We are off to Borumba Deer Park this weekend with a group of friends (including one who has never camped before - a virgin so to speak!). Joining us this weekend are Tracy & Dave, Tracey & Warren, Razzle & Doreen and our virgin camper Maureen (yes we have a number of Tracey's in our group of friends - we can have 4 to 5 of them at one time actually!).
We're on the road at 2pm heading north on the Bruce Highway. Traffic's a bit heavy around the coast, but thins out the further north we go. Taking the Imbil turnoff and leaving the highway, we head off west through the beautiful countryside. You will need to go through Imbil to get to the Borumba Deer Park but they have directions on their website.
I finally grabbed a couple of photos of my favourite shed out this way when we went past. I don't know what it is about it, but I just love this shed. It sadly has fencing up around it now, which is obviously for safety reasons but it still looks so lovely.
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We arrived at Borumba Deer Park a bit after 3pm. It was a pleasant drive down the driveway to the office and I will greeted by a happy and very friendly lady at the desk to book in. She informed me that the 3 other cars in our party had arrived already, showed me the sites on the park map that we had been allocated and just said to me for us to work out where we best fitted and were happy and if we didn't need all 3 sites that was okay (unfortunately I cannot remember her name).
Off we toddled along the track toward our campsites and low and behold we came across 3 of friends going for a walk (Tracy, Tracey & Maureen), as we got closer Craig said "look it's 3 of the witches, did you girls bring the Calderon" (he leans away from me at this point) and then follows up with "maybe you should have bought your Potjie Pot this weekend"... I don't know what to do with him sometimes!!
We continued on to our campsites. There was some concern that there wasn't enough space for the 4 cars & camper trailer in the 2 sites we'd been given but some discussions and finger pointing etc., everybody positioned themselves nicely in the area (it was much better then someone camping on the 3rd site which was separate and away a bit).
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| Our campsites |
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| Campsite view from other end |
It's 5 O'clock so what does that mean...... yep you guessed it, it's time for nibbles - yay! While we girls organised these tasty little snacks, the boys went about building a fire to sit around tonight - it did take them so very long to achieve this not sure why .
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| Nibbles time |
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| And fire building time |
For some reason Dave decided he would trick Boris into thinking that he had a treat for him, showing him his stubby finger (yes Dave only has 1/2 of a finger due to an accident), Boris sat like the good boy he is, but got nothing the poor little fella.....
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| Boris looks concerned... |
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| Sitting.... waiting...... |
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| Feeling sad & confused |
Once everyone had finished dinner, we sat around the boys campfire chatting & laughing.
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| Warren making some bread |
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| Warren's bread for dessert with jam |
Dave introduced the boys to a new beverage tonight...... the old virgina!
Saturday 9th April, 2016
We awoke to a beautiful day. Relaxing coffee to start off the morning then onto breakfast of poached eggs with smoked salmon, spinach and hollandaise sauce - YUM!
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| Good morning everyone! |
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| Just Yum! |
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| Learning how to cast a Fly Fishing Rod |
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We're having Tracy & Dave's scones for morning tea today, I know what you are thinking "you only just had breakfast at 9am", but I warned you it was a continuous food feast this weekend and it starts now! Lunch today is a group thing due to me cleaning out our freezer of leftovers. I came up with the idea of pies for everyone for lunch cooked in the camp oven using my leftover butter chicken, chicken & corn chowder, cowboy chilli and chicken satay - lets see how this goes shall we. Doreen's making a pizza as well in her Bessemer pot. Lunch is going to be big.....
Time to get the fire going so we have enough coals for the scones and then the pies.
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| Warren's off to a smokey start with the fire |
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| What did you do David? |
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| Righto, you put some cones on the fire |
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| Chopping some wood |
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| view from camp down to the river |
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| Add caption |
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| waiting....... |
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| waiting...... |
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| still waiting..... |
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| Let's put the fishing poles together |
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Meanwhile, we girls have been a lot more productive, Doreen is making her pizza dough and putting the toppings on and we had a production line going with the pie making - we used the store bought shortcrust pastry for the bottom of the pies and store bought puff pastry for the lids.
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| Butter Chicken, Satay Chicken, Corn & Chicken Chowder pies |
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| Cowboy Chilli Pie |
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| Doreen's Pizza Dough |
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| It's exhausting for a little black dog |
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| This photo right here, is just a thing of pure beauty - all those camp ovens! |
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| Scones are ready |
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| Just add Jam & Cream - Yum |
Time to relax and let those scones settle in our bellies and wait for all the pies to cook. Even Boris needs a rest - it's busy being a dog you know!
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| Relaxing |
Lunch is ready - they look delicious & tasted great!
Mid afternoon it was decided we'd all venture down to the river for a swim and a bit of walk around the campground afterwards.
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| Boris got cold |
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Now to walk off all that food we have consumed so far today, so we can fit in nibbles & dinner later!
We start off our walk through the lower camping area right on the river (you cannot camp with dogs in this area) and continued on through the forest to come out on this lovely secluded spot on the river.
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| We need to be careful there could be lions & tigers hiding in here..... |
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| Little secluded spot |
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| That's a nice rock |
Now to ascend the steep hillside back up to the other camping area. Borumba Deer Park has a few different camping areas to choose from and also some on site vans.
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| Rope to help you up the slope |
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| We just had to! |
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| On site vans |
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| Add caption |
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| What can I Say........ |
But firstly and even more important we'll get afternoon nibbles organised while the boys muck around with the fire - you know cheeses, salami, dips, olives, jalapeno poppers.....
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| Jalapeno Poppers under way |
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| Let's build a fire |
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and put the meat on the spit over the coals.
Girls getting the vegetables ready to go into the camp oven and a bit of basting of the meat going on.
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I tell you what this was a feast fit for a king:
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After all this food was consumed it was time to chat and have a laugh around the campfire, roast marshmallows and then get told by the caretaker to quieten down, there is no noise after 10pm??????
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| what a motley looking bunch |
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| Roasting Marshmallows |
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| But David decided to just eat marshmallows |
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Off to bed then at 10pm....
Sunday 10th April, 2016
There was no rushing to get up this morning, some were up early and doing a spot of fly fishing on the river, others sat quietly having a cuppa, some kept us amused with their melody of snoring.........
Communal breakfast this morning of bacon, fresh farm eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms & toast of course.
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| Toast underway |
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| The egg man |
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| Morning nap time |
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Departure for home was around 11am, via the Imbil markets and 3 of us decided to take the long way home along dirt roads.
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| Park office |
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| some relics |
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| more relics |
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| Entrance to Deer Park |
A very lovely park, nice and grassy, lovely river for swimming, fishing and relaxing by. Facilities are clean and nice. Camp kitchen looks great with a huge eating area under cover, playground for kids. A very family orientated park which is great. Friendly staff.
Borumba Deer Park:
Cost: $15.00 Per person/Per night
Pet Friendly: Yes. Cost is $3.00/night for your pooch
Facilities: Grassy sites, hot showers & flushing toilets, camp kitchen & under cover dining area, campfires, firewood available to purchase, kiosk, laundry, creek, swimming, fishing, kids playground
Website: www.borumbadeerpark.com
Would we go again: Probably not. Only because we like to stay up after 10pm and it is really more for families.
