The Tweed River long weekend, May 2008
A report by Richard and Susan Lane.
Report on the Tweed Weekend from Richard & Susan Lane,
As usual, the Lanes and 'Odiarne' were the usual late arrivals.
Fortunately we arrived at the same time as new members Phil Lovell and June Salter in 'Shirley V' and we were able to provide some little assistance with what was only the second launch of 'Shirley V' after purchasing her in Sydney and completing trials on the Hawkesbury at Easter.
The circumstances took us back to our very first Club Whittley event four years ago when we too joined the outing on the Tweed as raw recruits in May 2004. There was a certain enjoyment in being able to reflect on our own early experience as we nudged both boats into the sand at Fingal to wait for Keith and Edna to rendezvous for the trip up-river.
They arrived looking satisfied and well fed as Keith apparently won a meat tray at the Terranora pub on Friday night and proceeded to cook a big BBQ breakfast in the park on Saturday morning. Once all were accounted for, 12 boats followed in convoy up to Tumbulgum dropping anchor at the mouth of the Rous and opposite the most important place in town, the Tumbulgum Tavern.
Originally called the "Tweed Junction", or just "The Junction", the name was changed to the aboriginal derivation of "Tumbulgum" (proun. tum-BULgim not tumble-gum) in 1880 at the behest of residents, whose petition said the name meant "meeting place of the waters". This is contested in some quarters, with another translation being "a large fig" or "a wild fig tree".
It was to this venue that 11 crews duckied across at 5.30pm to enjoy a superb meal and social get together. Peter and Simone Huyghebaert had retrieved 'Site Work' earlier and joined us all for dinner before proceeding home.
I believe there were a few stayers post coffee, but having been part of the first fleet back to the boats, we enjoyed the early night and the millpond calm conditions for a good night's sleep.
A fairly early morning start in light fog on the river eventually saw 'Odiarne' and 'Shirley V' take a run up the Rous to get some photos and have a cuppa.
Back at Tumbulgum and after a wander around we discovered the House of Gabriel Gallery- Gift Shop - Café. A great place for a coffee and scones or pancakes - and for the ladies to have a shop. Bargains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the Saturday night we discovered a fresh fruit and veg stand with Honour Box in the pub and made some purchases before returning to the boats. We then noticed on Sunday morning that the local farmer was re-stocking his stand so more fresh veg, eggs passionfruit etc at very reasonable prices before joining the flotilla for a fairly quick run up to Murwillumbah. I am pleased to say that without exception all boats came off the plane to go under the bridges at 6 knots.
It was great to see Les and Sharyl Tuton waiting to welcome us all at the pontoon. They had driven down from the north coast having just returned from their NZ trip on Saturday and stayed the night so as to join us for the BBQ and to just catch up.
With an opportunity to have a wander around town or take a run up the river, the afternoon went quite quickly until everyone proceeded to shore for the usual pre dinner drinks, social chat and BBQ.
On pulling into the pontoon, I was approached by a local (Murwillumbah) yachtie who wanted to do a swap - our 2M duckie for his 2.4M air deck Quicksilver duckie as he finds it a bit heavy to handle on his own, so if anyone is looking for a Quicksilver 2.4 Air Deck, I have his contact number.
The weather for the whole weekend was fantastic and most boats headed back to Fingal fairly early in good calm conditions to get on the road and back
home before all the traffic.
We have had many great times with Club W so far and trust Phil and June and all other new members will get the opportunity to do likewise. The Tweed River and the other NSW Northern Rivers events are possibly some of the most enjoyable and relaxing with excellent boating and some interesting places to stop and drop anchor for a wander or a coffee.
(Commiserations to Barry and Antonia in 'Aqualine' who unfortunately hit a rock upstream from Murwillumbah and bent a couple of props - not the most enjoyable part of the trip for them I am sure)
I am sure all who were present and enjoyed the weekend would join Susan and I to thank Keith and Edna for the marvellous job they did in organising what was a brilliant weekend.
Kind regards
Richard and Susan Lane
