The Courier Mail Wednesday 3 2005

The Courier Mail Wednesday 3 2005

Slim Pickings - Dick Martin sings another Slim Dusty song entertaining guests around
his Dalby Tourist Park Campfire

 

Living the Dream

Reporter Louise Crossen

Flamin’ bonza night around the campfire.
It’s dusk at the Dalby Tourist Park and Dick Martin is holding court around the campfire with his guitar.
It’s one of his own songs – an anthem of sorts for the grey nomads who pack out the park during winter:
We’ll hit the road and go walkabout
See the world from another point of view
I’ll leave part of me, and take a part of you.

Dick and his wife Lesley bought the place 18 months ago, and their weekly camping fire sessions draw dozens of “wrinkles on wheels” heading west.

About 40 travellers huddle around the flames, cracking open a few bottles of red to help stave off the winter chill. Dick moves through his repertoire of Slid Dusty tunes and bush ballads as the embers pop and crackle – the only other sound the distant thunder of roadtrains.

“We have some great nights down here, and every crowd is different,” Dick says.
“We had about 65 people around the campfire last Sunday night and we get travelling musos roll up with squeezeboxes and fiddles.

“I started out on my parents dairy farm. “ he tells the story. “I’ve even shot and skinned foxes to make a bob. “I’m country and always will be. But a lot of these people are from the city, and this is the first time they’ve taken the time to explore their own back yard.”

The Martins set off on the grey-nomad trail themselves a couple of years ago, after selling their pub in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales.
A few months into their corws-country adventure, they stumbled on Dalby and liked it so much they bought the local caravan park.
“We’ll finish the trip some day.” Lesley says.

“When we hear everyone talking about their travels, we do get itchy feet.”
In the meantime, the grey nomads are their bread and butter.
“They form about 95 per cent of the clientele.” Lesley says. “Dalby’s at the corssraods of three highways, so a lot of people pass through here.

“And I think there are definitely more of them on the road. This is the first time this place has been filled up every night through winter.
“Some of them are well into their 80’s and they come towing the old pop-top behind.
“Others have sold their places and are on the road all year.”

Dick reckons he’s seen it all. “You see some unbelievable looking vehicles – from elaborate rigs that cost about half-a-million bucks to real wrecks,” he says.
“But a lot of these people aren’t short of a quid.

“They spend a lot of money in town – they replace their tyres, they buty TVs and DVD players, do a big grocery shop. They are the lifehood of some of these towns.”
 

Dick and friends having a great time at Tamworth 2006

Print out and have the memories