Dubbo
AGM
28-30
March, 2008.
Gotta
love these Club runs that begin with a day off work! Friday saw
our weekend start at our meeting point at McDonalds McGraths Hill on a
beautiful morning. Those who met there were Scott and Leanne Davidson, Greg
and Lexa Hawkins, Mick, Lisa and Cody Aldridge, Les Wilson together with James
Davidson and Natalie.
After devouring hot cakes, hash browns, coffees etc. and following
several remarks regarding the lack of dress sense the President had, it was into
the cars and head west to Lithgow via the Bells Line of Road. This
road would have to be one of the more Torana friendly drives to be had in
NSW. As per normal, on any Club run, one or two cars always suffer from some kind of
dummy spit, and in this case it was James' red LJ (that he'd
"borrowed" from his dad for the weekend), which was suffering from a fuel supply
problem. Upon arriving in Lithgow where we were to rendezvous with Rob and Leanne
Farnsworth in their freshly completed LH, we pulled over to investigate James' problem. After all the male members of the Club looked down
into the engine bay and nodded their heads (as if to know what they were actually
talking about!), it was mutually agreed that the fault lay with the
regular technician who services this particular vehicle (namely the owner, Scott
Davidson). A couple of turns of a spanner and we were off again
heading for
Torana capital, aka Bathurst, for lunch and to meet up with Mike and
Gabbi
Holland in Garfield, the trophy award winning LX sedan.
The lunch venue was Shanahans Family Hotel, which is obviously very
popular
on a Friday for lunch with the town folk due to the size and quality of
the
lunches served, and this presented us with a parking problem.
However, all
was sorted and lunch was served to the hungry troops. My, my some
of our
group can stow it away! Without mentioning names, if we can find a
pizza
eating contest to enter one of our members' wives, she would be a shoe
in to
win! Following lunch we headed off to Mount Panorama, which
attracted our
Torries like a magnet. This would have to be the first time that
anybody
has seen Lexa driving the Vectra and actually exceeding a speed
limit. It
was noted that she was clocked at 70 kmh in a 60 zone (yes, shocking
isn't
it?). This indiscretion has been dealt with internally by the
Club. Scott
offered Greg a ride around the track in his yellow, Weber powered LH,
which
resulted in Scott nearly being thrown to the ground and hog tied by Greg
in
the rush to get to the driver's side door handle! Alas, it was a
trip in
the passenger's seat and it was much appreciated - thanks Scott.
Apparently
Natalie was a Mount Panorama virgin and enjoyed the view and taking
photos
up the top of the mountain. It was also noted that Leso needs to
obviously
put a decent exhaust system on his little blue LC as it sounds too much
like
a race car going up and down the mountain. After the standard
photo taking
sessions and the red mist problem that overcomes most males (and Lexa;
see
above!) when they are at Mount Panorama, we headed off to our final
destination of Dubbo.
It was a glorious afternoon and together with an easy drive and
beautiful
scenery we arrived in Dubbo at about 4.30 p.m. Our motel, the
Matilda Motor
Inn, offered security parking for our cars and once we had parked in
this
safe environment we unloaded our luggage and cracked open our first
beer.
Out came the esky from the back of the Vectra with cold refreshments all
round. As such, our official "weekend away" had
begun. Not long after
arriving we received word from Michael Muller that he had had a hellish
day
at work and that he and Denise would not be arriving until very late
Friday
night (Mike and Greg made a pact to stay up for as long as they had to
so as
to welcome the Muller's upon their arrival, or as long as the port
lasted;
whatever came first! Thankfully, Michael and Denise beat the port
arriving
at midnight and after being breathalysed upon entry into Dubbo!).
Dinner
was in the motel restaurant in a private room, which must have been
scrumptious because it is not often a group of NSWTC members thrown
together
at a table are quiet! Unfortunately, we do have to report the
theft of
restaurant property, being one tablecloth, by one Club member, and again
this has been dealt with internally. It is always the ones with
innocent
looking faces that you have to watch out for the most! After
dinner it was
refreshments in the car park, chatting about Toranas and solving half of
the
world's problems. You always have to bear in mind on these two day
runs
that you cannot solve everything in the one sitting.
Saturday saw us rise to a crisp, yet most perfect day in Dubbo. We
breakfasted in the motel restaurant and following our morning ablutions
gathered at the front of the motel for our mini bus pick up to transport
us
to the zoo. Upon arrival at the zoo our group broke up into those
wishing
to walk, cycle or be bludging bastards and drive around in electric
carts.
The Western Plains Zoo is certainly a great place to visit for the day
and
for those readers who may not have visited you should take the
opportunity
to do so when you can. Things that were observed during the
day: some
good, some bad
The good things first:-
Mike and Gabbi circumnavigated the zoo by foot - well done!
James and Natalie circumnavigated the zoo by bicycle - fantastic!
Cody thoroughly enjoyed his first zoo visit and well done to the
Aldridges
who also circumnavigated the zoo by foot (and stroller).
13 of our group managed to enjoy their visit to the zoo without being
either
questioned or arrested by authorities - great stuff all round!
The zoo exhibits were of their usual high standard and the weather was
picture perfect; not too hot and not too cold.
Unfortunately, we will now have to mention the seedier side of the zoo
visit:-
Lexa and Leso's electric cart driving was atrocious all round; who would
have thought that the Secretary of the Club, who has always been our
safety
monitor would resort to doing burnouts and doughnuts in an electric cart
in
the gravel with three other members on board?
; Leso (signs and
lines are
only a suggestion Wilson) was seen and heard doing a doughnut in the
middle
of a roundabout and then driving the wrong way playing chicken with the
cart
driven by Lexa. Well, I didn't know what to do, but at one stage
leaping
out of the passenger seat was certainly an option, however, I had a
thought
that I may well end up under Leso's cart with photos of it up on the
website, so I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best.
On a more serious note two of our troop (names will not be mentioned to
protect the authors from fear of retribution!) were discovered by zoo
security in an unauthorised area of the zoo and had to be escorted from
the
area after a thorough questioning (there was mention of body searching
as
well!). There is always two in every group isn't there? We
have been
advised that their photos are now mounted in the zoo entry office as
persons
of interest and future admission to the zoo is doubtful.
Mick and Lisa took great perverted joy in watching (and we believe
taking
photos?) of two monkeys imitating a sexual act.
Scott, doing his best Richard Attenborough impersonation, as he was
watching
two tortoises in a sex act described it as "tortoise
porn"! It really makes
you wonder what happens at home????
Natalie, who we must say appears to be a very intelligent young woman
(and
no you can't use age as an excuse), mistook a small duck for a large
hippo -
go figure?
Our trusted mini bus was awaiting us at the zoo exit at the allotted
time
and deposited us back at the motel for a rest break prior to the Club's
AGM.
The AGM was held on the lovely sunny patio of the motel and apart from
the
usual formalities, the new Committee was appointed and consists of:-
President - Michael Aldridge
Treasurer - Scott Davidson
Membership - Mike Holland
Webmaster - James Davidson
Runs Co-ordinator - Rob Farnsworth
Secretary - Leanne Davidson
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the NSWTC Members for
our
thank you card and gifts, which were certainly not expected, but very
much
appreciated. It was a kind and thoughtful gesture by the members
of the
Club.
An outgoing Committee Member was also presented, in his absence, with an
embroidered Club jacket for his contribution to the Club in its first
two
years in setting up the Club's website: Lance Haslewood.
Thank you and
well done Lance!
After the AGM it was off to the motel restaurant for our final dinner
together. Leanne D thoroughly enjoyed herself by participating in
a pre
dinner mudslide followed by a screaming orgasm (apparently these are
cocktails?). Unfortunately, Leanne only experienced half a
screaming
orgasm, but figured half is better than none at all! During dinner
the Club
held its regular Club fines for little indiscretions that may have
happened
over the weekend. Some of these were factual and some of them were
a little
embellished, however, the whole idea was to raise some much needed
funds,
which shall be donated to charity shortly; keep an eye on the
website. To
give you an idea of some of the fines, a couple of examples are:-
Grand theft auto
Racial prejudice
Child abuse
And just being there, etc.
Following dinner some members of the Club had a quiet drink or two in
the
car park and finished solving the world's problems Part II from the
previous
night, but all in all we showed what a mature, sensible lot we all are
and
we were all tucked up in bed by 10.30 p.m.
Sunday morning saw us rise to yet another beautiful morning, but not the
Aldridges who were stung by the "no, no it's not the end of
daylight savings
mobile phone carrier stuff up". Other members inadvertently
slept in and
our departure time following breakfast was a little delayed, which was
also
contributed to by the motel kitchen's stove chucking a wobbly! We
filled
our thirsty cars up at the local Caltex and headed for home via Dunedoo
and
Mudgee. Mike and Gabbi parted company with us on the outskirts of
Dubbo to
head home to Batemans Bay. We traveled through Mudgee stopping for
a refuel
and defuel and onto Lithgow for lunch, where Michael and Denise
continued on
for home. The Davidson family announced they wanted to visit some
orchards
on the way home so we said our goodbyes following lunch and headed for
home.
We would like to thank Rob and Leanne for the excellent job they did
leading
the run most of the way and their informative commentary of local
knowledge
of the area between Mudgee and Lithgow - well done!
We would also like to thank the Matilda Motor Inn for their excellent
hospitality and great food. A big thank you to Steph and the
kitchen staff
who dug into their wallets and made a donation towards our fundraising
efforts for charity - thanks guys! Also, a big thank you to
Langley's
Coaches and the Western Plains Zoo for helping make our visit to Dubbo
that
much more enjoyable.
Those who were there:-
Mick, Lisa and Cody Aldridge in "Cody's Chariot"
Scott and Leanne Davidson in "Canary Yellow Butterfly II"
Rob and Leanne Farnsworth in "Confusion"
Mike and Gabbi Holland in "Garfield"
James Davidson and Natalie in "Red Baron"
Michael and Denise Muller in "Muller's Machine"
Greg and Lexa Hawkins in "Silver Vixen"
Thanks guys for a memorable weekend away and we look forward to the NSW
Torana Club moving onto bigger and better things, and wish the new
Committee
all the best for the future.
Greg and Lexa Hawkins
Run pics can be viewed by clicking HERE.
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