Young at heart

Blimey I had a busy weekend. It kicked off with a lovely walk at Balmoral Beach, followed by an 85th birthday lunch for DD’s mum, who brought along her partner Bruce.

Bruce is 96. They met about six months ago and are delighted with each other’s company.

They also raised a glass together at a super fancy Sydney restaurant called ARIA on the eve of her birthday, as his grandson – or maybe it’s his great-grandson – is a chef there.

Our celebration wasn’t quite as flash, as we just went to Mona Vale RSL.

Isn’t it wonderful that they are squeezing every bit of joy out of life together that they can at 85 and 96? I’m seriously impressed.

Afterwards, DD and I caught up with one of his oldest friends for dinner to brainstorm 60th birthday ideas for them both, then on Sunday DD and I headed to the 2023 Caravan & Camping Supershow.

I was oddly excited about going to the Supershow. I used to love visiting display home villages when I was a kid and fantasing about which bedroom would be mine. I figured the Supershow would be a bit like that.

Set across over 37,000 sqm of space at Rosehill Racecourse, it displayed thousands of caravans, motorhomes, campervans, slide-ons, camper trailers, tents, caravan and camping equipment, 4WD and touring accessories.

It was FASCINATING. We were blow away by the endless caravans and campervans to stickybeak inside.

We’ve been daydreaming about campervanning around Australia at some stage, so we wanted to check out some of the merchandise.

There wasn’t a model that convinced us to max out $150,000 on our credit cards, but it was still fun to have a twirl.

The cutest motorhome was definitely the Retro RV. Quite the Insta extravaganza, but I think I’d feel a bit too conspicuous driving one.

My preference would be for a converted Toyota van. I shuddered every time I saw a Renault symbol on a vehicle. Ain’t no way I’d be taking to the wide open roads in one of those. I was equally disinterested in the Fiats.

We spent about two hours at the Supershow and only saw about a quarter of the exhibits.

Oddly, poking around all the awesome options on the market cooled my ardour slightly. Do I really want to haul a big vehicle to holiday parks around the country? Maybe I just want to pootle around in a four-wheel drive and stay in motels?

Although it would be great to intall a sensational mattress in a house on wheels and know I always had a comfortable bed for the night.

I also enjoy following my ex-Aunty Mandy’s many caravan exploits. She and Uncle Graeme are constantly touring the country. Their current trip has seen them cross the Nullabor on their way to a Broome for a Kimberley cruise. Their Facebook happy snaps are wonderful.