THE ADVENTURERS CLUB
On a clear September morning in 1989, Chris Thomsen & Chris Hicks were floating serenely over the Gold Coast in a hot air balloon.
This reawakened their adventurous spirit and in early 1990, The Adventurers Club was conceived and born.
The initial 12 members were Chris Thomsen (President), Chris Hicks, Uwe Seifert, Kevin O'Brien, Steve Pagram, Alan Berney, John Burgess, Rex Croker, Brian MacDonald, Howard Simon, Ken Allan and Russ Bertram. Various members resigned or passed away and new members joined from time to time.
An adventurous activity was planned every second month by two different members each time.
One month before the activity was due to be held, the members and their wives would meet for dinner at a restaurant and the forthcoming activity would be revealed.
The first activity was white water rafting on the Nymboida River where all 12 participants ended up in the water when the rafts capsized. Luckily, apart from a few cuts and scratches, no one was injured.
Subsequent activities included such diverse adventures as abseiling down cliffs at O'Reillys and Binna Burra, climbing Mt Warning and Mt Coolum, tiger moth aerobatic flights over the Gold Coast, flying gliders over the Darling Downs, hang gliding over Byron Bay, scuba diving with the sharks at Mooloolabah, sailing on the Bounty replica on Sydney Harbour, jet skiing to the Solitary Islands off Coffs Harbour and various deep sea fishing expeditions.
The club also went on many bush walks including the Stinson Crash Walk at O'Reillys, canoeing and Kayaking on various rivers and creeks and a number of houseboat trips.
Every six months or so we would conduct a partners weekend when we were joined by our wives on an activity. These included weekends at Tangalooma and Twin Waters Resort, trips to Darwin and Ayres Rock, the Gympie Muster and a Murder Mystery at Springbrook Manor.
There were many other adventures - too many to mention here but one outstanding thing about each and every activity was the great camaraderie, fun and fellowship experienced by everyone.
The club, albeit with smaller numbers, still exists although our activities are less adventurous and less frequent than in the past but we still enjoy each others company and look forward to getting away together.
