
Facilities:  Grassy sites, hot showers & flushing toilets, campfires, firewood available to purchase, river, swimming, fishing, 
Website:  Kenilworth Bluff Campground

Would we go again: Absolutely, we thoroughly enjoyed our weekend there.