ON THE ROADwith Clyde & Charmaine

Issue #0054 December 2016Official newsletter of www.caravancaravan.com.au

Flight of the Hurricaneby Steven de Vroom

Hawker Hurricane Mk XII Serial Number 5481 was built in 1942 by the Canadian Car & Foundry of Fort William, based upon the UK version of the Hawker Hurricane. Disposed of by the Canadian Government after the war and after having languished in a field for several decades, it passed through half a dozen hands and several stages of restoration, from the mid 1980s, until it was purchased in 2014 by John Brooks. He brought it to Scone in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW where a substantial rebuild and restoration was completed by the team at Vintage Fighter Restorations.

And so, on the 12th November 2016, it made its first public display flight in Australia, decorated in the style of a Mk I hurricane that was flown in WWII by Australian pilot, John Dallas Crossman. Born in Mossman in North Queensland, Crossman was educated in Newcastle and lived in Waratah, a Newcastle suburb. He was killed in action during the Battle of Britain.After a stormy morning with more bad weather forecast for the afternoon, thousands of spectators

turned out at Scone Airport to witness the historic flight of this magnificent warbird, flown by Ross Pay and accompanied on its flight by a Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII, from Tocumwal Historical Aerodrome Museum. The air reverberated to the throaty sound of the two Merlin V12 engines as these magnificent machines took to the air together.Also at the show was the P51 Mustang from the collection of the late Colin Pay, as well a CAC Wirraway and a Grumman Avenger. Earlier, visitors were treated to a demonstration of 3,000 litres of water dumped from an Air Tractor aircraft set up as a fire fighting unit, spectacular aerobatics by Paul Bennett flying a Wolf Pitts, (one of only two in the world), as well as displays by a number of other aircraft.

Aircraft which were on display and performed at this event will be on show at the Hunter Valley Airshow at Maitland Aerodrome, Rutherford on 28th and 29th January 2017.

A skydiver flies the Australian Flag at the airshow

Under the wing of a beautifully restored Cessna 195, spectators watch the Hurricane and Spitfire fly past.

The Hurricane is ready for flight at Scone Air Display

Thousands of spectators of all ages turned up for the Flight of the Hurricane

On The Road with Clyde & Charmaine

Official newsletter of www.caravancaravan.com.au

5 Years and Still Going Strongby Clyde & Charmaine Camel

On 11th December 2011, Caravancaravan.com.au was launched and within a couple of hours, nomads were joining as members. Originally, the website was just a simple map that displayed places where nomads could stay with their motorhome or caravan, when the map was clicked in the area of interest.As time went by, additional features were added, such as Regions, Lists and Trip Planner. The newsletter was introduced in July 2012 and a number of other features followed. Five years on and the website has over 12,500 members with about 5,500 pages, one for each place that is in the website database. The website has been something of a labour of love, soaking up thousands of hours of work maintaining information and designing new functionality. Many members have helped with this workload, contributing important information so that the pages are kept up-to-date, as well as adding new pages to the website. The Camels have since stopped travelling for the time being, having purchased a house in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW. The house is being renovated which is also something of a labour of love, taking up many hours of our time. But we will be back on the road again one day.So we have decided that this edition of the newsletter will be the last, at least in the short term. It has been enjoyable putting the newsletter together each month and in particular we would like to thank the members who have contributed stories over the last 4½ years. But we need to focus our attention on other things for now.The website will continue of course and we encourage members to keep sending information contributions for the pages of the places that they visit. Use the Contribute Content button for sending factual objective information and corrections that need to be made. If you wish to leave a personal comment or express an opinion about a place, please use the Comments button.While it is possible to use this website on a smart phone, the small screen size makes it a bit challenging. The website works well on tablets and desktop computers. Feel free to ask for help at any time if you are having difficulty or are unable to understand any feature on the website.The Trip Planner has been a great success, with tens of thousands of trips having been created all over Australia, by members. If you haven’t tried it yet, there is a demo trip that you can explore. Feel free to make any changes to this trip. It will help you to get your head around how it works. There is also a YouTube Video that shows you how to get the most from this useful tool.The Regions feature has also become very popular, with several members making use of it at any given moment. A Region (in the website) displays all of the places located within an area consisting of a collection of postcodes, or areas along a highway, river or other geographic feature. It is another way of discovering the places that you wish to find. The email that we send out each month to notify members about the newsletter, has served an additional purpose in identifying expired memberships. Each month we get about 50 bounced emails as a result of closed email accounts. This provides us with the opportunity to clear out non active memberships. So from time to time we will send out a maintenance email so we can detect expired memberships. There is no need to do anything when you receive such an email, unless you wish to close your account. A link is provided at the bottom of emails that we send out, to make it easy for members who wish to terminate their membership.Don’t forget, if you would like to hand out some business cards for the website to other nomads whom you meet along the road, feel free to send us a request by email, using the contact form on the website with “business cards” in the subject line and including your current postal address in the text. We appreciate the help that members are providing in publicising the website.

Official newsletter of

Wishing you a joyful and safe holiday season and a happy N.Y.

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On The Road with Clyde & Charmaine

Official newsletter of www.caravancaravan.com.au

Variety Postie Bike Dash WrapThe Variety Good Guys Postie Bike Dash has wrapped up for another year and what a wonderful adventure it was again, this year. While numbers were down a bit on last year for various reasons, the fundraiser was a great success, raising over $114,000.Bike 88 was again the 2nd highest fundraiser of the event, contributing over $10,300 to the programs run by Variety, the Children’s Charity. A big thankyou for George Butler for his help with the fundraising. We were again beaten by the Twisted Sisters, by a margin of about $200. Thank you to all of the members who contributed to this worthy cause. Congratulations Glenda and team!The course covered 1,350km across the western plains of NSW and over the Barrington Tops to Gloucester before returning to Newcastle. On the way we visited schools and handed out cheques for various projects to help kids in need.There were many delightful moments on the Dash but none more touching than the welcome that we received at the tiny Trunkey Creek School, where all 11 students as well as the teacher and some parents greeted us in especially designed T-shirts and put on a delicious spread of sandwiches for our lunch. The children sang and played their musical instruments for our entertainment. In Orange, the Anson Street Special Needs School provided a breakfast for us and gave us a tour of their vineyard as well as a viewing of their Sailability project, where able bodied children accompany special needs children to enable them to sail on the lake. This is a remarkable school which provides support at a level that enables children with many different disabilities to receive an education and a future. There are about 100 children at the school, supported by 50 staff.Member of Caravancaravan, George Butler, was co-rider with Clyde Camel on Bike 88 this year and enjoyed the experience very much. He summed up his Postie Bike Dash experience like this: “What I found to be the most heartwarming part of being involved in the Variety postie bike dash, was the look on kids’ faces when they were asked if they would like to sit on one of the bikes. The greatest reward is seeing first hand the tremendous work that Variety does for the kids out there. One definite highlight of the adventure, was the interaction with some of the characters participating in the event. Plenty of laughs and good times.”Would you like to be part of the 2017 Variety Posite Bike Dash, travelling with a great bunch of people to small towns, providing resources and meeting the teachers and pupils of the various schools that we visit? If you have a motorcycle licence and would like to join the fun and excitement, feel free to get in touch. We can show you how to apply, provide some fundraising ideas and even help you to source a low cost second hand Honda CT110 Postie Bike for the event. To find out more, send an email via the contact form on the website with “Postie Bike Dash Info” in the subject line. We will be in touch to provide whatever help we can.

George Butler (L) and Steve de Vroom (alias Clyde Camel) with an aspiring Dasher of the future, at Gloucester Public School.

George Butler crosses the Barrington River at Rocky Crossing on Bike 88, heading for Gloucester.

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On The Road with Clyde & Charmaine

Official newsletter of www.caravancaravan.com.au

Strawberry & Custard Tartfrom Charmaine Camel’s Recipe Book

We couldn’t possibly publish our final newsletter without including one of Charmaine’s finest dessert recipes. This strawberry and custard tart is rich and sumptuous, with a delicious buttery crust and packed with goodies such as strawberry jam, custard and fresh strawberries. A sweet treat to die for. Enjoy!There are two steps to this recipe. First is the pastry, which can be prepared and then stored in the fridge, wrapped in plastic film. Second is the filling and here you can use your imagination to vary the flavour and presentation as much as you like. Our version uses both jam and fresh fruit.The Crust:Blend 125g of unsalted butter with ½ cup of sugar.Mix together ½ cup polenta with 1½ cups of plain flower.Place the butter/sugar mixture into the flour mixture along with 1 beaten egg. Work the ingredients into a smooth pastry. Add a small amount of cold water if necessary.Wrap the ball of pastry in a sheet of plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour or so or until you are ready to use it. Remove from the fridge and on a smooth surface, use a rolling pin to roll the pastry mixture into a flat sheet, generously thick in preparation for making the tart crust. Use the type of baking tin with a removable bottom. Line the baking tins with the sheet of pastry mix, shaping it around the sides and bottom.

The Filling:Spread a layer of strawberry jam on the bottom of the crust, about 1cm thick. Over this sprinkle a thin layer of rolled oats. Add a layer of custard and decorate with some sliced strawberries.The strawberries can be added before or after the tart is baked, depending on your personal preference. In any case, more fresh strawberries can be added at serving time.

Bake in a hot oven at 350ºC for about 20 minutes, but before the crust gets too dark. Allow to cool before removing from the baking tin. The crust should be golden brown.Serving:Depending on the size baking tins that you use, slice the tart into portions. Place a portion in a dessert bowl, add a scoop of ice cream and some fresh sliced strawberries. Garnish with a sprig of mint. Enjoy with a nice hot cup of coffee.The Washup:Clyde Camel valiantly volunteered to be the chief taste tester for this recipe. He selflessly threw himself into the task, without concern for his own wellbeing. A true perfectionist, he insisted that Charmaine produce six different versions of the tart to be absolutely sure that the final result was the ultimate dessert experience.Clyde was last seen fast asleep in a hammock, belly bulging and with a contented smile on his chops. Such dedication to duty! We hope that you enjoy the result.All of Charmaine’s recipes can be found by using the search facility on the newsletter section of the website.

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