Swan Hill gang's right at home at Muster Mansion | Gympie News | Local News in Gympie

FORGET Blueberry Hill, the place for thrills at this year's Toyota Muster is going to be Swill Hill.

It's a two-story vision in black steel and gold tarpaulin, a shrine to Bundy rum and mateship.

It's the Taj Must-hal, a palatial palace of pleasure. If you can't find what you want in this little gem of engineering you're just too hard to please.

The brainchild of Hawkeye Rampton, a fitter and turner, and his Maryborough drinking mates, the germ of the idea was planted when Nathan "Kroppy" Kropp thought about converting a shipping container into a personal Muster relaxation centre, which seemed ambitious enough at the time.

That was until Hawkeye won a little over $5000 in the lotto.

Kroppy received a phone call from an excited Hawkeye: "I've just won five and a half grand and I've started buying steel!" he declared.

It was the start of their collaborative creation a creation complete with a front verandah, back deck, second story top entertainment deck accessed by a set of internal stairs, timber bar (fully stocked), ice-machine, cappuccino maker, laundry, hot shower, lounge suite, projector screen, surround-sound, and so much more.

"We call it an environmentally-friendly, multi-purpose drinking shelter," plumber Kroppy revealed, escorting x The Gympie Times x through their temporary showpiece taking up pride of place at the Amamoor Creek State Forest camping site. Built from scratch in a Bundaberg workshop and transported down in "kit form", it took four people a full day to put it together, but a little longer to add the finishing touches and furnish it.

"Weight-wise it's about 5-tonnes, and it can be packed down to a shipping container size that you can slide onto a tilt-tray, " Hawkeye says.

It cost around $30,000 in materials, although the crew reckons it would be more like $75,000 if their labour had been included.

Considerably more money than the $5000 lotto windfall - not that anybody who pitched in minds at all. Sleeping quarters are located around the base of Swill Hill and include conventional tents and campervans, including Hawkeye's Retreat, Locko's Love Nest and Kroppo's Soundproof Snoring Capsule.

2008 is the christening of Swill Hill, and coincides with Hawkeye's 20th Muster anniversary. He and his mates will spend the next week trialing and testing their design under Muster conditions.

Don't you love it when a plan comes together? The Toyota National Music Muster runs from August 26 to 31 and attracts thousands of patrons.

Over 50 community groups and 2000 volunteers help out the event organisers, Gympie Apex Club, to stage the non-profit community-based festival which raises funds to assist charities Australia-wide.