Photo Gallery - Tamworth ~ 20-22 April, 2007

Tamworth ~ 20-22 April, 2007

Well, if anyone can remember what it was like when you were 10 years old on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to arrive, I think that’s how the members of the NSWTC were feeling about the Tamworth run!

The group departed Friday, 20 April from McDonalds Thornleigh, destination Tamworth. Leaving the first departure point were:-

Larry Sullivan and Mark Warren in newly completed “Pappy” (check out the website for the build pics).
Bob Byrnes, our intrepid run leader, in his Barbados Green L34 (boy, Bob needed his sense of humour for this weekend!).
Mick Aldridge and his recently acquired wife, Lisa, and the pending newest member of the NSWTC in another green Torrie – ho hum!
Michael Velo, our Club’s personal protection package that we like to carry on our Club runs, in his “Purr Pull” beast.
Scott and Leanne Davidson in their newly acquired, quad Webered, Chrome Yellow shmick looking LH.
Mike Holland and John Boller in the world famous Summernats “True Blue”; yes it looks better in the flesh than in the pics.
Rob and Leanne Farnsworth in their runabout green UC, as the new project was not quite ready (but every Club run should include at least one UC I suppose).

A quick uneventful trip up the F3 Freeway to Warnervale had the group catching up with three other members:-

Greg and Lexa Hawkins in the LH “Fisher and Paykel” white Torrie, and yes Lexa does sleep with the President, and
Leso (double white lines are only a suggestion) Wilson in his pretty blue, but very noisy LC.

With the north heading group battling it’s way through the Friday morning northbound traffic, we all managed to stay out of trouble and in contact thanks to our 2-ways. Our first stop was at the Royal Hotel, Singleton for an early lunch. After parking the Torries and greeting the publican and staff, it was a chance for the members participating in this run to start putting on extra kilos and satisfy any thirst they may have had.

After a leisurely lunch and a couple of photos (check out the photo gallery), it was back into the Torries and out onto the open road towards Tamworth. The trip from Muswellbrook to Tamworth was quite sedate because of the towns and traffic encountered, but after Muswellbrook it is just point the front of the Torries towards Tamworth and away you go. One Club member on Friday was to pay for their frequent comfort stops later on in the weekend! This stretch of road would have to be one of the most picturesque routes to travel on in NSW with its wide open expanses, valleys, mountains and everything in between including small, quaint country towns to break up the journey.

At about this time I managed to make contact with Lance Haslewood in his DeLorean who had driven back from the future after having first fixed the malfunction in his Flux Capacitor, which is no easy feat, and had advised me that he had landed safely in Tamworth, having driven down from Queensland, and was awaiting the arrival of some Aussie Muscle in the motel car park.

A fairly uneventful trip by the Torries into Tamworth, apart from a couple of incidents that were recorded. One being Leso Wilson obviously having some kind of fit behind the wheel of sorts (well I suppose it’s some kind of excuse!) overtaking a 4 wheel drive over double white lines on a bend (this would cost Leso big time). Secondly, was some small children who were so excited seeing Torries driving into Tamworth that they thought it would be enjoyable to see the undercarriage by throwing themselves out in front of them!

After having arrived at our accommodation, parked the Torries, unpacked, showered, shaved, blah, blah, blah, it was onto the important stuff, eating and drinking, and boy doesn’t this Club do it well! The dinner in the motel restaurant was out of this world with Mark Warren continually asking if his package deal included the meals as it seemed such a good deal. After reassurance that it was all included, Mark certainly did enjoy his tucker. After dinner, it was the standard sit around the Torries and DeLorean, tell some lies about your car until it was off to bed.

Saturday morning saw the NSWTC Walking Group membership of four, Lexa, Scott, Mike and Johnno, off to scout the environs of Tamworth. A buffet breakfast was served in the restaurant, which was taken full advantage of by our now hungry group (they hadn’t eaten since the night before!) and again Mark Warren asking if his breakfast is included in the package deal – yes Mark, you had already been told it was! I’ve never seen plates overflowing so much with poached eggs, bacon, savoury mince, fruits, cereals, toast of every description – boy oh boy, Torrie owners can really eat!

After breakfast it was a quick run up to Oxley Lookout in our Torries and DeLorean for a scenic view of the Tamworth region and a photo opportunity of the cars (and people) followed by a short drive down to the Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum. Even though this Museum is a bit boring because it only caters for the 2 wheel varieties (only joking!) it is a great inclusion for any visit to Tamworth for motoring enthusiasts. Our host, Chappy, was a very enthusiastic orator and he’s still ringing in our ears. Dare I say he could call a Hawthorn/St Kilda game at the MCG unassisted by any PA system at all! After a cup of tea and a bickie at the Museum it was off for our run to Nundle.

It was good to see the powers that be continually upgrading this road, as it is now Torrie worthy of a drive. The only problem that was encountered was suffered by Michael Velo with a broken front sway bar on his “Purr Pull” Torrie. (See pics in gallery – I have never seen anybody so happy about his Torrie breaking down). It goes to show you how much fun the members have on a run. Upon arriving in Nundle it was a very slow trip over the very old wooden bridge to enter Nundle – very hairy stuff! Believe it or not, in such a relatively small country town, parking was hard to come by and the Torries gathered an instant crowd of onlookers. The boys sat in the pub and the girls went shopping – as it should be! After lunch at the Peel Inn (one of the oldest pubs in NSW), which the current owners won in a poker game in 1900, we headed back to our motel in Tamworth for the Club’s inaugural AGM. However, we stopped at Chaffey Dam on the way back for a photo opportunity. After scouting this run in January 2007, the dam level had fallen even lower.

Following a successful inaugural AGM, it was off to dinner for the troops for our second night, which no doubt a lot of the members were a bit shocked to find out that yes, we are very concerned in your behaviour as was shown by the huge amounts of money that was raised by the Club fines. The President was very embarrassed to have to spend a considerable amount of time reprimanding pretty well every member of the Club for little indiscretions over the last two days. Fines were handed out for things such as being a goodie two-shoes, inconveniencing the group by having to have excessive comfort stops, spilling food down the front of your shirt, extremely loud and excessive farting (this was a complaint from one member sharing a room with another), joining the Club simply to get a shirt so one didn’t have to think about what to wear on Club runs etc. etc. etc. I think the only one who benefited was the Club’s bank account. Mind you I did feel a bit sorry for the other people in the restaurant, because the majority of the NSWTC were either falling off their chairs or rolling around on the floor in laughter. As it turned out the MC for the evening’s proceedings, aka the President incurred the most amount of fines and has requested a full ICAC investigation! After dinner it was the standard sit in the car park, have some beers, tell some lies about your car and go to bed!

Sunday morning saw us all rise early for an early breakfast in the restaurant (yes Mark, your package does include this breakfast too) followed by a pack up of the Torries and after a quick chat from Bob about our run back and with a tear in all our eyes, we all headed back to our dull, dreary lives down south. Lance left just prior to everyone else to head back to the future (or is that back to the past) to Queensland.

For two members of the Club, it was quite fortunate that we were finished with the Club fines as the Club could have received considerable funds from a couple of events on the way home. You know who you are – just be aware it can all be brought up at our next weekend away! Any fines incurred can be carried over from one weekend away to the next.

This was a blessed weekend from the start as the cars went well, the weather was perfect, the forward planning paid off and we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Thank you to everyone who made this a memorable weekend away and for the members who couldn’t make this one, you missed one great trip away, so make sure you catch the next one!

Greg Hawkins

President

25 April, 2007.

Click HERE for pics of the event.