THE Tamworth Country Music Festival might be a few weeks away, but one nomadic couple have already rolled into the city and set up camp for the big event.
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Gail and Ray Wilmer of the Sunshine Coast sold their home five years ago and bought a caravan.
Since then they’ve been touring around the nation and have stopped by Tamworth three times for the country music festival.
Their base is the Paradise Tourist Park and they said they got in early for a “prized position” to see them through the month.
“All our children are really grown up now, and are spread from England to Melbourne,” Mrs Wilmer said.
“We tend to have Christmas on our own and we were coming to the music festival anyway.
“We thought if we were coming for the festival we’d come for Christmas aswell.”
Mrs Wilmer said she enjoyed exploring Tamworth and she and her husband were planning a few day trips to outlying areas in between their stay.
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“I like Tamworth as a place, the people are really friendly and there’s everything here that you would want,” she said.
“We wanted to get in before the crowd and get a good position in the caravan park. We have had this site every time we’ve been here.
“We normally go out and have a look at Nundle and go to the shops.
“We check out the clubs and where they all are.
“Once we get the program for the festival it takes us a while to sort our exactly what we’re going to do, because it’s a big program.”
As far as catching gigs goes, she said Beccy ,Cole and Adam Harvey were on the list along with the Legends Long Lunch at Wests’ where Ray, a guitarist, enjoyed watching the others play.
“I’ll just go along with the flow and listen to whoever happens to be singing,” Mrs Wilmer said.
“You get out of it what you put into it.”
The duo said they enjoyed meeting other festival-goers who stayed at the caravan park, with many musicians and impromptu jam sessions at the grounds throughout the festival.
