Kenilworth Homestead

Friday 28th February, 2014.

Decided Thursday morning we'd definitely head off camping this weekend, we're overdue.  Now to decide where to go......  Kenilworth Homestead sounds good, it ticks all the boxes:  we haven't been there, dogs are allowed, campfires are allowed, it's close since we're not going to leave until after 5pm Friday, there's grass to camp on and a river to play in.

Due to the rain squalls coming through today and the fact the camper was open up at the shed and the canvas now wet, we were thinking of leaving first thing tomorrow morning instead...... as usual Craig decided to load the camper on and we'd head off tonight regardless.  Just as well I'd kept getting everything ready that we needed to pack into the camper.  He arrived home close to 5.30pm and promptly got on the phone, so it was up to me to pack everything into the camper so we could get going.  On the road around 6pm heading for Kenilworth.  This would be the latest we've ever left to go camping.

Was a nice drive out to the Homestead, although you couldn't see as much travelling in the dark!   The Hema GPS got the directions right, but we couldn't pull up quick enough to turn into the driveway and we had a few cars behind us, so Craig went down the road a smidge and turned around. 

Welcome to Kenilworth Homestead



Beautiful long driveway lined by grass,
it gives you a really welcoming feeling
and very tranquil sense on arrival

Beautiful long driveway lined both sides with grass and rustic fencing.  As we come up to the homestead we can see what looks like beautiful old buildings, but we'll look at those in the daylight tomorrow for right now we need to negotiate our way in the dark to find a campsite and we've got no idea where we're going!

 

The Barn (you can hire it
for shin-digs, how cool!)

Another oldish looking shed

Old Timber Hut

The Office

We've arrived about 6.45pm ish and we head through the "paddock" campgrounds toward the next area where you can camp by the Mary River.  The campgrounds are alive with activity - kids running around playing in the dark, campfires going, people walking around, laughing & chatting.  We're trying not to use our lights too much so we don't disturb everyone, but we have to switch them on here and there to have a look around on the track and at the campsites.  Found a large gap between some other campers looking over the Mary River with a campfire, so decide that's us.  Jumped out to discuss which way to park and open up the camper, stood on the spot for Craig to line up the back of the camper and that's it, we've officially arrived.  Opened up the camper, got a cold ale & glass of wine then started getting dinner organised, just a quick Penne Pasta with a Stir through sauce by Jamie Olivier consisting of Coriander & cashews with some crispy prosciutto mixed in tonight.

Wouldn't you know it, it started to rain lightly - Craig made the call that we'd throw up the awning now in the dark, because that way it will stop raining and we'll be able to have dinner in peace and be dry.  Got the awning up and continued on with making dinner and yep he called it, it didn't rain again all night!  Once we'd cleaned up from dinner we headed off to bed.  Now, we were looking forward to getting into bed, threw Boris up so he could go into the far corner but we watched him move up the bed next to my pillow - bit strange, maybe he wants a cuddle tonight....  Nope, Craig got into bed and realised that the bottom of the bed was extremely wet (not really sure why).  Not much we can do about it now, we'll deal with it in the morning.


Saturday 1st March, 2014
Could hear the creek babbling last night, such a pretty sound. 

Our babbling brook - the soothing sounds
that we went to sleep by last night.

The evening had just a hint of crispness to it, very pleasant to sleep.  We awoke about 7am this morning to bright blue skies with just a few clouds floating around.  Looks like a nice day. The colours first thing in the morning are so vibrant, crisp  & clear, you know the grass looks greener in colour, the sky looks bluer in colour, the campfire smoke looks greyer and smells more intense, just a wonderful time of the day really.  Craig and Boris went for their morning w... , then he got the cowboy coffee going. 


To explain:  we bought an enamel dinner set a few weeks back (because I have a thing for enamel dinner plates at the moment - very rustic) consisting of dinner plates, bowls, coffee cups, fry pan, multi purpose pot with lid and coffee pot (you know the type that the cowboys/stockman used to put on the campfires to cook the coffee, except to our surprise ours came with percolator bits inside - and it makes nice coffee, BONUS!)






The "camp police" as he called himself, came around this morning just taking note of the late night arrivals.  We need to pop up to the office this morning and pay our camping fees and grab a couple of bags of firewood for tonights dinner  -  Roast Lamb & veges in the camp oven, yum.  Dean the "camp police" said he would drop our firewood down to camp for us as we had to walk up to the office since we'd setup the camper last night (arriving before the office closes means we pay our camp fees & buy the firewood before setting up the camper).  We had our bacon & egg rolls for breakfast, cleaned up then took a leisurely stroll via the amenities up to the office. 
Stopping along the way for Boris and Craig to roll around on the grass and have a play...  It's a really nice walk up to the office and back, very pleasant really.  There are quite a lot of people camping here this weekend, maybe around 40 camps but there's plenty of room to spread out.

Upper camping area

Lower camping area on the Mary River
(Where we camped)

On the way back to camp we took Boris down to the river for a swim, it's hot work for a little black dog walking in the sun, haha.  Lots of activity down in the river, people activity I mean - kids jumping in from the opposite bank, dogs playing in the water, people chatting along the banks.  Boris just kept to himself, paddling along the edge of the river where his feet could stay in contact with the ground.  He had a little play with a new friend he made, but the other dog wouldn't chase with him :(

Back at camp our firewood has been delivered and it's time to sit, relax, have a read or for me take some photos & do some typing on this blog (at least I'll get one camping story on here in the last few months!).  



Our piece of dirt for the weekend

Relaxing

 Now, you're either going to laugh or shake your head at what I'm about to tell you - I laughed...   Months back Craig installed a TV antenna on the camper for use with my old laptop that has a digital tuner in it, so when we're on our bigger trips we can hopefully catch up on news when we can get a digital TV signal.  We haven't had much luck testing our new TV antenna to date, so I threw in the laptop and after we had lunch, Craig decided he'd hook it up to see if it worked - read in between the lines here - it's the first race of the year for the V8 Supercars......  Well, guess what, it works!  One of us is pretty happy about now.

Watching his V8's on TV

Not much else is going to happen this
afternoon

It was a pretty cruisey afternoon at our camp, I observed other campers around the grounds playing football and cricket, riding bikes and of course around that 4 o'clock mark there was afternoon drinks & nibbles going on.  Craig had to make a slight adjustment to his TV so we could both watch (if you can't beat them, join them!), but it gave it a rustic feel really....

Even the dog knows how to relax...

4 O'clock drinks & nibbles

Big kids playing football



Kids throwing footballs around

The rustic TV unit..

 With the V8's finished for the afternoon, it was time for a stroll on the river bed and a play with the ball for Boris.




Time to get the fire going, so we can have some good coals for the roast dinner tonight.  We'll be having a Rosemary & Garlic rolled Lamb roast (just one from Woolworths), with some spuds, carrots & beans cooked with garlic in an alfoil pillow on the fire.



Cobwebs in the sunlight look awesome

Love seeing campfires

Our roast & veges cooking

Sunday 2nd March, 2014.
Had a nice sleep in this morning until 7.30am, had to let Boris out of the camper to go to the loo so I got up as well.  Got the coffee brewing, then grabbed some photos in the morning light - so peaceful and beautiful.

Caught these 2 boys playing up on the bed when I finished taking photos:

Looks like their sleeping

Sprung!

Lets look cute and we won't get in
trouble

A leisurely bacon & scrambled eggs with toast breakfast this morning, then a walk down the other end of the campground to see what potential spots might be down there.  A stop back in at the camper for Boris to have a drink, then we head up to the "beach" area of the river for him to have a swim and cool off. 

Looking North

Boris swimming at the "beach"



Looking at the "beach"

We keep walking along the river bed toward the powered sites which are behind the homestead, apparently there is a slippery dip into the river there somewhere, plus it was a pleasant walk.

 

 

We eventually found what was left of the slippery dip, hidden in amongst overgrown weeds/grass at the bottom of the powered sites - doesn't seem to have been used for a long while.  We started packing up about 11am and we're ready to hit the road by 11.30am. All in all it was a really good weekend away and we'd certainly go back to Kenilworth Homestead.
Wrap up:  Beautiful green grassy campsites, main toilet/shower block plus 2 other toilet facilities, river to play in, campfires, dog friendly, big open campgrounds and a really pleasant, tranquil atmosphere.