Fundraising - Mother's Day - City Chicks Farm & Cafe, Samford Valley

Mother's Day 2025... Damian had been invited back to the City Chicks Farm & Cafe at Samford Valley for their sold out seatings...

Again, Damian's lovely wife Tricia was there to give him a hand with the fundraising duties...

And of course, Bluey was along for the ride also!

Bluey went to check out the breakfast menu...

And waved to some of the traffic passing by!

There were goats standing (and lying down) on a sink...

And a bit of Camp Quality signage...

Damian found his next esCarpade car... or maybe not!

Prime location near the entrance to the cafe...

Bluey on the rooftop pod is looking a bit worse for wear... Damian has added that to his list of jobs before esCarpade!

But the stickers are still looking a treat!

Adding to his collection of donated foreign currency, this time there were a couple of Indonesian coins in the mix!

Of course, Bluey had a great time dancing around... unfortunately Damian is a terrible videographer - he really needs to dance less and concentrate on holding the camera still!!

Thanks to Ingrid and Steve at the City Chicks Farm & Cafe for again having Damian, Tricia and Bluey along to do some fundraising... $66.30 was thrown in the donation bucket!

Fundraising - City Chicks Farm & Cafe, Samford Valley

Damian had once again been invited out to City Chicks Farm & Cafe, 408 Mount Glorious Road, Samford Valley to put Bluey on display and do a bit of fundraising...

First - wash the car!

Post washing shininess!

Who doesn't like a freshly washed car?

By the time Damian has driven up his driveway, it will be dirty again...

Set up at City Chicks Farm & Cafe...

Damian strikes a pose!

Bluey with Jo-Anne and Angus, both of whom have previously been on esCarpade with Damian!

Bluey waving to the traffic...

Hanging out at the goat enclosure...

Bluey with Bluey...

Closer...

Strike a pose!

Damian and Bluey...

Goat in a bucket!

Damian and Bluey with the goat in a bucket!

Bluey striking a pose, and ready to hit the road!

Thanks to Ingrid and Steve for generously having Bluey out for a visit... there was $28.25 in the donation tin, and there were a few donations made over the counter which will be tallied up another time!  

Special thanks also go to Damian's lovely wife Tricia who promised to come and give him a hand today, but never seemed to be around when Bluey was meeting people!  ;-)

Damian has also been invited back with Bluey for Mother's Day, which promises to be a big crowd!

Unstick the sticky rear brake...

Last time Damian drove Bluey, the driver's side rear brakes were probably a bit stuck on given the wheel on that side was crazy hot when he got home, but the passenger side was normal.

Off with the rear wheel (safety first), off with the brake calliper and a quick clean and reinstall...

Nothing was obviously wrong, so hopefully next time Bluey is taken out for a drive it will be all better!

esCarpade 2025 Route Announced!

 The Camp Quality esCarpade 2025 route has been officially announced!!

Day 0 - Saturday 18th October: Tamworth

Kicking off with scrutineering, driver's briefing and welcome dinner in sunny, downtown Tamworth!

Day 1 - Sunday 19th October: Tamworth - Coonabarabran - Dubbo

First official day of driving...

Day 2 - Monday 20th October: Dubbo - Quambone - Cobar

Day 3 - Tuesday 21st October: Cobar - White Cliffs - Broken Hill

Day 4 - Wednesday 22nd October: Lay day in Broken Hill

Lay day in Broken Hill is a time to rest, relax, recuperate, or frantically fix yourself and/or your car ready for the second half of the trip!

Day 5 - Thursday 23rd October: Broken Hill - On track - Mildura

Day 6 - Friday 24th October: Mildura - Swan Hill - Deniliquin

Day 7 - Saturday 25th October: Deniliquin - Hay – Griffith

Finishing esCarpade 2025 in Griffith, there is usually a bunch of Camp Quality families to greet the entrants, a huge water fight then the final night dinner and celebration of the trip that was!

Fundraising for the boys stands at just over $3500!  If you'd like to help them reach their goal of $10,000 this year, you can make a donation to Camp Quality at:  

https://fundraise.campquality.org.au/fundraisers/64bluey

Qld Corvette Club show and shine - Springwood Hotel

The boys had been invited to shake the donation buckets at the Qld Corvette Club show and shine event at the Springwood Hotel.  Regular blog readers would remember last year's event where Damian took Booger Mobile (as Bluey was still only a concept, not a vehicle back then)!

Up early, collecting Hoges on the way and heading to the car show!

Sun was shining - probably a better turnout this year than in the drizzly rain last year!

Hoges said to Damian to show his best side... Not sure this is what he had in mind!

That's probably better (and safter give Camp Quality is a children's charity)!

Camp Quality signage at the entrance...

Obligatory selfie!

Blue skies and a decent turnout...

Camp Quality flag cable-tied to the towbar for safety!

Lots of expensive Corvettes on display...

Bluey made a special guest appearance!

There were three trophies for the day, and Damian and Hoges were tasked with deciding the winners!

Best classic (pre 1970).

Best Corvette (this was Hoges' favourite on the day).

Best presentation (this car did have a sign board and bonnet up, but Damian missed the photo).

Side note - the poor bloke with the gold car above ended up going home on a tilt-tray after some (apparently not uncommon) issue prevented him from getting the car out of reverse or started.

Damian suggested he should give the trophy back... Old mate didn't find that as funny as Damian did!

After arriving home, the donation buckets were counted...

An amazing $359.50 was collected - best ever result from a car show!

Also in the donation buckets were a couple of US dollar bills, a two penny piece from the UK and a NZ 10c piece... none able to be banked, but pretty cool nonetheless!

Thanks to the Qld Corvette Club for having the boys along again this year, and their continued support for Camp Quality as an organisation!

Presentation - Qld Corvette Club Monthly Meeting

Damian was invited by the Qld Corvette Club to do a presentation about Camp Quality, esCarpade and Bluey! 

Naturally, he took Bluey for a drive.  The presentation was well received.

Bluey will be on display at the Qld Corvette Club show and shine event at the Springwood Hotel on Sunday 9 February 2025 - drop by and say g'day if you are in the area!

Camp Quality (South Qld) Christmas Party

It was time for the 2024 Camp Quality Christmas Party for South Qld... Again, Damian would be performing MC duties, so he took Bluey along for some free advertising and to mark the location for families arriving!

This year was at a new location in Banksia Beach (on Bribie Island, still). 

As always, the Wallum Action Group had a giant novelty cheque for Camp Quality - this year the giant, not so novelty amount on it was $20,000 - an amazing effort!

The Qld Fire Department sent some of their finest for the annual Firies vs Camp Quality water fight... as always, the Firies brought the firepower!!  (Well, water power, really...)

While the families were lined up to see Santa, Bluey made a special guest appearance!

Damian, Bluey and Santa.

Bluey with the Firies...

Damian and Liz standing with Bluey... Liz is another long-term Camp Quality volunteer who also comes along on esCarpade... she recently made the move to Qld!

With many thanks to the various Lions Clubs and all their supporters, the day was a roaring success... the weather stayed dry (which was a miracle after the torrential rain on Saturday) and the families and volunteers all had a great time!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a very happy and safe New Year!  (Even if it is still November!)