We weren't exactly sure about what to expect this weekend. Spending the October long weekend at a new place - Kenelworth Homestead. The 100 acre property is about 2 hours drive North of Brisbane.
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Where is Kenilworth Homestead |
We arrived on the Thursday afternoon to an impressive property which caters for schools camps and weekend campers. After checking in we set off past the handful of powered sites, across the impressive green camp area and headed for the river. Luckily there will still a few spots left. This weekend we were to be spoilt with lush green grass under foot!! A nice change from last weekend.
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TeamBray Camp Kenilworth Homestead |
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Teambray at Kenilworth Homestead |
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Flint Fire Lighting |
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Kenilworth Homestead Alpacas |
Of course the views of the Mary River were at the expense of proximity to the amenities block. Porta loos were scattered around camp and were surprisingly clean throughout the weekend. We did however bring our own loo so the girls didn't have far to go at night. For the boys - every tree is a lavatory.
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TeamBray Breakfast |
We brought along plenty of our own wood for cooking and heating water .... and nothing beats sitting in front of a fire at night (exactly what I'm doing as I type this)
The owners were expecting 300 families this weekend. With those sorts of numbers you would expect the place to sound like Mount Panorama at night but it was very quiet. With very strict limited generator hours this was a great place to relax.
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Mary River Kenilworth Homestead |
Swimming in the Mary River was great fun. This property has plenty of great access to it. There are open areas for the canoe and a few good spots to play. There was something odd in the deep wate though. One of the boys playing in our group complained of being bit. Soon Lauren was also bitten and FLEW out of the water. Lauren did some of the strongest swimming strokes we'd seen her do!! Various reports suggest this was either a Catfish or an Eel. Either way it didn't like anyone coming near its home.
We met some new families at Kenilworth one of which became fun rivals during the Inaugural Kenilworth Family Bush Olympics. We battled head to head in
- orienteering
- cannoeing
- archery
- boil-a-billy
- horse shoe toss
- sack race
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Flag making before the Olympics |
We thought we had done quite well in a few of the events and even managed a couple of mentions during the presentation but we didn't win :( We have all vowed to practice in preparation for 2015 Kenilworth Family Bush Olympics.
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Family Olympics Kenilworth Homestead |
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TeamBray Archers |
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TeamBray Boil-a-Billy task |
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Kenilworth Olympics Canoe race |
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Kenilworth Homestead Olympics Sack race |
The day after the Olympics we thought it would be great to hire some Canoes. We grabbed a 3 person and a single Kayak. We spent the first few minutes in the Canoe accidentally hitting each other with oars meanwhile the single person Kayak slowly sunk. Boating just isn't our thing.
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We spotted a turtle |
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TeamBray Mary River Kenilworth Homestead |
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Lauren slowly sinking |
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Nathan has a Medieval moment |
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Lauren makes a whip and cracks it!! |
Tonight we're sitting around the fire having just eaten another yummy dinner. It's Grand Final night so we're expecting it to get rowdy here soon.
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TeamBray Camp Dinner |
We'll be back next year !!!
On the way home we went inland via Sommerset dam to avoid the traffic. We stopped in at The Spit day area and were lucky enough to find a great parking spot.
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TeamBray The Spit Somerset Dam |
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Lunch Break |
Koala having a nap at Somerset Dam |
We found this guy camped out at The Spit day use area - just having a nap metres away from a coffee van. |
Koala having a nap at Somerset Dam |
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Koala having a nap at Somerset Dam |