Eden 2008

So glad I didn't take Lola all the way to Eden after hearing of these unfortunate stories. It would possibly have ended up being very expensive for us! I hope everyone gets their Kombis back sooner rather than later and that the mechanical bills are not too steep.

Schmo - glad you guys are OK, but WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET SWIMMING LESSONS? OK, motherly rant over. For now.

 

Can someone tell me the story of Schmo swimming or as it appears not swimming - I keep hearing reference to it but don't know what happened.

 

Jane, apparently he very nearly drowned. Seriously.

I think it's highly ironic that Kieran grew up down on the south coast near lots of beautiful beaches, but never learned to swim.

 

Basically Gabriella managed to get schmo out into the water, it was good to see him trust her and confront his fear, problem was even though it was a beautiful calm looking bay there was a decent current and it pulled them just a little past a depth where he could stand, poor gabriella wasnt strong enough to keep them both up and very soon she was being pushed under and schmo was calling for help, luckily a couple of us knew it wasnt a joke and could yell to somebody close enough to help them.

 

It was a somewhat slightly negative experience. Probably in some ways a good thing as now he may be more keen to learn how to swim (which I plan on making him do when he moves to Canberra), and less likely to go randomly swimming in the ocean.

But as far as I am concerned everything turned out well, and was a very nice beach type area - beautiful water And a fun drive down

 

And so everyone knows, there is thankfully nothing wrong with Glowmo, it was simply that he wasnt getting hot enough and the choke was staying on, with all the stopping and starting it just kept flooding as soon as jacqui and i left the others at sydney and got onto the highway to newcastle he ran like a dream, I dropped him off at Jacquis mechanic to be safe and all that was needed was a new fuel filter (probably due to driving on a bumpy dirt track with less than a qtr tank of fuel a fair bit of crud was in the old filter), and also new points were fitted, Im heading off tomorrow morning slowly sightseeing my way up the coast, next stop is bellingin.

all staying well i will be home late saturday night.

 

I doubt if Tom would post the first pics, but with a little luck some one would have taken a pic of HIM rocking a few kombis,

brian

 

Hey Schmoo it was redhotchilliwilli from Wollongong that saved you.

We would all like to say a big thanks to him. He was very quick to react. I hope there wasn't anything of importance in his pockets!

If it makes you fell better Schmoo I can't swim either, maybe it's time we both took lessons......Lorraine

 

Tom, our ten year old announced on the way home that now that he knows so many people he better join the kombi club himself. A few minutes later he came up with his own user name and excitedly announced..."I've got it, my kombi club name can be VW Tombi".
Very cute that he wants to join and that he thinks people from 5 to 65 are his new friends. But hey...that's KC!

No-one steal his name now!! I promised I'd join him up in the comng days!
Rich

 

Well, I am finally back home and have a chance to sit down and sift through all of the posts I've missed in the past eight days. My goodness it doesn't take long for them all to add up, does it?!

Anyway, onto Eden. WHAT A BLAST!!! I have had one of the best times of my life. Period. This includes the hanging out, the drinking, the jokes, the humour, the Kombi rocking, the drumming and guitar playing, the story-telling, and also the Kombis.

Okay, so the trip didn't end up as favourable as I'd have liked - I would dearly love to look out my bedroom window and see Daisy parked in her usual spot. Alas, that is not to be. She's currently having a rest in Sydney at a car carrying company's depot until she's bopped on the back of a truck and brought back up here. The poor little bugger is seriously down on power meaning I ended driving her flat-strap at 60-70km/h on the highway and she'd just overheat from being driven too hard at such a slow pace. It was a bloody big trip for any of us Queenslanders/Northern New South Welshmen and I really think it took a toll on all of our Kombis. At least Glen and Curtis' respective buses held the reliability flag high for us. Go Glomo and Blue Thunder!

In saying all of that though, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. There was nothing like getting out on the road with other Kombis, stopping and camping at different places during the journey, meeting new people along the way and finally getting to see the Kombi Club gang at the destination. Every single KC person that I either already knew or had just met over the course of the trip was fantastic. I would love to send a shout-out individually to eveyone from the event, but I'd hold the record for the longest single post on the KC, and consequentially would probably get banned for slowing the server down with it! So to eveyone there - thank-you for a fabulous weekend. I honestly feel blessed for being able to spend such quality time with such a great bunch of diverse and lovely people. Three cheers for the Kombi Club!!

As everyone else that went to Eden, there is about a million people I'd love to thank for the trip. Let's see how quickly I can get this done: Lorraine & Andy - thank-you so much for both your tireless effort on organising and getting us both to and from Eden. This includes the scheduled stops, campovers, convoy driving/UHF organisation, mechanical help and roadside assist. I hope one day I can return the favour three-fold; Dean - mate, thank-you for your roadside assistance at the pie shop, and letting me share the hirecar trip home with you. What a bloody funny journey it was too. I had a ball. Even if it was in the most boring (yet bloody powerful!) car in the universe; Melissa - thank-you for your outstanding efforts in organising the whole event! I know it sounds silly, but if you hadn't, none of this would have happened. It has been some of the best times that I've had in a long time. Bloody brilliant; Curtis - man, thanks a bunch for all your mechanical prowess with Daisy, hey. We gave it our best shot. Once she's back home, I'll have a chance to sit down and have a closer look into why she's running like arse; Nads - thanks for the Toobs! I haven't had those things in so long... and yes, they do go perfectly with beer; and a general thanks to all on the QLD/NSW convoy whole helped out and just leant support by being there. It was great.

I guess I'd better cut this here. Otherwise I'll keep typing all night. Once again though, thanks to all that were there. ...so when's the next Kombi Club event???

Julian.

 

back home safe and sound and a well deserved day off for Blue Thunder who went hammer down all the way back. That was a fantastic trip. A long driving trip, but even that was nice in it's way. Big Thanks to every single one of you for showing me what a good time looks like and apologies to a few missed goodbyes, you know yourselves. Glen i'm glad to hear glomo is sorted out, her backfiring didn't have that same healthy sound that Blue's did. Extra big sloppy thanks to Necro for the hubcaps, i'll pay it forward.
cheers
coitis

 

yeah Tom kids learn so much from us....lol
Like:
Still dressing like a pirate ALL the time when your older is quite ok...
Grown ups running around with "chicken heads" is quite acceptable anytime (even 2am in public toilets)....& video taping that for "YouTube"...
Running around a caravan park rocking Kombis & waking up others playing in the night is a "fun" thing to do...
Kids watching their parents & grown men still playing with toy cars in the gutter...
Playing with "fire" & being supervised by a group of drunks is quite ok..
Watching their parents dress up in silly masks & make fools of each other in public..
Handing someone a beer instead of helping someone change tyres (adults showing they have their piorities right) is what they deem "helping someone out"...
Realizing their parents go on the beach fully clothed & aren't told off for "getting sand everywhere in their Kombi"...
Going in for a swim anywhere is ok....especially when you can't swim..

....I could go on...

Yep thats what the KC is about....a "happy family"...

I think every child that went to Eden would of had a most excellent time.... I know I did..(I was the one running around with a set of pink fluffy bunny ears on.. on Easter Sunday......lol )
Judy

 

But he IS a pirate!

 

Well said Judy

 

Judy I just noticed your avatar very nice now we cant wait to see the real thing

Michelle

 

Hi Michelle...
I got some towels embroidered the same as him...lol
Presently putting glass in all the window frames...
Will keep you posted with updates
Judy

 

Sounds to me like Eden was a place of Romance what this about Stevie and Amanda, Glow and Jacqui - spill the beans everyone - keep me in the loop - new love afoot.

 

We had extrememly strong suspicions about Stevie and Amanda...

But Glen and Jaqui?


Gabriella and Kieran