As Earle Page College prepares to celebrate its 60th birthday, we caught up with college buddies who have been meeting annually for almost 20 years.
Originally known as ‘Camp K’ after the first camp at Kempsey, the tight-knit group cemented their Earle Page friendships after graduation by spending a week together each New Year’s Eve on the Mid-North Coast. Progressively, their families and the tent community grew, and more recently they adopted Coffs Harbour as base camp.
“At our peak, we had about 20 adults and 20 kids coming along,” says Dave Hardin, who studied Science and Honours in Botany and Horticulture at UNE.
“All our kids have grown up together. We would take up about 10 tent sites and enjoy a fun summer holiday, and then go back to our lives.
"They are the strongest of friendships and I think the bonds have only got stronger as the years have gone by.”
They are the strongest of friendships and I think the bonds have only got stronger as the years have gone by.
More recently, the number of now-adult kids has dwindled, but one thing doesn’t change.
“We just laugh and laugh; it’s so much fun,” Dave says. “It’s a time of reminiscing and catching up with what we are doing in our lives and what our kids are doing.
"We have shared a lot of milestones – the loss of parents and kids leaving home, bouts of cancer and career changes. Our friendships have matured and developed … It’s a very supportive group.”
And why have the bonds endured?
“At college, you are living so close together – rooming together, eating together, playing sport together, socialising together. You are forced to find your own people and they become like family. I think we had similar family backgrounds and philosophies on life and we gelled as a group, even though we did different degrees (mostly commencing in 1984, ’85 and ’86) and came from all over the state.”
You might be friends on Facebook, but there’s nothing like catching up in person over a drink.
Many of the Camp K members will be gathering again from October 20-22 to enjoy the 60th reunion, which includes an informal get-together, Austin Page College visit and Saturday night dinner in the old Earle Page College Dining Hall.
It’s not too late to purchase a weekend ticket, at $165 each.
“I’m really looking forward to the reunion and catching up with people I haven’t seen in a long time,” Dave says.
“You might be friends on Facebook, but there’s nothing like catching up in person over a drink.”
