It all started on Friday afternoon with our first truckload (no really a truckload see out photos) of minis and the trusty red ute led the way.
We unloaded them at the Australian Homestead Motel and traveled back to Tumut to get the next load ready for saturday.
Friday Night
Another truckload and the Wolseley are ready to go.
Saturday Morning
We’re up early again for a 6:30 get away and coffee of course. We arrive in Wagga and leave the truck at the motel then headed to maccas for another coffee oh, and to catch up with the other mini folk.
We all drove to the Temora aviation museum (a total of 14 minis) and it rained most of the way there… I pity the guys in the convertibles, not that mini convertibles leak… much…
At the aviation museum we had a great reception (that was sarcasm) sadly there was basically no one there. The flights had been canceled due to the rain. We ran into our fellow mini nut Lex in Temora, had a coffee and went our seperate ways. Lex traveled back to Tumut and we traveled back to Wagga in the pouring rain.
Gloria Jean’s for one more coffee, then off to to the motel for the afternoon and dinner at the motel restaurant. 25 mini nuts from all over the state in one place. The conversation was of course about the weather…
Sunday morning
Off to bolton park with the whole collection for the show and shine along with 24 other minis (a total of 33 for the day).
1 O’clock we loaded the truck back up and managed to find enough drivers to take the extras back to the motel. Then headed back to tumut to drop some mini’s home. I Picked up Janice and headed back to Wagga for dinner at the Red Steer. Then we headed off to bed for some well earned rest.
Monday morning
We had a BBQ breakfast with the mini crew at the botanical gardens.
Then travelled back to Tumut for the last time (for this trip) with the Truck fully loaded and the Wolseley.
We had all the minis unload and back in bed by 1pm.
What a great weekend! Thanks to the Riverina Mini Club for a great time and we look forward to next years!
It starts like every Mini trip, early, too early… Apparently old people just don’t sleep, or maybe they’re just that excited!
Picture Tumut on a crisp spring morning and 4 silver topped men (Doug, Dave, Geoff and John) scuffling around in the fog that masks the frost. Trying to limber up before the lucky few get to drive a mini for 310KM.
On the road by 5:30am and we’re on our way to West Wyalong, The convoy cruises into Cootamundra almost 100KM from Tumut and everything’s going great… wait! The Wolseley has a fuel problem.
The good news is Frosty (John), has us back on the road in 10 Minutes.
We roll into West Wyalong at 9:00 for a Coffee and Fuel. This is about 3hrs overdue by Doug time. No time to muck about here, so back on the road to Ungarie.
Arrive in Ungarie at 9:50 and are greeted by a bloody horrible wind and proceed to setup shop. An hr later and we are again overdue for a coffee and a bacon and egg roll. What a bacon and egg roll! We consider a second then decide the additional weight may not bode well for our minis.
We were joined by the Condobalin Car Club which consisted of 6 cars including two minis!
As with all small country towns the show struggles to attract a lot of exhibiters due to its size but the organisation and local participation is a testament to the community.
I think we were well received and we had a great day. At 4PM we packed up and head back to our accommodation where we settled in for a meal and a few drinks, a few to many some might say…
Up bright and early on sunday morning (some brighter than others) and off the the Bowlie for breakie.
We had a great Breakfast and headed on to Temora for fuel, then Wagga for coffee.
Back into Tumut and the Minis are tucked in safe and sound by 2:30.
The end of another great weekend with a great group of people!
Don’t forget to check out our Gallery!
Four people; John Forrest (Frosty) Tim Martin, Dave Turner (The Pom) and myself, Doug Martin.
Three minis; Ute, convertible and 10 wheeler on a trailer behind falcon ute (overflowing with spares).
A lifetime of hopes and dreams crammed into 12 mini-filled days.
Day One:
We left Tumut at 7.45am Monday 4th June heading for Dubbo. First stop was Cootamundra where we got a photo at the railway hotel and railway station. Also toped up with fuel at the service station where Tim’s cousin Danno works.
Arrived at Parkes at 12 Noon, fuelled up and headed for the dish. Had lunch at the dish restaurant, which is run by my cousin. We were given permission to use a service road to get closer to the dish for photos (These photo’s were unfortunately lost when Tim’s laptop crashed halfway through our travels, destroying some of the evidence of this trip – did we mention that Tim’s a computer technician)?
We arrived at Dubbo at 2.30pm, all vehicles performing very well on the first day, covering 433km’s.
Day Two:
Tuesday 5th June. Next stop Moree.
We stopped at Gilgandra and Narabri for fuel, at every stop people converged on the minis with stories. Between Gilgandra and Coonabaraban Frosty tried to wipe out a cow, which wandered onto the road. We arrived at the caravan park in Moree at about 1.30pm and were told to lock everything up as things get pinched.
We decided to take the top off the convertible and the four of us went “cruising”. We only made it about 200metres up the road as the tyres were rubbing that much we had to go back and get the ute as well.
Day Three:
Wednesday 6th June.
We left Moree for Warwick – Very uneventful. We fuelled up at Goondiwindi and arrived in Warwick at 12.15pm. It was wet most of the way and we spent the majority of the afternoon reading car books. The mini’s were still going great. 339km’s today.
Day Four:
Thursday 7th June.
Left Warwick for a short run to Brisbane – still raining. We came across roadwork about 50k’s from Warwick and the dirt road that Trucks had dug up pretty well was quite a challenge for the minis.
We arrived at Brisbane at 10.30am. No one could find the caravan park. We were somewhat distracted by the big shiny mini showroom next door….
After parking, we unloaded the truck and put the dual wheels on it, then made our way toward the showroom, called Motorline mini garage.
Day Five:
Friday 8th June.
We met Matt Stewart, the mini salesman at the showroom, who could not do enough for us. He offered the use of the car wash so we could get the minis sparkling for their big day. He also let us park the cars in front of their showroom for photo’s and then suggested we leave them there for the day. He then offered us three new demo minis to take for a couple of hours. We couldn’t bring ourselves to take three of his minis, but took one for about 2 hours for our second attempt at “cruising”. There was no tyre rubbing in this shiny new beast and we had an awesome time.
Tim’s wife Paula and son Zac came to Brisbane to visit Paula’s sister, we would be meeting up with them later in the weekend.
Day Six:
Saturday 9th June.
Met with some other mini people and went on a run to the beach. Had lunch and headed back to our unit. The people were great but the weather was bloody cold!
Day Seven:
Sunday 10th June.
Mini Muster – The Big Day. The weather had improved and was a nice warm day. There were approximately 140 minis there and the show was well organised. And again, the people were great. We won 2nd prize for the ute. We had some people from Tumut drop in to see us at the muster, which was very good of them.
The muster finished at about 3.30pm.
Day Eight:
Monday 11th June.
Quiet day. Hung around at the caravan park today, organising the trip home. We loaded the 10 wheeler onto the trailer ready for the journey and put 10” rims on the convertible instead of the 13” to improve the handling for tomorrows drive.
Day Nine:
Tuesday 12th June.
We left Brisbane at 8am and headed to Ballina for breakfast at 10am. We met up with some fellow mini people, Jodi and Craig at Casino (Jodi used to be a police woman in Tumut). Craig has made a mini ute, which looks great. I think he has the bug.
We had the wheels on the convertible balanced and then headed to Casino Hotel for lunch. After lunch we headed to Tenterfield, arriving there at about 4pm. We stayed in a B&B. It was an old pub.
While here, we visited another mini nut Ron Williams, who does up minis if you have $30 000+.
We also encountered our first problem with the ute, the speedo broke.
Day Ten:
Wednesday 13th June.
Left Tenterfield at 8am, it was bloody cold! Had breakfast at Glen Innes and fuelled up. Very uneventful. Arriving at Tamworth at 12.30 we had lunch at the golden guitar and visited the motorbike museum. The guy there was more interested in the minis then the bikes.
We also encountered our first problem with the convertible, the speedo broke.
Day Eleven:
Thursday 14th June.
We left Tamworth at 7.30am. Another big frost, and with no heating in the minis we quickly gained a newfound appreciation for modern technology. To keep his mind off his freezing limbs, Tim re-created the lyrics to Wet Wet Wet’s song, love is all around me; Replacing the first line with, ‘I’ve got some feeling in my fingers, but nothing in my toes’.
We powered on though, through Scone, past Liddell power station and stopped at Singleton for fuel and food. At Singleton we saw the remains of the floods, fences were down, and grass covering fences 1800mm above the road.
We arrived in Camden at 2pm where we stayed with Dave’s mate, who put on a great dinner and a few drinks.
Day Twelve:
Friday 15th June.
After having breaky with Dave’s mate Don, we headed for home at 8am stopping at Sutton Forrest for fuel and coffee. We arrived in Tumut at 2pm.
Our road trip to Bris-Vagas was a success and everyone had a fantastic time. Thanks to Dave for keeping a diary of the trip.
Frosty was the only one disappointed, as he still hasn’t seen a cane toad. Just as well, one of those creatures could total a mini!
Some Stats From The Trip.
Dearest Petrol: Cootamundra @ $149.90
Cheapest Petrol: Warwick @ $128.90
Distance Travelled: 3 292Km
Fuel Consumption:
Falcon ute & trailer: 560.74L
Mini ute: 247.09L
Convertible: 250.60L
Total: 1058.43L
Cost: $1613.99 (incl. Additives etc)
Accommodation for 4 men at caravan parks for 9 nights: $876.00
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