As a CMCA member, no matter where you are in Australia, at 4 pm there tolls a silent bell - it is the magic hour. If we haven't already, we find our spot for the night, pull out the tables and chairs and have happy hour. It does not matter whether you are on the road, at a chapter meeting or a national rally - the formula is still the same : 4 pm = happy hour.

Sometimes you will find old friends at a pre-organised camping spot. We met up with Kay and Keith Small from the CMCA Manning Valley Chapter, near Sorrell during our tour of Tasmania. You can see by the maps on our laps (photo left) that we were soon comparing where we had been, what we had seen and where we were planning to go next. Happy hour is magic also when you are at a national rally. The photo on the right was taken at the 2004 Quercus Park rally. Our chapter, Brisbane Sunshine Wanderers had 49 members at the rally, so our circle kept expanding as more people arrived. This is sometimes known as the "CMCA shuffle", because we shuffle our chairs around to make room for more. At a national rally, you don't just have happy hour with just your own chapter mates, you also include your neighbours and others you have met at the rally. With nearly 2000 people at Quercus Park, there were many large groups, like this one, as members made new friends from all over Australia.

On other occasions, Happy Hour can be the reason or excuse for celebrations. In this case, our Brisbane Sunshine Wanderers chapter had undertaken a several day safari from Brisbane to the Darling Downs, organised by a lovely quite achiever, Beryl Lister. The destination was the Millmerran Camp Oven festival. Here we were just sitting around at the magic hour, when a suprise arrived for Ken. It was his 70th birthday and that deserved a cake. It took a bit of organising, as the baker didn't open on Sunday, but there is always someone who will help out if they have a large fridge. You can see how the ladies cleared the same table to make room for a cake to share with about 60 chapter mates. That's part of the extended family ethos of CMCA - caring and sharing.

No matter where you are, when the silent bell of 4 pm tolls, it's a sign to stop driving, find a spot for the night and sit back to reflect on this wonderful lifestyle we are so privileged to enjoy. Australia would have to be the luckiest country in the world, with its wide open spaces and the freedom we have to travel them.

Chrissy Eustace